Monday, February 14, 2011

Proceedings at the Symposium

Stephanus Muller and Jean-Pierre de la Porte

The audience

Stephanus Muller and Carina Venter

Chats Devroop, Liz Gunner, David Coplan

Liz Gunner and David Coplan

Thomas Braun and Albrecht Dumling

Chats Devroop, Abigail Kubeka and Steve Gordon

Dorothy Masuka, Chats Devroop and Abigail Kubeka

A question from the audience

Roger Lucey, Dorothy Masuka, Chat Devroop

Pamela Tancsik, Sazi Dlamini and Lindelwa Dalamba

Sazi Dlamini and Lindelwa Dalamba



Steve Gordon and Zim Ngqawana

Elinor Sisulu and Sam Shakong

Marie Jorritsma, Cameron Harris, George King and Stephanus Muller 

Albrecht Dumling and Annemie Stimmie

Phillip Miller and Thokozani Mhlambi

Stephanie Vos, Stephanus Muller, Sazi Dlamini, Lindelwa Dalamba and Pamela Tancsik

Akhona Ndzuta and Lefifi Tladi

Thursday, January 27, 2011

SYMPOSIUM PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME

SYMPOSIUM PROGRAMME
Friday 4 February 2011
09:30
Stephanie Vos, Henrike Grohs, Florian Uhlig
Welcome

SESSION 1: Contexts of Music and Exile
10:00
Chats Devroop
Keynote address
11:00
TEA

SESSION 2: Debates in Music and Exile 
Session chair: Stephanus Muller
11:30
Jean-Pierre de la Porte
Can musicology think about exile?
12:30
Carina Venter
The Exilic Fallacy: articulating Exile in a “damage culture”
13:00
LUNCH

SESSION 3: States of songs: past and present
Session chair: Chats Devroop
14:00
Liz Gunner
Songs of the Soldier, Songs of the Citizen-to-be — a glance at recent South African History
14:30
David Coplan
Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika and Africa's Transcendant Aspirations
15:00
TEA

SESSION 4: Sound worlds: crossing cultures
Session chair: Pamela Tancsik
15:30
Xoli Norman
Exile, memory and the state of blackness in the sonic landscape
16:00
Philip Miller
The making of the music for William Kentridge’s Black Box/Chambre Noire
17:00
END
18:30
Pre-concert talk at the Wits Theatre: Dr Albrecht Dümling
19:30
Café Berlin' concert at the Wits Theatre: Songs of Eisler, Brecht, Spoliansky and Weill.
Performed by Eva Meier (Voice) and Paul Cibis (Piano)


* Please note that the programme is subject to change
SYMPOSIUM PROGRAMME (continued)
Saturday 5 February 2011

SESSION 5: International connections: perspectives from global musical exile
Session chair: Jean-Pierre de la Porte
09:00
Thomas Braun
Karlheinz Stockhausen's vocal music in the context of music and exile
09:30
Albrecht Dümling
Hollywood, a place for elegies: Brecht and Eisler in exile
10:30
TEA

SESSION 6: Panel discussion: In conversation: musicians' experiences of exile
11:00
Chats Devroop, Dorothy Masuka, Abigail Kubeka, Roger Lucey, Steve Gordon
12:30
LUNCH

SESSION 7: King Kong connections
Session chair: Stephanie Vos
13:30
Pamela Tancsik
The musical King Kong: A story of success, exile and revival
14:00
Lindelwa Dalamba and Sazi Dlamini
Mbaqanga in the makings of a (South) African musical diaspora: the case of Gwigwi Mrwebi’s Band in England
14:30
Stephanus Muller
Stanley Glasser's Songs of Exile
15:00
TEA

SESSION 8: Exchanging the groove: Styles of jazz and exile
Session chair: Akhona Ndzuta
15:30
Lefifi Tladi
A comparative study of South African jazz in exile – Comparing the contribution of South African musicians in Europe versus the South African musicians based in America
16:00
Bongani Madondo
Mbizo, In-TENSE Brotherhood, African Rituals and the stylistic impact of The Blue Notes and The Brotherhood Of Breath On European Free Jazz
16:30
Closing
16:45
END

Monday, January 24, 2011

SYMPOSIUM UPDATE

Music and Exile: Songs, Styles and Subtexts
4 and 5 February 2011, 9:00-17:00
Goethe-Institut, Johannesburg

The Goethe-Institut in partnership with the Johannesburg International Mozart Festival invites you to the Music and Exile: Songs, Styles and Subtexts Symposium of 2011, a follow-up on 2010’s Music and Exile: North-South Narratives Symposium. The engaging discussions about music and exile that had opened up at the 2010 symposium will be continued in 2011, but with an emphasis on the role of songs in South African and global exile. The programme includes presentations and discussions by scholars, performers and composers, and covers wide variety of musical styles, including Western art music, jazz and popular music.

