23rd Symposium of the Study Group on Historical Sources

Dear participants and guests of the symposium,
We are happy to welcome you on the official page of the meeting!
According to its new mission statement the Study Group on Historical Sources is dedicated to the discussion of any kind of sources featuring music/sound, both digital and non-digital (e.g. audio and visual recordings, manuscripts, edited texts, images, musical scores, images, films, etc.) and seeks to stimulate transdisciplinary debates on those sources within archival conditions.
Following this assignment, the forthcoming meeting proposes the following two topics:
1. Innovative approaches to sources for ethnomusicological research
2. What does the archive store?
As Joan M. Schwartz and Terry Cook (2002) propose, “Archives are not passive store houses of old stuff, but archive sites where social power is negotiated, contested and confirmed”. Moreover, they explained that memory is not something found or collected in archives, but something that is made, and continually re-made. These statements clearly show that archives are not self-evident, but created by persons following ideas, goals and distinct directions. How different is the archive for its curator and for each user? In fact, as Cheryl Simon (2002) argues, “Key to the relationship between power and knowledge, the archive constitutes a site – more imaginary than real – through which social relations are regulated, enacted by way of discursive practices of specific institutions.” What can be learned from the above statements? How to apply those proposals to the case of sound archives? Which kind of sources are we confronted with today?

During the symposium papers, master-classes, and concerts will be held in Kumangazy Kazakh National Conservatoire and Ykylas Museum of Music Instruments.
Current information about events will appear on this web-page.

Important information for participants


Program (pdf)