Posts by marcia.ostashewski@gmail.com
iEngage Cape Breton CBC Interview
Starting in May, 2015 youth, Elders, and scholars from a number of communities in Eastern Cape Breton will come together to share knowledge and gain skills in aid of the iCreate Cape Breton project. Over May and June, the groups will meet to develop materials in their own communities, and then reconvene to share and tour their creations. We welcome the general public to join in the initial training weekend, the closing symposium, and the tour, and to follow the projects’ progress through the website and at the CBU Art Gallery, where two youth-led documentary terms will be posting and displaying their work in progress. You can listen to Marcia Ostashewski and Sheila Christie explain the project during a CBC interview on Information Morning below.
Songs of Truth Website Expanded
The Songs of Truth website has recently been expanded- you can now visit the ‘Songs’ pages to read Julian Kytasty’s lively program notes for the Songs of Truth CD, read up on the history of the bandura and the kobzar tradition under ‘The Bandura’, meet our project contributors under ‘About’, and learn more about Julian’s many musical and theatrical projects and collaborations under ‘Julian Kytasty’. Or, if you’re feeling adventurous, look up the instructional materials under ‘Resources’ and learn to play the bandura yourself!
Bards of the World CBC podcasts!
Check out these two new podcasts that include concert recordings from Singing Storytellers performances! Drawing on footage from the fall 2014 concerts and new interviews, CBC’s Wendy Bergfeldt created two Island Echoes shows: Bards of the World Part 1, and Part 2 – featuring Hawa Kassé Mady Diabaté and Lassana Diabaté.
diversitycapebreton.ca – Preliminary Launch & Workshop
A preliminary launch and workshop for diversitycapebreton.ca will be held during the two-day workshop, “Curating Ethnomusicology,” June 15-16th. The workshop will be addressing the role of ethnomusicology and its interlocutors in curatorial practices. This interdisciplinary workshop will provide participants an opportunity to learn about, engage with and discuss a variety of ethnographic media and music curation tools, as well as creative models and issues related to music creation, translating field research, archives, and digital curation.
A range of methods, tools and issues will be explored. Emergent methodologies and practices arising from work with Indigenous communities will also be a focus of the workshop. Jeff Todd Titon, Professor Emeritus at Brown University, will deliver a keynote address on his pioneering research in ecomusicology and collaborative media production in ethnomusicology. Beverley Diamond, Canada Research Chair in Ethnomusicology at Memorial University and President of the Society for Ethnomusicology, will provide a closing plenary.
This workshop is in advance Exhibiting Music: 2015 – Canadian Society for Traditional Music Conference
What is the CoMM Lab?
The CoMM Lab is a performance space and a multi-sited research lab with portable production equipment for developing ethnographic media. Its Director is Dr Marcia Ostashewski, Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Communities and Cultures (CBU). The CoMM Lab is funded by the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, and it works in concert with other facilities at CBU, including the Centre for Cape Breton Studies.
Listen to CBC Mainsteet’s interview with Marcia about how the CoMM Lab came to be and what it is.
Singing Storytellers -Edited Collection
One of the legacy components of Singing Storytellers research and public outreach project is an edited collection that includes scholarly articles and transcriptions of interviews with artist/practitioners – a critical dialogue between academic and practitioner perspectives. This edited collection will be published through McGill-Queen’s University Press (MQUP). See here for the full “Call for Submissions” – deadline for proposals, 15 June 2015.
Listen to Singing Storytellers PODCASTS online!
Podcasts of Singing Storytellers Symposium presentations and performances are now online on our website! Find them here – and share them with your friends and colleagues.
Singing Storytellers Edited Collection – Call for Submissions Posted!
One of the legacy components of Singing Storytellers research and public outreach project is an edited collection that includes scholarly articles and transcriptions of interviews with artist/practitioners – a critical dialogue between academic and practitioner perspectives. This edited collection will be published through McGill-Queen’s University Press (MQUP). See here for the full “Call for Submissions” – deadline for proposals, 15 June 2015.
LISTEN SUNDAY NIGHT: Songs of Truth on Blue Grotto 97.5
Listen this Sunday night, March 15th to the Blue Grotto on CKJM FM Coopérative Radio Chéticamp – 97.5 FM in Cape Breton, 9pm-midnight Atlantic Time! Host Myron Syms will be playing some of bard Julian Kytasty’s music from the Singing Storytellers CD production Songs of Truth!
LISTEN TONIGHT to CBC's Island Echoes: Singing Storytellers…Contemporary Cape Breton Song
Listen TONIGHT online or over the airwaves at 8 – 9 pm Atlantic Time to Wendy Bergfeldt’s CBC Island Echoes: a special Singing Storytellers feature, “I Wish I Was With Them Again’: Diasporic Longing in Contemporary Cape Breton Song” by Amanda Daly Berman (Boston University).
Check back frequently to the Singing Storytellers website – for news and notifications of podcasts, for new films and other ongoing project activities.