On the local front, the programme will feature a discussion led by Chats Devroop with musicians Dorothy Masuka, Abigail Kubeka, Roger Lucey and Steve Gordon about their experiences of exile. A session is devoted to the musical connections between South Africa and the United Kingdom that were forged through the South African jazz opera King Kong (performed in London in 1961), a key event that marked the first step not only to international careers but also to exile for many musicians, including figures like Miriam Makeba.

Casting the net slightly wider, the symposium will also reflect on instances of international exile such as German musician Eisler and writer Brecht’s exile in Hollywood during the Second World War, and the impact of the Second World War and ideas of exile on some of Stockhausen’s vocal compositions. Furthermore, the contexts and debates in international and local exile, the impact that cultural exchanges resulting from exile have on musical styles, as well as specific instances of music, place and displacement will be explored.

The line-up of speakers include, among others, Xoli Norman (writer and composer), Philip Miller (composer), Lefifi Tladi (composer, poet and artist), Jean-Pierre de la Porte (philosopher and research director at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Architecture and Infrastructure), Chats Devroop (Tshwane University of Technology), David Coplan (University of the Witwatersrand), Stephanus Muller (Stellenbosch University) as well as the German musicologist and music critic, Albrecht Dümling.

Members of the public are welcome and attendance is free. Kindly send an e-mail to reserve your place at the symposium to dpt@johannesburg.goethe.org. For more information, e-mail Stephanie Vos or Akhona Ndzuta at musicandexile@gmail.com.

A concert featuring the songs of Brecht, Eisler and Weill performed by Eva Meier and Paul Cibis on 4 February 2011 at 19:30 at the Wits Theatre, preceded by a pre-concert talk by Albrecht Dümling. For more information on the concert, visit www.join-mozart-festival.org.






Sunday, January 9, 2011

SONGS, STYLES AND SUB-TEXTS SYMPOSIUM

MUSIC AND EXILE: SONGS, STYLES AND SUB-TEXTS SYMPOSIUM
4 and 5 February 2011, 9:00-17:00
Goethe-Institute, Johannesburg


The Music and Exile: Songs, Styles and Sub-texts Symposium is a follow-up on 2010’s Music and Exile: North-South Narratives Symposium. The rich discussions about music and exile that had opened up at the 2010 symposium will be continued in 2011, but with an emphasis on the role of songs in South African and global exile. The programme includes presentations and discussions by scholars, performers and composers, and covers wide variety of musical styles, including Western art music, jazz, South African traditional and pop music.

Some themes that will be considered are the contexts and debates in international and local exile, and the impact that cultural exchanges resulting from exile has on musical styles, particularly on jazz. On the local front, the programme will feature a panel discussion with musicians Roger Lucey and Steve Gordon about their experiences of exile.  A session is devoted to the musical connections between South Africa and the United Kingdom effected by South African musicians’ exile, including presentations on the South African jazz opera King Kong that was performed in London in 1961 (which for many musicians marked the first step to exile), Gwigwi Mrwebi and the adaptations of mbaqanga in the United Kingdom and Stanley Glasser’s Songs of Exile. To cast the net slightly wider than the local, the symposium will also reflect on instances of international exile such as German musician Eisler and writer Brecht’s exile in Hollywood during the Second World War, and the impact of the Second World War on some of Stockhausen’s vocal compositions.

The line-up of speakers include, among others, Albrecht Dümling (founder of the internationally acclaimed ‘Entartete Musik’ project), Sophia Serghi (composer from Cyprus), Mokale Koapeng (Johannesburg-based composer), Lefifi Tladi (composer, poet and artist), Jean-Pierre de la Porte, Chats Devroop (Tshwane University of Technology) and David Coplan (University of the Witwatersrand).

Members of the public are welcome and attendance is free. Kindly send an e-mail to reserve your place at the symposium to dpt@johannesburg.goethe.org.

The Music and Exile Symposium forms part of the Johannesburg International Mozart Festival, and is linked to a concert featuring the songs of Brecht, Eisler and Weill performed by Eva Meier and Paul Cibis on 4 February 2011 at the Wits Theatre. For more information on the concert and the symposium, visit www.join-mozart-festival.org.

Background on the Symposium
The Music and Exile Symposia form part of the Johannesburg International Mozart Festival (JIMF) and are held in partnership with the Goethe-Institute.  The Johannesburg International Mozart Festival is a concert series that has taken place in Johannesburg annually since 2006 and the first symposium held in conjunction with the JIMF concert series was in 2010. The Symposia provide a ‘think-tank’ around topics related to the JIMF concert series and are intended to generate ideas and stimulate initiatives for future JIMF events. This approach strives to establish a productive dialogue between music practice and music writing and debate.

