World music council moves to Australian beat

In a coup for Australia, the international body for world music is moving to ANU after being based in the United States for 25 years.


	ANU postgraduate Nicholas Ng keeps the beat while fellow students Xuan Zhao and Andy Minh Trieu bring a Chinese lion to life at the ICTM launch.

The International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM) secretariat will be based at the School of Music for the next three years, led by Dr Stephen Wild. A welcome reception was held recently to mark the move by the UNESCO-affiliated ICTM.

The ICTM, formed by a group of musicians and scholars in London nearly 60 years ago, has representation in over 70 countries and over 2000 members. Its first president was British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams.

“This is a great coup, as our hosting of the ICTM will not only raise the profile of world music in the Australian community, but also raise the international profile of Australian traditional music,” Dr Wild, an expert in Australian Indigenous music, said.

That sentiment was echoed by Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Chubb, who opened the new ICTM secretariat. He said hosting the council would not only allow ANU to continue forging new relationships with international centres of learning, but also to give something back to the local and national community.

“We'll be able to do good things,” Professor Chubb said, “and then share those things with the community that supports us.”

The ICTM aims to further the study of folk, popular, classical, urban music and dance of all countries through practice, documentation, preservation and dissemination of traditional music. The secretariat organises meetings, conferences, study groups and colloquia, as well as publishing the Yearbook for Traditional Music, the Bulletin of the ICTM and the Directory of Traditional Music.

“The ANU School of Music is the perfect place to host the ICTM in Australia because it has a significant program of teaching and practical activities in traditional music,” Dr Wild said.

“Current research projects of students and staff include Chinese music in Sydney, religious singing in Fiji, women in Australian folk music, music in the highlands of Papua New Guinea, and Scottish folk music in colonial Australia. The School of Music is also involved in an Australian Research Council project to document Central Australian Aboriginal songs.”

For more information: www.ictmusic.org


Jackie Bradley and Jenny Gall play an Irish reel.


	Nicholas Ng and Diana Zhang bring a touch of China to the launch.


	Norman Schillingworth and Warren Saunders perform traditional Indigenous music.

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