Latest News:

Sunday, October 6, 2019

October 6, 2019 
Post written by Michelle MacQueen
To start off the series of events for the Songs and Stories of Migration and Encounter Colloquium, we had a concert at the Holy Ghost Ukrainian Catholic Church in Whitney Pier. The concert featured on one of the world’s premier players of the bandura (Ukrainian lute-harp), Julian Kytasty. A singer, multi-instrumentalist and third-generation bandurist, he has performed and taught instrumental and choral music throughout the Americas and Europe. Born in Detroit, he has a BFA in Theory and Composition from Concordia University in Montreal. Mr. Kytasty is especially recognized for his expertise in epic songs and early bandura repertoire. As a performer, recording artist, composer, and band leader, he has redefined the possibilities of the bandura.   The concert was titled Immigrants, Exiles, and Cultural Missionaries: Bandura Music Outside Ukraine.   Event poster The bandura has been considered a national instrument in Ukraine. During the 20th century, the instrument was carried around the world by bandurists caught up in multiple waves of emigration. Some left to find a new home and a better future; others fled Ukraine as political exiles and wartime refugees. For each of these immigrant groups the bandura was a marker of identity and a way of expressing their deepest feelings about the place they left behind, the circumstances under which they left it, and the place they came to. In between songs, Julian taught us about these different moments of people leaving Ukraine and creating new homes elsewhere, and about the songs and stories they created.
Julian performing

Photo credit: Rachael Murphy
(Featuring Sound Communities documentarian Kirk Kitzul behind the camera)

  Julian started the concert by playing us some of traditional folk songs that would have been sung by blind singers in Ukraine, Kobzars. He told us about the history of these epic singers who sang stories of the people.
julian concert

Photo credit: Rachael Murphy

  The concert programme focused primarily on the 20th century bandura players who left Ukraine and continued their work elsewhere.  Julian taught us about the war in Ukraine after the Russian Revolution and how this caused many prominent bandurists to leave Ukraine. The next large wave of Ukrainian emigrants was after the Second World War. Julian told us about the particular difficulties Ukraine faced during this war, struggling against both Nazi Germany and Stalin’s Soviet Union. We also learned about initiatives by 1960s Soviet Ukraine to get major cultural figures to return to Ukraine.    
julian concert

Photo credit: Michelle MacQueen

Throughout the concert, Julian performed songs by these emigré bandurists and described how they felt a deep sense of cultural mission: to preserve cultural content repressed in Soviet Ukraine, to continue developing the instrument in their new homelands, and to chronicle their own experience and that of their generation.   Julian ended the concert with bandura music that was very personal to him.  As a third-generation bandurist, Julian Kytasty has been part of this process of bringing the bandura from Ukraine to North America. He played some of the music that he inherited from his father, grandfather, and other members of his family. He also played some of his own creations, including a completely improvised piece dedicated to this day of our concert.
julian concert

Photo credit: Michelle MacQueen

 

The Ukrainian songs and the sounds of the bandura reverberated beautifully throughout the Holy Ghost Ukrainian Catholic Church. It was a pleasure to learn about the songs and stories of Julian’s family and other immigrant bandurists, the instrumental music they brought with them, and the new music they made for their instrument outside of Ukraine.

Julian concert

Photo credit: Michelle MacQueen

2019 Songs and Stories: ICTM Colloquium

September 24, 2019

2019 ICTM Colloquium on Songs & Stories of Migration & Encounter

A colloquium for the International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM) hosted by The Centre for Sound Communities, Cape Breton University, October 6-12, 2019.

Following the theme ‘Songs and Stories of Migration and Encounter,’ 18 international scholars share their research on this theme and create dialogue among specialists from all over the world. This colloquium brings together artists, scholars, and community leaders from throughout Canada and the United States as well as the United Kingdom, Japan, Armenia, Austria, and Slovenia.

Scholars meet at the Centre for Sound Communities at Cape Breton University, Membertou First Nation at the Heritage Park, McConnell Public Library in Sydney’s Waterfront District, Menelik Hall in Whitney Pier, the Gaelic College in St. Anne’s, and in various community centres in Chéticamp.

