Urban Music Studies

06/03/2019
by Alenka Barber-Kersovan
Comments Off on Sonic Futures: Performing Identity in the ‘Global’ City

Sonic Futures: Performing Identity in the ‘Global’ City

The idea for this one-day conference, taking place on the 25th of April 2019, stems from a series of workshops, Sonic Futures: Identity and Sustainability through Music and Performance, supported by London College of Communication (Teaching and Learning Fund) in collaboration with May Project Gardens (Hip Hop Garden). Primarily, this project aimed to instigate critical thinking and reflections on cultural practices and genre through performance in general and Hip Hop music and culture in particular. Gardening is connected to questions of psycho-physical wellbeing, community building and sustainability in the global city. We welcome 15-minute presentations, academic papers, performances, and contributions from a wide variety of disciplines, practice areas and backgrounds.

More here

01/03/2019
by Timon Scheuer
Comments Off on !Save the date: Feb 13th-15th, 2020 // Groove the City II conference!

!Save the date: Feb 13th-15th, 2020 // Groove the City II conference!

We are very happy to announce the next edition of our Groove the City conference: From Feb13th-15th, 2020 the international community of urban music studies will again meet in the North of Germany close to Hamburg in Lueneburg, this time at the famous Daniel Libeskind building of Leuphana University of Lueneburg. So save the date and stay tuned for more information and the call for papers.

In the meantime, get (back) into the amazing atmosphere of Groove the City with this awesome after-movie produced by our conference students Leif Jacobs, Stina Binder, Nikolas Bielefeldt and Marie Glaß:

So keep grooving the city and hopefully see you in Lueneburg in February 2020!

The Urban Music Studies team

20/02/2019
by R. Kuchar
Comments Off on Call for Papers: Music, Cities and Popular Memory: A “Very Messy Cultural Archive”? – March 29th, 2019, Solent University Southampton

Call for Papers: Music, Cities and Popular Memory: A “Very Messy Cultural Archive”? – March 29th, 2019, Solent University Southampton

The symposium seeks to explore current research and practice in a full range of sites and objects making up the “city as a very messy cultural archive” (Rao, 2009):

– Public museums and archives; private collections of photographs, ticket stubs, recordings or memorabilia; books, journalism, zines and other popular writing; maps, plans, policy documents and matters of public record; venues, performance spaces, architecture, infrastructure and the built environment; digitised artefacts, storage media and networked oral histories; record label catalogues and, of course, the lyrics, recorded and paratextual elements of popular music itself

– The growing set of motivations, methods, technologies and ethics of researching, documenting, storing, re-presenting and valuing these histories – and how these are positioned in different personal, professional, political, institutional and disciplinary contexts.

– The collective ownership and organisation of urban cultural memory – beyond issues of access and the “display value” of heritage (exhibitions, anniversary events, plaques, monuments, city-branding initiatives, etc): case studies of archival co-production/co-curation are particularly welcome.

The organizers invite researchers across the humanities and social sciences to share knowledge, methods and case studies that shed light on these intertwined histories. We welcome contributions from scholars of popular music and consumer culture more broadly, alongside non-music researchers engaged in studies of heritage, memory, museums, libraries and archives. This might include sociologists, ethnomusicologists, anthropologists, geographers, historians, urbanists and others working on issues of culture in communities, institutions, cities, regions and beyond.

Abstract submission (including title and short bio, max. 300 words) is open until Friday 1st March 2019.

More information here.

15/02/2019
by Timon Scheuer
Comments Off on “CECCUT”- Conference in Luxembourg

“CECCUT”- Conference in Luxembourg

The European network “CECCUT” conference will take place on 7 March 2019 at the Belval Campus (Luxembourg).

The aims of the conference are to investigate the potential of the European Capital of Culture initiative to act as a lever for cross-border urban cohesion. This cohesion is approached based on three themes: 1) Strengthening the sense of belonging to a common cultural space, 2) Social inclusion through culture, particularly that of young people and marginalised groups, and 3) Promoting urban development based on the cultural and creative economy.

More here

05/02/2019
by Timon Scheuer
Comments Off on Arts and the City Conference Budapest – Call for Papers

Arts and the City Conference Budapest – Call for Papers

Arts and the City Conference will take place from 23-24 May, 2019 at Budapest.

Abstracts are invited for an international conference on arts and the city organised by Károli Gáspár University’s Institute of English Studies and the Institute of Philosophy at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Papers exploring various forms of art in the modern urban environment are welcomed. The organizers are particularly interested in the portrayal of cities in literary texts, films, and the visual arts as well as the history of architecture, street art, and performing arts. The conference aims to map the role of the arts in the context of urbanisation, global capitalism and digital technologies, focusing on urban paradigms such as the modern city, the creative city, the playable city, and the smart city, sustainable city, liveable city, among others.

