K. Meira Goldberg at the Flamenco Bienal Our flamenco distinguised resident scholar K. Meira Goldberg presented “Tumulte noir y jaleo de Jerez. Ecos de Harlem jazz en la Sevilla flamenca” at the XXII Bienal de Flamenco (Sevilla, 2022). Photo by Michael Penland As the organizers explain, the Concurso del 22 was not an isolated event. Throughout the 1920’s, events, lectures, meetings, conferences and competitions were held worldwide. They aimed to represent the institutionalisation of vernacular music as an artistic field. The Tango in Argentina, Samba in Brazil, Blues in the United States, Son Cubano in Cuba, Rebetiko in Greece, Folk Music in India, Czardas / Klezmer Music in Central Europe, and Arab Folk Music in Egypt, North African countries and the Middle East, amongst many others, conducted similar interventions through which academic culture, high culture and culture of the elite highlighted folk music, its different vernacular variants and the uniqueness of new genres such as jazz and flamenco.Of course, it was not a random event. It was linked with phenomena such as the creation of the first recording industry (in this case, the emergence of the radio and cinema), and with the commencement of cultural decolonisation around the world. This also included the emancipation of new political subjects, national independence processes, the formation of democratic systems, and, as seen in Spain, a process of political regeneration which would culminate with the proclamation of the Republic in 1931. We intend to establish a frame of cultural comparisons, and to contrast the uniqueness, differences and repetition that is present across all these events to further understand the artistic interventions that were formed in the 1922 competition. Therefore, it is not a matter of continuing to repeat the inaccurate assessments of the ethnographic or musicological errors of Falla or Lorca in their approach to the event, nor of continuing to uncritically celebrate the formula for highlighting flamenco music and dance in competitions, festivals, biennials and deformed mirrors of el Concurso del 22, which remain hegemonic when it comes to highlighting the value of flamenco. It is clear how Borges makes the same paternalistic mistakes as Federico García Lorca when highlighting primitivism, spontaneity and the popularism of the tango and flamenco respectively, but also how his patronage served to honour the ways of making these types of music and dances, and became a spokesperson for cultural matters, when even his disquisitions were considered almost miscreant.
The Art of The Flute – Jorge Grundman Join Jorge Grundman, composer, Alisa Weilerstein, cello, Gili Schwarzman, flute, and Eduardo Frías, piano, in two NY events: September 27, 2022: Meet the Composer at The National Opera Center September 28, 2022: Carnegie Hall On September 28, the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York will host the second concert by composer Jorge Grundman held in this prestigious concert hall. On this occasion, three internationally renowned interpreters, flutist Gili Schwarzman, cellist Alisa Weilerstein and pianist Eduardo Frías, join their talents to interpret a selection of the work for flute, cello and piano by Jorge Grundman. The recital will include three world premieres and one local premiere. The concert program includes works of the recent release of the prestigious Sony Classical company, Jorge Grundman: “Flute Works”. New York audiences will have the opportunity to hear three world premieres, Lagerfeld in Winter. Sonata for flute and piano Op 77, Tan beautiful as you for trio Op. 91 y Facing Emotions for Trio Op. 90 dedicated to cellist Alisa Weilerstein. The trio De la Hermosura y Dignidad de Nuestras Almas (Of Beauty and Dignity of Our Souls), Op. 43 and the flute sonata Warhol in Springtime Op. 18 complete the concert. Jorge Grundman is a full professor at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and teaches in the Doctorate Program in Music and its Science and Technology. His father, Henri Grundman, a German by birth, emigrated to New York in 1938 and, as a New York citizen, obtained American nationality and met Ana Isla, whom he married at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. In this way, the city of New York becomes for Jorge Grundman not only the home that welcomed his parents, his older brother, and his nephew but also the place where some of the most important scenes of his life are created, that would be permanently reflected in his musical work and in countless compositions inspired by the city and its inhabitants. As a result of his numerous walks around New York City, Jorge Grundman composed the cycle of four sonatas for flute and piano “The Warhol’s Four Seasons of New York” to which the two sonatas that can be heard at Carnegie Hall belong. See complete program for Carnegie Hall. Program CH See Carnegie complete dossier. Dossier Carnegie Hall_EN
Pulitzer Prize Winner and 2011 Composers’ Commission Recipient Reviewed in The NY Times Pianist Adam Kent has just issued a new album entirely dedicated to Pulitzer Prize winner and CUNY colleague Tania León. “Teclas de Mi Piano” features eleven piano works that were composed across a span of almost fifty years. The album opens with the eight-minute long HOMENATGE, the Foundation for Iberian Music’s 2011 Composers’ Commission. This vigorous piece is dedicated to Catalan composer Xavier Monstsalvatge in a kind of a counter colonial wink. The piece was premiered in 2012 by Adam Kent at Carnegie Hall, then dashingly choreographed by Pedro Ruiz for DANCE THEATER OF HARLEM, and subsequently performed at the Burgos International Music Festival. It has since been performed uninterruptedly by many pianists and in inumerable venues. The New York Times states that Adam Kent (see full review) “brings a virtuoso’s zest to the dance rhythms and bluesy clusters that cavort in the composition’s opening minutes. But he also offers a patient, less showy sensibility during the ruminative airs of the final minutes.”
