DOCUMENTING JAZZ 2020

‘We never look at just one thing; we are always looking at the relation between things and ourselves. Our vision is continually active, continually moving, continually holding things in a circle around itself, constituting what is present to us as we are’, John Berger, (ed.) Ways of Seeing. 1987.

Birmingham City University is pleased to announce the Call for Papers for the Documenting Jazz conference, to be held on 16–18 January 2020. Now in its second year, Documenting Jazz brings together colleagues from across the academic, archive, library, and museum sectors to explore and discuss documenting jazz. Since its first edition in Dublin 2019, the Documenting Jazz Conference aims to offer an unparalleled variety of experiences drawn from across the world. We hope to include contributions from individuals of all career stages, from established scholars and practitioners to those just starting their careers. We embrace the academic sector and other heritage and cultural organisations in partnership with each other and with communities. Our keynote speakers are drawn from across the academic sector to inspire debate and discussion amongst participants.
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Call for Papers
Progressive Rock and Metal: Towards a Contemporary Understanding
The 4th Biennial International Conference of the Progect Network for the Study of Progressive Rock

Hosted by Lori Burns at the University of Ottawa, May 20-22, 2020 (Ottawa, Canada)

CFP Deadline: September 15, 2019

Progressive Rock and Metal: Towards a Contemporary Understanding aims to explore the past and present contexts of the genres of progressive rock and metal. With its origins in the psychedelic counterculture and freeform rock radio (a format featuring long-playing records) in the late 1960s, progressive rock of the 1970s was characterized by formal complexity, dynamic variety, instrumental experimentation, and the influence of classical and jazz music. While progressive rock flourished in the 1970s with bands such as Pink Floyd, Genesis, and Rush, the 1980s and 1990s saw the rise of progressive metal as a major development within the metal scene. Bands such as Dream Theater, Tool, and Meshuggah presented a new style of metal that embraced many of the values of progressive rock (e.g. harmonic, rhythmic, and formal complexity, instrumental virtuosity, and concept-driven albums) and ventured into new and innovative musical territories such as dense chromaticism and polyrhythmic structures. Since 2000, progressive metal has thrived with artists such as Pain of Salvation, Symphony X, and Devin Townsend. At the same time, metal bands such as Opeth, The Gathering, and Anathema have shifted away from metal subgenres towards progressive rock. Artists such as Porcupine Tree, Riverside, and The Pineapple Thief have reprised 70s progressive rock aesthetics while also exploring progressive metal and alternative rock stylings. Progressive bands have also explored genre intersections, resulting in a diversity of styles and crossovers. For instance, the progressive aesthetics of the 1970s have been revitalized in “new-prog,” a genre which blends contemporary punk stylings with progressive rock, as exemplified by bands such as The Mars Volta, Coheed & Cambria, and Circa Survive. The progressive bands of the new millennium are thus influenced by a range of genres, including progressive rock and metal, post-hardcore, electronica, industrial, alternative rock, jazz-rock, experimental rock, and post-rock. The genre fusions and stylistic eclecticism of the past twenty years have led to a profusion of progressive rock and metal styles, and progressive features have surfaced in other music genres such as alternative rock and indie rock, as exemplified by bands such as American Football, Minus the Bear, and The Dear Hunter. With this musical corpus, artists engage with a range of musical and worldbuilding strategies. In the 70s, progressive rock advanced the concept album and intermedia forms with works such as Genesis’s The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway Tour (1974) or Pink Floyd’s The Wall (1979). Contemporary progressive bands have continued and furthered the transmedia aspects of musical expression through elaborate concept-based recordings, music videos, films, print materials, and other media forms (e.g. Steven Wilson’s Hand Cannot Erase (2015) or Coheed and Cambria’s Amory Wars series (2002-present)). Much scholarly work is needed to explore the musical expression, structural elements, production values, worldbuilding strategies, critical and fan reception, and other discursive aspects of the genre.
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Call for Papers:

“New Perspectives in Popular Music Research”

Alumni Symposium: University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway, 5–6 December 2019

An alumni two-day symposium on new perspectives in popular music will be held by the Department of Popular Music, Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Agder. This marks the tenth anniversary of our PhD programme in popular music performance, and provides an opportunity to showcase work by former graduates, current PhD candidates, and scholars associated with music research within the broad field of popular music studies. A keynote address by professor Keith Negus will frame and contextualize the event. It is also envisaged that contributors will have the opportunity to have their papers published through a channel supported by the department.

Proposals for 20-minute presentations consisting of 200 words and a brief biographical note (stating your qualifications and institutional affiliations) should be received by 30 August 2019 and addressed to: michael.rauhut@uia.no

Organizing committee:
Prof. Tor Dybo
Prof. Stan Hawkins
Dr. Daniel Nordgård
Prof. Michael Rauhut

Practical information:
The symposium is free of charge and refreshments will be included.
The venue is University of Agder in Kristiansand, Norway: https://www.uia.no/en
The University has special rates with various hotels in Kristiansand.

CFP: Diva: Hip-Hop, Feminism, Fierceness
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2019/05/20/diva-hip-hop-feminism-fierceness

The shift from the margins to the mainstream has occurred simultaneously, over the last few decades, for two groups that now jointly exert a central influence over contemporary culture and politics: female r’n’b and hip-hop artists, and feminist thinkers and activists. The coming together of these two groups and sensibilities has redefined contemporary popular music (in all senses of musics of black origin), and wider culture and politics, in the West – from the banlieues to the White House, from Black Lives Matter to #MeToo, from Betty Davis to Neneh Cherry, TLC to Aaliyah, Alicia Keys to Iggy Azalea, Beyonce to Ariana Grande, and all points in between.
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