11-14 September, 1995
Rotterdam, The Netherlands

SECOND CONFERENCE OF CHIME: EAST ASIAN VOICES

The second international conference of CHIME, the European
Foundation for Chinese Music Research, entitled 'East Asian
Voices', will be organized in De Doelen in Rotterdam, The
Netherlands, from 11 September to 14 September 1995. The
Research School CNWS of Leiden University and the School of
Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London will cooperate
in the organization of the meeting, which is also supported by
the European Science Foundation (ESF).

The aim of the conference is to bring together specialists of
East Asian folk literature and religion, and musicologists and
anthropologists who have collected musical materials in the
field. The focus of the conference will be on living
traditional music and vocal rituals as these can be found in
China, Japan, Korea, and other East Asian countries. The
sub-themes of the meeting will be Voices addressing the gods;
and Voices addressing mortals. With this in mind, the various
sessions and workshops will cover Buddhist, Daoist and
Confucian traditions as well as several genres of lyric and
narrative poetry, including nanguan and pingtan, rural work
songs, wedding songs, and funeral laments. Some of the themes
suggested for panel discussions are: Time and Cadence in East
Asian Epic Songs; Folk Songs in History Compared with
Present-Day Traditions; "Thanking God" Rituals; Shamans and
Mediums; and Buddhist and Daoist Liturgy. One of the aims of
the meeting is to reach to a cross-cultural comparison of some
of these genres. In addition to presentations of papers and
panels, there will be musical intermezzi, film and video
reports on recent fieldwork in East Asia. There will be an
opportunity for on-the-spot fieldwork as well, in the form of
interviews with folk musicians from the region who will be
invited to attend.

THE AIM OF THE CONFERENCE
So far, it has been rare for East Asian musical repertoires to
be studied from a ritual and literary perspective. The
intricate links between music and religion, music and poetry,
and music and stories -- especially with respect to their
combined impact in performance- have been fairly neglected.
One such grossly underrated field of study in the West is
Chinese oral literature. Although it is respected in Western
sinology, it is seen mainly as a reservoir of raw materials
for the Chinese popular novels and stories of the 16th century
and later, and not as a cultural world in its own right.
Despite some important American initiatives designed to
upgrade this approach, only a small number of folklorists and
religion specialists have followed suit.
It is time to adopt a new attitude. After all, how can one
collect music without paying attention to folk stories and the
ritual contexts? How can East Asian traditional music be
understood if it is approached merely as "music" in the narrow
20th century Western sense of "organized sound"? 'East Asian
Voices' intends to stimulate such new research, and to help
adopt such a new attitude.

FEES, PAPERS & PRESENTATIONS
The conference fee is set at Dfl.150. This amount will cover
full participation in the programme (papers, workshops, films,
concerts), and a book of abstracts. Papers and presentations
will be given in English. The proceedings will be published in
two special issues of the CHIME Journal.
Those who wish to present a paper on one of the given themes
should send an abstract (one page A4 maximum) to the address
below.
Although the Committee reserves the right to select not only
on the basis of the quality of the papers, but also on
possible combinations for the panels, those interested in
participating in a panel about one of the themes should not
hesitate to make this interest known. Papers can have a
duration of 10, 15, or 20 minutes. A strict time schedule will
be observed. Do not forget to indicate the length of your
presentation and the audio-visual equipment that is needed.
The closing date for the proposals is set at April 30, 1995.

MORE INFORMATION CAN BE OBTAINED FROM: 
CHIME Programme Committee
P.O. Box 11092
NL - 2301 EB Leiden
The Netherlands
Tel: + 31-71-133123
Fax: + 31-71-123183
E-mail: Zanten@RULfsw.LeidenUniv.NL