The Invention of Race in Medieval Spain Our distinguished colleague Dr. K. Meira Goldberg has delivered a lecture entitled “Genética y historia: negritud y alteridad” (“Genetics and history: blackness and otherness”) as part of the University of Granada’s recent Flamenco MOOC (Massive Open Online Course). Dr. Goldberg’s lecture can be viewed here (in Spanish only). A text version is also available here. Dr. Goldberg, “La Meira,” is a flamenco dancer, choreographer, teacher and scholar. She has co-edited many scholarly volumes with Antoini Pizà, is the author of several seminal books on race and the transatlantic circulation of music and dance, especially as it pertains to the Iberian world. The Flamenco MOOC is presented “on the occasion of the Centenary of the Cante Jondo Contest held in Granada in 1922” and “intends to analyze the artistic and cultural phenomenon of flamenco in its entire field of action and production, from a transversal, critical and at the same time informative, accessible perspective. to anyone interested in approaching and learning about this transnational art with deep and multiple roots.”
Rediscovery and New Publication: Bretón’s Piano Quintet in G Major Antoni Pizà and María Luisa Martínez of the Foundation for Iberian Music have just published their edition of the Piano Quintet in G Major by Tomás Bretón (1850–1923). This ambitious chamber piece had been lost for almost a century. Its existence was actually known because the composer based his Symphony No. 3 in G Major on the original chamber piece. After its composition it was performed only once, almost a century ago, and then the original autograph manuscript resurfaced in our team’s researches. In 2018, it was performed with great success at Fundación Juan March in Madrid and now a beautiful critical edition has just been published by Instituto Complutense de Ciencias Musicales . It is the hope of the editors that a new second life will start for this superb chamber work. Discover more about Tomás Bretón by exploring our other posts about the composer here.
Responses in Music to Climate Change International conference to be held via Zoom, 4-8 October 2021 Registration now open Conference schedule Full program Selected bibliography, discography, and webography about music and climate change The deleterious effects of anthropogenic climate change continue to shape music making in a post-industrial, global society. Indigenous communities—those typically least responsible for the carbon emissions that have contributed to global warming—face the elimination or depletion of natural resources necessary for their musical practices and traditions. Composers of art music, many compelled to bear witness to our current times and bring awareness to threatened ecosystems, draw sound material from endangered environmental sources. Popular music, too, continues to respond through concerts, songs that thematize the environment, and celebrity endorsements for protection measures. Across all forms of music making, discourses of preservation, sustainability, visibility, and action are pervasive. This conference collects and shares research on music’s place within the Anthropocene from a wide range of perspectives. Originally scheduled for April 2020, the current reimagining of this event is itself an environmental response and testament to human perseverance in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. The arrival of COVID-19 presents an important context within which to confront climate change issues, and this context will be directly addressed here, in Responses in Music to Climate Change. We are excited to feature the following: Photo by Steven Feld A keynote address by ethnomusicologist Steven Feld A pre-recorded presentation by composer John Luther Adams Photo by Molly Sheridan Photo by Gabriel Majou A live interview with composer Christopher Tin Adaptations: Confronting Climate Change Amid COVID-19 A roundtable discussion with scholars Aaron Allen (University of North Carolina at Greensboro), Mark Pedelty (University of Minnesota), Alexander Rehding (Harvard University), Jeff Todd Titon (Brown University), Denise von Glahn (Florida State University), and Holly Watkins (University of Rochester)
Sound Art, COVID, and the First Mediterranean Conference on Music and Science With COVID raging on both sides of the Atlantic, scholars and musicians are finding ways to continue their activities. ZOOM has become an indispensable tool for our work, whether in the classroom, the e-concert hall, or its use in professional conferences. Ferrer-Molina At the end of November 2020, organized by Fundació Assemblea de Ciutadans i Ciutadanes del Mediterrani (FACM), a group of scholars and artists in both music and the sciences gathered via Zoom to present their work under the aegis of the I Congrès Mediterrani Música I Ciència. One of the highlights of the conference was the intervention of Ferrer-Molina with a sound installation titled CONCIERTO PARA TRENES DE METRO Y BANDA, which includes an intervention in the Alameda train station in Valencia (Spain) for fifty-two players within the “natural” environment of train sounds. Ferrer-Molina has participated in many events at the Foundation for Iberian Music, including the 2017 Sound Art Festival with Miguel Álvarez-Fernández, Isaac Diego García and others. Miguel Álvarez-Fernández Álvarez-Fernández and Ferrer-Molina were also guests at the CUNY Graduate Center’s Composers Forum, to discuss their music. As described by Antoni Pizà, the curator of the event, their creative work inhabits the margins between experimental music and sound art. It explores conceptual art, performance, experimental video, and other possibilities for developing the audience’s relationship with sound. They engage with these questions involving intersections through concert pieces, sound installations, sculptures, curatorial projects and many other manifestations. Moving forward a different kind of musical experience, of special interest was the intervention of guitarist Mirza Redžepagić, which explored some similarities between Bosnian traditional music and flamenco. The two-day event is on two different posts on YouTube corresponding to the first and second sessions. Also, check out the web of the Fundació Assemblea de Ciutadans i Ciutadanes del Mediterrani (FACM). About the conference they state: “The Mediterranean Congress “Music and Science” aims to be an annual event that brings together different personalities of music and science in the Mediterranean area in order to share aspects that year after year have affected the interrelation between music and music. science. In its first edition, on November 27 and 28, 2020, in online format, the central theme of the Mediterranean Congress “Music and Science” is the use of ICT in the Covid scenario, while the pandemic situation has forced the science and music, disciplines that require intense teamwork, to transfer a large part from its work to the internet. Organized by the ACM Foundation in collaboration with Mostra Viva del Mediterrani and the ACM circle of Sarajevo.” In the end, nowadays it all seems to be circling back to COVID and its consequences.
