China and East Asia music conference

[caption id="attachment_2443" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Eastern Voices (Culturescapes concert)"]

[/caption] International CHIME (European Foundation for Chinese Music Research) holds its 15th conference in Basel, Switzerland on theme of The Music of China and East Asia: Theory versus Practice 15th International CHIME Conference 24-28 November, 2010, Basel, Switzerland How does musical theory in China and East Asia differ from musical theory elsewhere in the world? What are its unique contributions to culture and to musical performance? How can we meaningfully integrate theory and practice in the (many) cases where theory and performance practice clash? What accounts for the discrepancies? Theory is a domain for theorists, scholars and political ideologists, but obviously also for musicians. In the case of musicians, too, we may encounter puzzling contradictions between what people say they are doing, and what they actually do in performance. This edition of the annual CHIME meeting explores the intriguing relationships between theory and practice from many different angles: state politics, nation-building, philosophy, ritual doctrine, ethnic cultural ideologies, Western-imported 'abstract' concepts such as l'art pourt l'art... We look at the whole spectrum, from professional stage arts to rural and tribal music, from living music to genres of the past. We would like to address specific questions such as: How has theorizing on music changed over time? What sort of theorizing informs cultural preservation policies in the realm of Chinese and East Asian music today? What kind of theorizing is applied in the realm of pop music? Where does modern analytical music scholarship (inside and outside Asia) stand? Can its claims to objectivity be substantiated? The 15th International CHIME meeting will be held in conjunction with the Swiss festival Culturescapes, of which the autumn 2010 edition is devoted to Chinese culture. (For more info, see: www.culturescapes.ch) CHIME is a worldwide network of researchers and afficionados of Chinese and East Asian music who meet regularly to discuss work in progress. The annual meetings are open to all interested scholars and students in the realms of musicology, ethnomusicology, popular culture, anthropology, and East Asian languages, cultures and religion, but also to anyone else with a professional or private passion for Chinese and East Asian music. CHIME meetings are attended by scholars, but also by musicians, journalists, film makers and general music lovers. Registering for the conference automatically results in a membership to CHIME.