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Five College Ethnomusicology Student Symposium Features Talks on Street Musicians in Cuba and a West African Community in the Five College Area

Amherst College plays host to this year's Five College student symposium in ethnomusicology, which takes place on April 15, beginning at 10 a.m. in Pruyne Lecture Hall, 115 Fayerweather. The daylong event will have three panel sessions, each featuring presentations by students and moderated by members of the faculty in music or anthropology. Sessions conclude at 4:45 p.m. when Marc Perlman, Associate Professor of Music at Brown University, will present a keynote address entitled "Music, Values, and the Value of Music." The symposium is free and open to the public.

This year marks the third symposium organized by faculty ethnomusicologists to highlight the original work being done by undergraduates at the Five Colleges in various aspects of the field. In addition to the symposium, in alternate years the Five College ethnomusicologists sponsor a World Music Festival, which has become a popular spring event that draws an audience not only of students and faculty but also members of the community.

"We're fortunate in having such an unusually large cohort of scholars who teach and carry out research in the field of ethnomusicology," said Jeffers Engelhardt, Assistant Professor of Music at Amherst College. "We capitalize on this special benefit by working together to organize events like this for our students. It's a great opportunity for them to network with each other and to learn about some of the great work being done by other undergraduates like themselves."

The wide range of topics that will be discussed include a look at how Russian émigrés and members of the west African community preserve their musical traditions here in Western Massachusetts, a brief history of the "bible" of hip hop, and several presentations on aspects of Caribbean music.

The members of the planning committee include Jeffers Engelhardt, Tim Eriksen, and Mirjana Lausevic from Amherst College, Becky Miller from Hampshire College, Bode Omojola from Mount Holyoke College, Margaret Sarkissian and Steve Waksman from Smith College, and David Samuels from the University of Massachusetts.

A complete schedule of events is below. For additional information, contact Nancy Goff at Five Colleges, Incorporated: ngoff@fivecolleges.edu.

Schedule

10: 00 a.m.
Registration and coffee

10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
Panel 1: Music, Dance, and Translation

Student Presenters:

Maria Stankova, Mount Holyoke College, Dancer and Drummer, You are One!: A Study of a West African Community in the Five College Area

Milena Dabova, Amherst College, Music in Paneurhythmy: A Study of a Syncretic Practice in the Process of Globalization

John Radway, Amherst College, In a Strange Land: Preserving Russian Orthodox Tradition in Western Massachusetts

Moderator: David Samuels, Associate Professor of Anthropology, UMass Amherst

1:15-2:45 p.m.
Panel 2: Caribbean Music: Local and Diasporic

Student Presenters:

Matt Valliere, Hampshire College, Soperos y Buscavidas: Street Musicians & Music Workers Under the Cuban Revolution

Amrita Vijayaraghavan, Amherst College, Jibaro Music and Cultural Identity in the Puerto Rican Diaspora

Rachel Gelfand, Smith College, Salsa Politica: Fania Records, the Young Lords, and a Nuyorican Aesthetic

Moderator:Becky Miller, Assistant Professor of Music of the Americas, Hampshire College

3:00-4:30 p.m.
Panel 3: Musical Institutions

Student Presenters:

Eliza Northwood, Mount Holyoke College, DIY for the Digital Age and Its Effects on the Record Industry

Jocelyn Thomas, Smith College, Genesis: A Brief History of the Bible of Hip Hop

Sean Curran, Hampshire College, Eclipsing the Shadow: The Music of Femi Kuti

Moderator:Steve Waksman, Assistant Professor of Music, Smith College

4:45 p.m.
Keynote Speaker: Marc Perlman, Associate Professor of Music, Brown University: Music, Values, and the Value of Music

Originally posted 4/11/07

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