Ethnomusicology Matters

Abstract

and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw) signified an increase in the prestige of ethnomusicology within the university.The ICTM Secretariat is located at the mdw's Department of Folk Music Research and Ethnomusicology, which has for decades been an important networking platform for the world's many different "musics" as well as for the various music-and dancerelated expressive forms that are situated outside the mainstream. Having brought the Secretariat to the department, Ursula Hemetek's research agenda-music and minorities-received more attention: this field of research has a great deal to do with sociopolitical relevance, and this agenda is actually a point of departure for the contents of this book.International ethnomusicological personalities were invited to the aforementioned symposium to discuss the field's socio-political relevance in light of current lines of ethnomusicological discourse, which are of considerable political significance. Most of the contributions which make up this book were submitted as articles specifically for this publication, and after a double-blind peer reviewing process they have now been published. It is amazing to see how manifold the ethnomusicological approaches can be that contribute towards influencing political and social realities: analysing philosophical paradigms or the potential power of music itself, the positioning of the discipline as university politics, the application of gender discourses, discussing the role of heritage and archives as well as indigenous ontologies, and of course applied ethnomusicology itself as a political intervention in the interests of social justice.Within the discipline of ethnomusicology, the links between scholarly research and socio-political realities are largely pre-specified by interpersonal relations in fieldwork. Fieldwork often implies the forming of personal bonds with individuals and/or groups-accordingly, ethnomusicologists are commonly involved with communities and the socio-political conditions surrounding them. It is the very nature of human relationships that creates the aspiration to socio-political change in a large amount of ethnomusicological research, as the articles of this volume clearly show.Hence, ethnomusicology matters precisely because of its involvement with individuals and communities. For ethnomusicological research to gain socio-political relevance, however, a certain political intention-a vision for the way in which political realities can be influenced-is crucial. This intention manifests itself in a wide range of forms-from political statements to applied and engaged approaches to cultural and political activism; however, always involving music and/or dance. All of these forms can be read as interventions of varying extents. Research that attracts attention and critically reflects upon hegemonic structures from a theoretical perspective may have different effects than research that is explicitly 'applied', or 'engaged' practically and whose very purpose is to "benefit the community" in a "people-centered" way...