New Trends in Intercultural Composition from the lens of intra-Asian Subjectivities
 

As a legacy of Western colonialism, Western conservatory-style music education has been adopted throughout the world by cultures outside of the West, often to the detriment of regional interconnections. Consequently, Western composition has become an international practice, albeit a largely Euro-American oriented one. Mid to late 20th Century composers such as Chou Wen-Chung (China), Isang Yun (Korea) and Toru Takemitsu (Japan) were among the first composers to emerge from East Asia with compositions that incorporate Chinese, Korean and Japanese cultural meanings, aesthetics and even instruments to their compositions. Over the first two decades of the 21st century, with new generations of composers having greater international mobility, access to education in cultures beyond their own and organizations that support and encourage intra-Asian intercultural collaboration on the Asian continent and within Asian diaspora throughout the world, what is the current situation and/or current trends of intercultural composition in Asia? 

 

This is the broad theme of a music festival and conference titled “Paradigmatic Revolutions: Countering West-centric global narratives through the perspective of Asian Cultures and Composers”, to be held at the University of Alberta from April 1-5, 2025.

We welcome paper proposals engaging with the following themes on intercultural music composition in Asia:  

 

Beyond Western Hegemony | How has the practice of composition in Asia over the last century overcome West-centric hegemonic narratives (e.g. ‘orientalism’, Western vs. Non-western). How have balances of cultural-political power in the world of composition shifted to different regional and/or global balances moving from the 20th into the 21st century?

 

What is involved in the craft of intercultural composition? | What are the various ways in which composers negotiate the music languages and cultural meanings of two or more different music cultures to produce a hybrid work? To what extent is training in two different cultures necessary to write hybrid music that is successful in both cultures, especially in writing for mixed instrument ensembles?

 

Analysis of Intercultural Music | How do we analyze compositions influenced by two or more cultures that move past purely West-centric modes and models of music theory and analysis? Who is responsible for developing these intercultural analysis models?  

Intra-Asian Composers and Composition Networks | Local/regional networks of composers, performers and scholars within and between cultures on the Asian continent over the last 50 years. How have they shaped Asia-centric practices of composition? What are the activities in these networks (concerts, conferences, workshops, student summer institutes, experimental undergrounds, etc)?

 

Deterritorialization of traditional music practices | What is the transformative effect on composition when instrumental traditions are increasingly being taught and/or practiced outside of the tradition’s historical, geographic home?

 

Traditional practices, authenticity and innovation | How do ideas of cultural music preservation (e.g. intangible cultural heritage asset) and innovation interact in the context of composition?

 

Bicultural composers & blurred boundaries | How does bicultural identity (e.g. by birth, diaspora) shape individual expression in composition?

 

Cultural Outsider as Insider | Beyond intra-Asia regional micro-flows of culture leading to Asia-centric composition in Asia, how does modern day cosmopolitanism create contexts where cultural outsiders train, study and practice in Asian traditions (inside and outside of Asia) and become music culture insiders?

 

Multi-media Art and ‘Virtual Intercultural Space’ | How does technology provide a broad range of media types to combine, interact and shape unique instances of personal, cultural/intercultural expression?

 

1. Individual paper (20 minutes plus 10 minutes for questions): submit an abstract of max. 250 words 

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2. Lecture-Performance (20 minute lecture performance plus 10 minutes for questions): submit an abstract of max. 250 words along with any needs to accommodate the performance.

Abstracts should include name(s), affiliation(s) and contact details of all participants.

 

Submission 

Please send the information requested to the programme committee at jsr1@ualberta.ca   by December 31, 2024.  

 

Acceptance notifications will be sent by January 15, 2025, along with confirmation of the conference registration fee and other preliminary details. 

Programme Committee
Jeffrey Roberts, University of Alberta
Michael Frishkopf, University of Alberta
Frederick Lau, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Mingyeong Son, Seoul National University

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