Application deadline: 15 February, 2019 | More here

11/01/2019
by R. Kuchar
Comments Off on Sounds in the City – Call for Papers, Presentations and Performances

Sounds in the City – Call for Papers, Presentations and Performances

Sound System Outernational are pleased to announce our 5th event. This is taking place in Naples, Italy on the weekend of 5, 6 and 7 April 2019. Besides the usual exciting mix of researchers, practitioners and aficionados, this event will highlight the long established and vibrant sound system scene in this beautiful Italian city. More here

03/12/2018
by Conference Documentation
Comments Off on Urban Music Policies Day 3

Urban Music Policies Day 3

Welcome back everybody!

After a lively jam session on Saturday evening, there were still some more really interesting panel talks and a catchy key note being delivered on Sunday.

But let’s start from the beginning. The last day of our conference began with another round of sessions. We engaged with studies on ‘Independent Labels in Portugal’, ‘New Music Orchestras’ and ‘Scenography’, followed by more discussions. From this, some quite interesting connections between the single projects developed.

Another highlight of the conference took place on Sunday: Martin Cloonan from Turku/Finland delivered a keynote on the Music Scene in Glasgow, getting some laughs through his easy going way of talking.

After the final round of panel sessions, the conference ended with a couple of closing remarks and the opportunity to attend the network meeting to review the conference and discuss future steps.

We hope this gave you a little insight on what’s been happening last weekend at ‘Groove the City!’. Stay tuned for more conference documentaries and hopefully see you at the next Urban Music Studies conference!

Dennis Büscher-Ulbrich (Kiel): Surplus Trap: Towards a Materialist Analysis of Trap Music

Michael Kahr (Graz): Jazz & the City: Local Music in Global Context

Martin Cloonan (Turku): Glasgow Memories: Some Reflections in Being on a Scene

Sigrún Lilja Einarsdóttir (Bifröst): The City of the Dreaming Spires: Cultural Hegemony, Social Diversity and Elitism in the Oxford Collegiate Choral Context

Audience

Kwende Kefentse (London): Scenography: A Methodology for the Spatial Analysis of Music Scenes, and a Window into their Value

30/11/2018
by Conference Documentation
Comments Off on Urban Music Policies Day 2

Urban Music Policies Day 2

Hi again,

Here comes a little overview from day 2 of our conference:

Beside the interesting keynote Susana Zapke (Vienna) gave us on ‘The City as Text, The City as Melodic Imaginary Subjectivation’, various panel sessions took place, for example on ‘The (In-)formality of Street Music’ or on ‘Power and Politics’. We also discussed ‘Affected scenes’ and ‘Hip-Hop Archives and New Civic Identities’. As you can see, it has been pretty diverse and everyone got a lot of inspiration for their work!

In the evening, we left the university and went to the music school for a special concert with a local band, Brass Riot, and the trio Ensemble Megaphon from the Global Board. Both acts delivered a powerful and vibrant performance and everybody finally got to relax after this long day.

Our program ended with an artist talk on ‘Music Making and how it is Affected by Place, Moving & Seeking Refuge’ and an open jam session afterwards, which was a great opportunity for everyone to get involved in a more practical approach to music.

Susana Zapke (Vienna): The City as Text, the City as Melodic Imaginary Subjectivation

Sebastian Matthias (Berlin): Groove me – Choreographic Groove and the City

Jhessica Reia (Rio de Janeiro): Street Music, Informality, and the Right to the City A Transnational Perspective

Foyer of Musikschule

Concert with Ensemble Megaphone

Concert with Brass Riot

Artist Talk: Music Making and how it is Affected by Place, Moving & Seeking Refuge

Jam Session

28/11/2018
by R. Kuchar
Comments Off on Thanks & Radio Feature ‘Groove the City’ – Conference

Thanks & Radio Feature ‘Groove the City’ – Conference

Dear all,

last weekend, we had a quite productive conference at Leuphana University of Lüneburg. Thanks very much to everyone who was part of it making the conference to the successful event it was!

We´d also like to thank Alexander Budde from Deutschlandradio for visiting ‘Groove the City’. The radio feature he has produced for the German radio show ‘Tonart’ you can listen to here .

24/11/2018
by Conference Documentation
Comments Off on Urban Music Policies Day 1

Urban Music Policies Day 1

Dear City Groovers!

Here are some pictures from yesterday, our first conference day.

The first guest, Will Straw, gave a keynote on Urban Music as Policy Object, and then we had the possibility to hear some sessions by

our international experts on Rap Music, Cartography and many more interesting interdisciplinary approaches.

We are looking forward to what’s coming today, including our Jam Session that’s taking place at the Music School in Lūneburg at 6.30pm.

Stay tuned for more content!

Ulf Wuggenig – Dean Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Will Straw (Montreal, Canada): Urban Music as Policy Object.

Angela Fiore & Sara Belotti (Modena, Italy): Mapping the Este Court: Urban Soundscapes of a Ducal City (XVII cent.)

Luciana Ferreira Moura Mendonca (Pernambuco, Brazil):Soundscapes, Scenes and (Con)tradi(c)tions: Music and Public Action in Recife