How does Mozart fit in? Constantly pushing the boundaries, departing from and developing the canon and creating new frameworks of experimentation, Mozart regarded almost anything as an invitation for his creative genius and even today remains one of the most versatile yet profound musical figures of all times: as composer, arranger, performer, conductor, teacher, writer, commentator and scholar. It is the ambition of the Johannesburg International Mozart Festival to reflect upon Mozart’s genius and ingenuity and to create a setting that might translate at least some of Mozart’s truly inspiring characteristics into the twenty-first century. The Music and Exile Symposia proceed from this philosophy of innovation, and aim to traverse the boundaries that frequently exist between different music genres, disciplines and discourses.

Visit www.join-mozart-festival.org for more information about the Johannesburg International Mozart Festival and the Music and Exile Symposium, and visit www.goethe.de/johannesburg for more information about the Goethe-Institute.  





Sunday, December 12, 2010

CALL FOR PAPERS

Music and Exile: Songs, Styles and Sub-texts
4-5 February 2011
Goethe-Institut, Johannesburg

The Johannesburg International Mozart Festival (JIMF) in partnership with Goethe Institute invites participation in a Symposium on the theme Music and Exile: Songs, Styles and Sub-texts that will take place from 4 to 5 February 2011. This event follows the Music and Exile: North-South Narratives Symposium that was held at Goethe-Institute in January 2010. Whereas the latter event had initiated the discussion on exile and had moreover focused on exile as a discourse, the rich discussion that opened up around this topic will be continued in 2011, but with a particular focus on notions of exile in vocal music and the way these are articulated by composers and performers.

South Africa has a rich history of song that has supported and reflected various notions of exile. Iconic figures like Miriam Makeba have become customary examples of the power that song has exerted on the South African and international soundscape as an expression of exile. But beyond these over-familiar icons are many other instances of exile that are often overshadowed by more famous presences. It is these lesser-known instances of exile that this symposium is aimed at. Exile is not only something of the past, and this symposium acknowledges the continuing relevance of this topic today. Current cases of exile include emigrations from South Africa as well as large-scale immigrations to South Africa due to dire socio-political or economic circumstances elsewhere, especially in Africa; and it is often women who bear the brunt of suffering, and whose voices are unheard. The interpretation of exile may be extended to include other instances of displacement, such as the voluntary migrations prevalent in a globalized world. All instances of displacement may profitably draw on discourses of exile if the latter are understood to embody politically motivated migration only. The notion of inner exile (without physical migration) is a case in point, where the senses of displacement and alienation experienced within familiar environments necessitate a nuanced interpretation of exile, inaugurating a set of themes that include considerations of ‘those who stayed behind’ and the practice of art forms that are at (or are pushed to) the peripheries of a dominant culture.

In line with the JIMF’s celebration of vocal music in its concert series of 2011 – which will feature works of its first resident composer, Mokale Koapeng – the symposium will engage with the role of songs (1) and choral music in voicing themes of displacement and exile. Textual and stylistic interrogations become important here, as references to exile or displacement can be embedded in subtext or metaphor, or implied by musical style, making the songs politically charged.

Themes that would link to the topic outlined above include:
o Definitions and meanings of exile and/or displacement
o Women in/and exile music
o The relationship between performance spaces and musical meanings
o Definitions of inner exile
o Music on the margins of contemporary culture
o Contemporary composition as an expression of exile
o The role of song in experiences and expressions of exile
o Black choral music in inner exile during the 20th century
o Relationships between music and text

(1 The word ‘songs’ for the purposes of the symposium is used in a very broad sense and is intended to encompasses a wide range of vocal music.)

o The importance of notions of textuality in music strongly reliant on text
o The role of style in the articulation of musical meaning
o Stylistic influences and adaptations as a result of exile
o The appropriation of styles as subtexts
o Folkloristic aspects of song
o Discourses around national anthems
o Song and resistance
o Contexts and subtexts in the controversial songs such as Umshini Wami, De la Rey etc.

Although the symposium will have a strong South African emphasis, it also aims to engage and find points of
intersection with international discourse on the topics outlined above. The discussion sessions that follow the
presentations are therefore of particular importance. The theme lends itself to interdisciplinary approaches and also to various modes of presentation (papers, panel discussions, interviews, personal reflections on creative output, creative responses to the theme like as performances etc.). Furthermore, the symposium situates itself between ‘academic’ and ‘public’ discourse, and strives to establish dialogue between these often-separated spheres of discussion.