The following events are open to the general public:

  • Sunday October 6, 7:00pm – Holy Ghost Ukrainian Catholic Church

Concert (freewill donation accepted): Julian Kytasty – Immigrants, Exiles, and Cultural Missionaries: Bandura Music Outside Ukraine

  • Monday October 7, 4:00pm – Centre for Sound Communities (Cape Breton University)

Public Lecture: Kaley Mason – Food, Music and Environmental Justice in South India

  • Tuesday October 8, 2:00pm, Centre for Sound Communities (Cape Breton University)

Film Screening: Julia Byl – Poets in the Living Room

  • Tuesday October 8, 4:00pm, McConnell Public Library

Film Screening: Terada Yoshitaka – Crossing over the Arirang Pass: Zainichi Korean Music

  • Tuesday October 8, 7:00pm, McConnell Public Library

Film Screening: Terada Yoshitaka – Drumming out a Message: Eisa and the Okinawan Diaspora in Japan

  • Wednesday October 9, 4:00pm, Membertou Heritage Park

Workshop/Lecture: Alex Chávez – Sonic Bridges: Home, Intimacy, and the Borderlands

  • Wednesday October 9, 7:30pm, Menelik Hall

Public Lecture: Afua Cooper – Fugitive Verses/Sonic Stories: Slavery, the Middle Passage, and the Soundscapes of Black People’s Freedom Quest

  • Thursday October 10, 11:45am, Centre for Sound Communities (Cape Breton University)

Dance Workshop: Ameera Nimjee – Kathak Dance in Hindustani Music Culture

  • Thursday October 10, 7:00pm, McConnell Public Library

Public Lecture: Gage Averill – Echoes of “Haïti Cherie” in the “Koloni”

  • Friday October 11, 7:30pm, Église Saint Pierre, Chéticamp

Concert (freewill donations accepted): Songs and Stories of Cape Breton, with various performers including Colin Grant, Chester Delaney, Robert Deveaux, Julian Kytasty, Marcia Ostashewski, and Le Choeur du Havre

Quick Facts:

  • 18 scholars from 6 countries are meeting in Cape Breton to share research about music and migration in communities around the world including virtual spaces
  • As part of the Colloquium, several community events will take place across the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, including concerts, workshops, film screenings and public talks
  • The International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM) is a scholarly, non-governmental organization in formal consultative relations with The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. ICTM aims to further the study, practice, documentation, preservation, and dissemination of traditional music and dance of all countries
  • Scholars, artists and community leaders are coming from: Cape Breton University, University of British Colombia, Dalhousie University, Memorial University of Newfoundland, University of Alberta, Membertou First Nation, Nova Scotia Rug Hookers (Cheticamp), University of Notre Dame (USA), Indiana University (USA), St. Olaf College (USA), Lewis and Clark College (USA), University of Puget Sound (USA), Royal Holloway University of London (UK), National Museum of Ethnology: Centre for Cultural Resource Studies (Japan), American University of Armenia (Armenia), University for Music and the Performing Arts Vienna (Austria), and University of Ljubljana (Slovenia)

Additional Resources:

International Council for Traditional Music: https://www.ictmusic.org/26th-ictm-colloquium-2019-cape-breton

Cape Breton University: https://www.cbu.ca

Special Events:

COVERED IN SALTWIRE MARCH 11, 2024! "Tea and conversation with elders at Cape Breton University":

https://www.saltwire.com/atlantic-canada/lifestyles/photo-tea-and-conversation-with-elders-at-cape-breton-university-100946795/

TeaWithElders-FINAL

ARCHIVE OF NEWSFLASH ANNOUNCEMENTS:

TransAtlantic Pilgrimage - Celebrating African Heritage 2024

Watch this space for more details to come! This exciting festival includes film showcases plus dance & music workshops, to be held in multiple locations around Unama'ki:  Sydney, Chéticamp, Glace Bay, Membertou Heritage Park, on campus and off — and every event is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, so come and join in! We are honoured to feature dub poet/performer/historian Dr. Afua Cooper and Afropop/jazz/rhumba musician Mark Lenini Parselelo in this colourful celebration. For more information, or to register for the Teacher Professional Development Workshops, please e-mail sound_communities@cbu.ca or call 902-563-1696.

More details to be found under Events.

TransAtlantic-SOCIAL

March 5th, 2023 | Halifax, NS | Julian Kytasty

Links referred to in above image:

1) ICTM DIALOGUES Digital Publication ‘DIALOGUES: Towards Decolonizing Music and Dance Studies’  https://ictmdialogues.org/

2) International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM) http://ictmusic.org

3) The Centre for Sound Communities (CSC) https://soundcommunities.org

4) Canadian Society for Traditional Music (CSTM) https://cstm-sctm.ca

* * * * * * *

Celebrating Black Musics & History in Unama’ki 2022 ~ Don’t miss this mega-event!

* * * * * * *

Exciting concerts, workshops and talks — all part of the Festival of Ukrainian Heritage, co-hosted by Holy Ghost Ukrainian Catholic Church and The Centre for Sound Communities — all taking place at the church and its Ukrainian Hall, 49 West Street in Sydney, Oct. 19 - Nov. 24, 2022. Let’s Celebrate & Learn: Разом … ‘Razom’ … Together! [See ‘Festival of Ukrainian Heritage’ for links.]

