Middle East and Central Asia Music Forum

Overview

The Middle East and Central Asia Music Forum has been running since 2007 and is open to researchers, students and anyone interested in the music and culture of the region. In the spirit of fostering dialogue and interdisciplinarity, we hope that the issues discussed at the forum will be of interest to a broad audience, including musicologists, ethnomusicologists and other researchers in the arts, humanities and social sciences. In addition, we welcome those working on other aspects of Middle Eastern and Central Asian culture broadly speaking (dance, visual arts, media, film, literature, etc).

The forum is convened by Professor Laudan Nooshin from City, University of London (l.nooshin@city.ac.uk) and Professor Rachel Harris from SOAS, University of London (rh@soas.ac.uk).

The recordings have been uploaded to YouTube where you can view day 1 and day 2 of the forum.

The forum schedule, list of speakers and abstracts can be accessed here.

Schedule

Monday 8th November 2021

Session 1: 2 - 3.30pm
Chair: Mariam Rezaei (University of Newcastle)

Iranian Female Composers and Sound Artists Panel
Speakers: Pantea, Golfam Khayam, Sevda Khatamian talk about and play examples of their work, followed by a Q&A session.

Break 3.30 - 4pm

Session 2: 4 - 6pm
Chair: Rachel Harris (SOAS)

Yalda Yazdani (University of Siegen)
‘Women's Music in Marginalized Communities: An Ethnographic Study of the Role of Music in the Daily Life of Qashqai Female Singers Based in Rural and Urban Areas’

Mohsen Mohammadi (UCLA)
‘Soft Colonialism: Transcribing Authority in the Persian Dastgāh Tradition’

Anne K. Rasmussen (College of William & Mary)
‘Tarab in the Grooves ~ Reconsidering a Transitional Moment in the Arab American Arts Economy’

Tuesday 9th November 2021

Session 3: 2 - 3.15pm
Chair: Laudan Nooshin (City, University of London)

Discussion Session: Is it time to move beyond the ‘Middle East’? Renaming the Forum
Speakers:
Armaghan Fakhraeirad (University of Pennslyvania)
Claire Launchbury (Institute of Advanced Studies, UCL)
Kamyar Salavati (University of Tehran)
Darci Sprengel (University of Oxford)
Martin Stokes (King’s College, University of London)

Break 3.15 - 3.30pm

Session 4: 3.30 - 4.45pm
Chair: Peter McMurray (University of Cambridge)

Film screening: Gitara (2019) by Stefan Williamson Fa (followed by Q&A with the filmmaker)

Break 4.45 - 5pm

Session 5: 5 - 6.15pm
Chair: TBC

Hamidreza Salehyar (University of Toronto)
‘Composing the “Self,” Improvising the “Sonic”: Agency in Shia Mourning Rituals in Iran’

Jonas Otterbeck (Agha Khan University)
‘Instil the Love of the Beloved: The Creative use of Sufi Thinking by the Artist Peter Murphy’