We invite 20-minute papers or presentations as well as proposals for panel discussions or live interviews (please include a list of the proposed participants). Longer time slots could be considered depending on the programme – please contact us if you wish to request this. Send a proposal of your contribution (no more than 300 words in length) to Stephanie Vos at stephe.vos@gmail.com or musicandexile@gmail.com by 4 October 2010 to be considered for inclusion in the programme. For further information, contact Stephanie at +27 84 520 5919 or e-mail stephe.vos@gmail.com.

Background on the Symposium
The Music and Exile Symposia form part of the Johannesburg International Mozart Festival (JIMF) and are held in partnership with the Goethe-Institut. The Johannesburg International Mozart Festival is a concert series that has taken place in Johannesburg annually since 2006 and the first symposium held in conjunction with the JIMF concert series was in 2010. The Symposia provide a ‘think-tank’ around topics related to the JIMF concert series and are intended to generate ideas and stimulate initiatives for future JIMF events. This approach strives to establish a productive dialogue between music practice and discourse.

How does Mozart fit in? Constantly pushing the boundaries, departing from and developing the canon and creating new frameworks of experimentation, Mozart regarded almost anything as an invitation for his creative genius and even today remains one of the most versatile yet profound musical figures of all times: as composer, arranger, performer, conductor, teacher, writer, commentator and scholar. It is the ambition of the Johannesburg International Mozart Festival to reflect upon Mozart’s genius and ingenuity and to create a setting that might translate at least some of Mozart’s truly inspiring characteristics into the twenty-first century. The Music and Exile Symposia proceed from this philosophy of innovation, and aim to traverse the boundaries that frequently exist between different music genres, disciplines and discourses.

Visit www.join-mozart-festival.org for more information about the Johannesburg International Mozart Festival and the Music and Exile Symposium, and visit www.goethe.de/johannesburg for more information about the Goethe Institute.

Monday, December 6, 2010

MUSIC AND EXILE: NORTH-SOUTH NARRATIVES SYMPOSIUM (27-28 January 2010)

MUSIC AND EXILE: NORTH-SOUTH NARRATIVES SYMPOSIUM (Programme)

Wednesday 27 January 2010

09:00    Welcome and introduction

  Session 1: Exile, Literature and Music
09:15    Muff Andersson
              The nomad sings, the nomad walks, the nomad rests: the ‘condition’ of exile

09:35    Matildie Thom-Wium
  ‘My country, my dry, forsaken country’: On exile in Arnold van Wyk’s, NP van Wyk           Louw’s and Ovid’s Tristia

09:55    Pamela Tancsik
              Joseph Trauneck or the Wanderings of a Persecuted Man

10:15    Questions/comments/discussion

10:45    Tea
  
  Session 2: Identities
11:15    Michael Haas
              From Bach to Schönberg: How “German” was music from fin de Siècle Vienna?

12:05    Xoli Norman
              The paradox of exile and the creative state

12:25    Stephanie Vos
              Interpreting the notion of nationality in the case of John Joubert

12:45    Questions/comments/discussion

13:15    Lunch

  Session 3: In conversation
14:00    Stephanus Muller, Steve Dyer, Warrick Sony, Michael Blake and Mokale Koapeng
              Discussion panel

15:30    Tea

  Session 4: Exile in composition and performance
16:00    Jean-Pierre de la Porte
              Exile on the spot: how does one recognize minor music?

16:30    Pre-concert talk by Mokale Koapeng (on Moerane)
              The problem with Mosoeu Michael Moerane

17:00    Keynote address: Timothy Jackson
  Biographical and Analytical Perspectives on Friedrich Hartmann's Song of the Four  Winds

18:00    Symposium ends

20:00    Concert at the Linder Auditorium - Moerane, Hartmann and Mozart

Thursday 28 January 2010

  Session 5: Places
09:00    David Coplan
              S.A. Jazz in Exile: Exporting Sophiatown and District 6

09:20    Hilde Roos
              Opera in exile: the Eoan Group

09:40    Gwen Ansell with Steve Dyer
              So close to home: South African jazz in African exile

10:00    Questions/comments/discussion

10:20    Tea

  Session 6: People
10:50    Performers workshop: Timothy Jackson in conversation with Thomas Sanderling
              Hartmann's Song of the Four Winds

11:40    Aryan Kaganof
              Blue Notes from Johnny

12:00    Chris van Rhyn
  The wingless flight – A consideration of Priaulx Rainier and her Requiem in the context  of exile

12:40    Colette Szymczak
              Jonas Gwangwa, musician and cultural activist

13:00    Questions/comments/discussion

13:30    Lunch

  Session 7: Perspectives
14:15    Christine Lucia
              The smell of a grass fire

14:35    Chats Devroop
              Emotional displacement amongst South African Jazz Musicians who stayed behind

14:55    Mokale Koapeng
              Composing in South Africa

15:15    Questions/comments/discussion

15:45    Closing remarks

16:00    Symposium ends