Bandura Master, Kobzar & Composer of Ukrainian Descent:

JULIAN KYTASTY IN CONCERT ~ two dates!

 

* * * * * * *

CSC ARTICLE PUBLISHED in ‘Passages and Prosperity’, newsletter of ANSA / African Nova Scotian Affairs.
See pages 16 and 17 of the Fall 2021 issue, here.
CSTM/SCTM CONFERENCE (registration links here) and DIALOGUES EVENTS (registration links here) HAPPENING NOW!
BREAKING NEWS! MONDAY, NOV. 1, 2021 at 5:15 p.m. Atlantic Time — On CBC’s Mainstreet Cape Breton, Wendy Bergfeldt interviews the winners of the Society for Ethnomusicology’s 2021 Helen Roberts Prize. Their article, ‘Fostering Reconciliation through Collaborative Research in Unama’ki: Engaging Communities through Indigenous Methodologies and Research-Creation’, was described by the prize committee as “standing out as particularly significant for our field and our society … This is incredibly important, even urgent work.”
The CBC interview can be heard here.
Congratulations to the co-authors:  Membertou First Nation Councillor Graham Marshall, Knowledge-keeper Clifford Paul, former youth program co-ordinator Shaylene Johnson and CSC director Dr. Marcia Ostashewski.

READ THE ARTICLE THAT WON THE 2021 ICTM PRIZE HERE:

ICTM PRIZE-WINNERS! Congratulations to our esteemed research collaborators & co-authors* at Membertou First Nation on being awarded the 2021 ICTM Article Prize ~ announced last Saturday at the General Assembly of the International Council for Traditional Music.

See it here, at 2 minutes 30 seconds:
* Membertou First Nation Councillor Graham Marshall
* Traditional Knowledge-Holder Clifford Paul
* Former youth program co-ordinator Shaylene Johnson,
co-writers with CSC Director Dr. Marcia Ostashewski

The first session of this course took place Thursday, July 22 ~ inspiring and uplifting. If you’d like to join in the second / final session taking place next Thursday, July 29 at 6:30 p.m. Atlantic Time, register here. We hope you’ll join us!

The Centre for Sound Communities congratulates Dr. Sheila Christie on her recent appointment as Chair of the Department of Literature, Folklore and The Arts, and we also thank her for her many contributions to the CSC as she leaves the post of Associate Director. Dr. Christie has exerted truly magnanimous effort in support of faculty and student researchers. She operates on the basis of scholarship and a teaching practice based on care; her thoughtful, dedicated service to the CSC, CBU and wider communities is greatly appreciated by many, as is her commitment and drive, and her impressive ability to get things done. We wish her well in her next chapter!

Join the Summer Celebration!  Zoom link is here!

Welcome, Dr. Shauna MacDonald, and thank you, Dr. Sheila Christie! Watch this space for word on a special virtual event coming July 15 to which all are invited!

 

 

Registration now open for the Summer Institute 2021 Cantoring Course!

Both sessions of this course take place at 6:30 p.m. Atlantic time.

Session 1 - July 22:  Register here

Session 2 - July 29:  Register here

 

 

 

Check out the CSC YouTube Channel here to watch a recording of the panel from our June 10 event:  Disrupting the Legacies of Colonialism and White Supremacy in Music Schools ~ with thanks to all the participants and registrants in this stellar workshop, as well as to Dr. Dylan Robinson and Dr. Jeremy Strachan for organizing this inaugural DIALOGUES event. [In the coming weeks, we will re-post the video with transcribed text in the hopes of making this ~ and future DIALOGUES events ~ as accessible as possible. Be sure to visit our FB page for news of upcoming events!]

*Coming this Fall 2021!*

Stay tuned for a series of Anti-Racist Pedagogies workshops happening this fall, which will feature a stellar lineup of international scholars and practitioners! For details and registration links, keep checking in on the CSC Facebook page for updates.

New DIALOGUES project workshop to be presented June 10, 2021! Find out more here!

On Friday, May 14, 2021, the Canadian Studies Center, Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington, Seattle presented ‘Singing Sunjata’s Story in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia:  A Mali-Canada Musical Collaboration’. The event featured CSC Director Dr. Marcia Ostashewski and research colleague, culture-bearer and internationally renowned musician Lassana Diabaté in conversation and concert. A link to the event video will be released later in May, but for further information about the project, please refer to the Projects menu selection on this website, or find out more on the Bala website:  https://balafondiabate.ca/