“Ushaq:” Love Efflorescent. NY Andalus Ensemble Fall Concert The New York Andalus Ensemble‘s seasonal concert with the full ensemble is rapidly approaching! The theme of this year’s fall concert is Ushaq, Love Efflorescent. It will be held at La Nacional, December 11 at 7:30 pm. Tickets ($22 / $16 student & senior) are available through the NYAE website. Join us for a celebration of unity through music and song from al-Andalus and North Africa. A smaller ensemble will also be making a rare west coast appearance in January! Director Samuel Torjman Thomas (oud/vocals/saxophone/nay), Salah Rhani (violin), and Dror Sinai (percussion) will perform at Kuumba’s in Santa Cruz, CA on January 9, 2020, in a special event sponsored by the Humanities Institute at UCSC. Tickets ($26.25 advance) are available directly from Kuumba’s. New York Andalus Ensemble 7:30 pm 11 December 2019 La Nacional 239 W. 14th St NY, NY Asefa Trio 7:00 pm 9 January 2020 Kuumba’s Jazz 320-2 Cedar St. Santa Cruz, CA
Pop Music Before The Pop Era: Spanish Music in the US Recording Industry (1896-1914) Kiko Mora (University of Alicante), a previous scholar in residence at the Foundation for Iberian Music, recently published the findings of a research project on the foundations of the Latin music recording industry in the US. (This project was supported by grants from CIOFF/INAEM [International Council of Folklore and Traditional Arts Organizations / Instituto Nacional de las Artes Escénicas /Ministerio de Cultura].) For the early music industry, New York City was the center of the world. On March 26, Mora will be at the Graduate Center to present this research. Due to travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, this event has been canceled. The book is called De Cera y goma-laca: La producción de música española en la industria fonográfica estadounidense (1896-1914) (Spain: INAEM, 2018). (Wax and shellac: The Production of Spanish music in the United States phonograph industry [1896-1914].) De cera y goma-laca is a quantitative and historiographic study of Spanish music produced during the early years of two record companies, the Columbia Phonograph Company and Thomas Edison’s National Phonograph Company. Mora writes, “The year of 1896 marked a turning point, closing a cycle in the production of recorded music at a commercial scale, and opening another where, after the conquest of public space, the phonograph and its music cylinders begun to colonize more and more homes in a wide spectrum of music consumers.” In De cera y goma-laca, Mora analyzes the NPC and CPC’s recording production, mainly with regards to the Spanish music titles, performers and composers. This production covers a period of time where music of European origin had a remarkable presence in the companies’ catalogs, under the sections called “Foreign records,” “Ethnic Records” and “Opera records”—a presence which was severely diminished with the outbreak of the First World War. In comparative terms, Spanish immigrants living in the US hardly exceeded 22,000 during this period, but their music was widely represented in recording industry repertory. What was the ratio of production of music related to Spain? What was the status of the Spanish music in the US and Latin-American markets? What was the perception of this music for the US audience ? What were the most prolific years and cities of production? What genres were most recorded and sold? How can these ratios be explained? Who were the most recurring composers and performers? Why? This lecture aims to answer these questions. (You can read a full review of the book here; it is available for purchase from Deflamenco.) 7:00 pm 26 March 2020 Room C198 The Graduate Center Mora is a longtime collaborator with the Foundation for Iberian Music and he has published numerous articles and books on Spanish and Latin American popular music and film music. He is among the speakers invited to give papers at our conference Flamenco in the United States on the day after his book presentation, March 27. Registration for the conference is free; please join us in the Graduate Center’s Skylight room! (Visit the conference page linked above for full details.)