“Snapshot: Views of traditional music, market economy, funding and professionalization in Croatia”
This presentation examines the increased professionalization and specialization of traditional music in contemporary post-socialist Croatia, exploring the role of economic, social, and symbolic capital in shaping the historical trajectories of a multiplicity of music scenes.
Presentation Abstract:
Borrowing the form of a snapshot (as in Garland Encyclopedia, vol. 3: The United States and Canada, ed. by E. Koskoff, 2000), and following up some ideas from the Music and Marx: Ideas, practice, politics (ed. by R. Burckhardt Qureshi, 2002), in this presentation I shall try to sketch a few specific examples pertaining to uncomfortable compound of traditional music, market economy, funding and professionalization in today’s Croatia. My recent research into the money flow in Croatian traditional music has shown the orientation of music-making towards predominantly economic, social or symbolic capital, depending on the music scene in question. At the same time, no matter the historical trajectory of this or that music scene (for instance, klapa singing, gusle epics and organized folklore amateurism as three significant examples), the research has also shown that in the post-socialist period there is a growing general tendency to link music-making as a cultural capital to economic capital, that is, in other words, there is a tendency towards professionalization in terms of specialized skills the enactment of which requires financial remuneration. In this presentation I shall make a step further by focusing on professionalization in the sphere of intangible cultural heritage, taking as examples the arrangement of a specialized governmental fund, the program of the professional folklore ensemble, and the employment of heritage at two celebratory events. On the other side, I shall analyze the dynamics on the public scene of Romani music, interwoven with broader discourses and presentations of Croatian multiculturalism. A special attention will be paid, again, on a fund, in this case the fund for the protection of Romani traditional culture, and how members of its committee negotiate over the notions of tradition and professionalism.
Biography:
Dr. Naila Ceribašić is a professor in the department of musicology at the University of Zagreb, and a full-time employee of the city’s Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research. She has served on editorial boards for several publications, including Ethnomusicology, Translingual Discourse in Ethnomusicology, and the Croatian Journal of Ethnology and Folklore Research. Since 2011, she has served on the board of the International Council for Traditional Music, and has represented that organization on UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee of the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Date & Time:
Wednesday, October 12th, 2016 from 12:00noon—1:00PM
Location:
folkwaysAlive!, 3-47 Old Arts/Convocation Hall Building, UAlberta North Campus
All are welcome! Light refreshments will be served.
