Canadian Journal for Traditional Music (1988)

First Conference on Ethnomusicology in Canada

Jay Rahn

The Institute for Canadian Music, University of Toronto, and the Faculties of Fine Arts and Graduate Studies, York University, cosponsored the First Conference on Ethnomusicology in Canada, May 13-15, 1988. The three-day conference, held in Toronto, brought together officially for the first time ethnomusicologists from all over Canada as well as some visitors from outside the country. In all, 137 scholars attended the meeting, and of these, 85 participated as moderators, panelists, chairpeople, speakers and performance-demonstrators. Topics discussed included dance ethnology and history, musical ethnography, Latin American, Caribbean, and South Asian musical cultures, native music, fiddle music, country music, jazz, processes of musical transmission, ethnicity and identity, ethnomusicological theory, the history of ethnomusicology in Canada, and the place of Canadian ethnomusicology in various institutional contexts.

Among the many presentations delivered at the Conference, several should be of interest to readers of this Journal. In order to ameliorate communication among scholars interested in Canadian folk music, a select list of presentations at the Conference that dealt with Canadian folk music is presented below. A publication titled Proceedings of the First Conference on Ethnomusicology in Canada is planned for 1989 (as the third number in the CanMus Documents series of the Institute for Canadian Music). Further a second meeting is to be held at the Université de Montréal two years from now, and a steering committee has been struck to undertake the formation of a scholarly society for ethnomusicology in Canada.

Select List of Presentations Bearing on Canadian Folk Music

Cavanagh, Beverley. "'Not Knowing' in the Study of Canadian Indian Music."

von Rosen, Franziska. " 'Not Knowing/Not Seeing:' The Insidious Video Camera." (Connecticut River Powwow).

Cronk, Michael Sam. "Learning Ceremonial Music: Contexts and Constraints in Iroquoian Communities."

Haslebacher, Pauline. "'All o' We is One:' The Integration of Calypso Song and Dance, Pan Mas' in the Context of Carnival in Canada."

Gallaugher, Annemarie. " 'Some o' We is One:' Calypso by Association."

Gifford, Douglas. "Repertoire Sources and Processes for a Central Ontario Country Singer."

O'Neill, J. Patrick. "Coincidence of Harmonic Gesture in the Repertoire of Traditional Cowboy Singers."

Swackhammer, Mac. "Mediating the Conflict between Heritage Preservation and Audience Demands: An Example from Newfoundland."

Rogers, Timothy B. "Country Music Bands in Western Canada: A Comparative Survey."

Naimpally, Anuradha. "The Teaching of Bharata Natyam Dance from India to Canada: A Case Study."

Sarkissian, Margaret. "The Politics of Music: Armenian Community Choirs in Toronto."

Grigoriadis, Sophia. "The Inter-Relationship of Music and Social Con-text in a Viach-Canadian Event."

Pelinski,Ramon. "Musique entre oralité et écriture." (Inuit music). James Robbins. "What Can We Learn When They Sing, Eh?: Ethnomusicology in the American State of Canada."

Smith, Gordon. "Fieldwork and Gagnon's Chansons populaires du Canada."

Voyer, Simone. "Continuity and Change in Jique and Stepdance Traditions in Eastern Canada."

Waterhouse, David. "John Wilson and the Highland Bagpipe in Ontario."

Fowke, Edith. "My Life in Canadian Folksong Research."

Conlon, Paula. "Music ofthe Inuit ofNorthern Baffin Island."

Hockley, Nancy. "Rhythm and Transcription: The Songs of Joseph Gaspard Jeannotte." (Métis music).

Whidden, Lynn. "The Cree Sound World as Described by George Nelsonin 1823."

Peloquin, Jane, and David Melhorn-Boe. "Contemporary Native Music."

Hornby, James. "Wedding Reels in Eastern Prince Edward Island." Quigley, Colin. "Creative Processes in Musical Composition: French Traditional Fiddler, Emile Benoit."

Garrison, Virginia. "Cape Breton Fiddling and Its Transmission Processes."

Ennis, David. "Fiddlers in the Ottawa Valley."

Joyal, Jean-Pierre. "Le violin québecois: styles at interpretation."

Lessem, Alan (chair), "Doing Ethnomusicology in Canada: Focus and Community . ' '

Lederman, Anne. "Ethnomusicology in the Media."

Carpenter, Carole Henderson (moderator). "Ethnomusicology and the Public Sector: Canadian Traditions and Cultural Advocacy."

Rosenberg, Neil V. "WhOse Music is Canadian Country Music?" Moreau, Yves. "Observations on Recent Widespread Adoption and Adaptation of Bulgarian Folk Music and Dance in North America and Elsewhere."

Sankaran, Trichy. "Transplantation and Transformation: Music from 'Back Home' in the Canadian Environment." (South Indian, Carnatic music).

Martin, Stephanie. ' 'Mennonites in Ontario: Lifestyles and Singing Styles."

Klassen, Doreen. "Musical Borrowing and Socio-Political Power: Low German Songs of the Southern Manitoba Mennonites."

Wrazen, Louise. "Changing Contexts: The Festival as a Setting for Górale Traditional Musical Performance."

Banting, Larissa. "The Zibava: A Ukrainian-Canadian Social Dance." Naimpally, Anuradha. "The Teaching of Bharata Natyam Dance from India to Canada: A Case Study."