International Conference

 

 

Conference Languages : French/English

Scientific Committee :

• Anne Damon-Guillot (Université Jean Monnet de Saint-Étienne)
• Nicolas Élias (Institut Français d’Études Anatoliennes, Istanbul)
• Jérôme Cler (Université Paris-Sorbonne)

• Anne Damon-Guillot (Université Jean Monnet de Saint-Étienne)
• Nicolas Élias (Institut Français d’Études Anatoliennes, Istanbul)
• Talia Bachir-Loopuyt (Institut de Recherche sur les Musiques du Monde, Paris)

Statement of intent

    Recent studies in Turkey – the work of Aram Kerovpyan and Altug Yilmaz (2010) and the PhD thesis of Burcu Yıldız (2012), for example –, show that musicology takes on the subject of musics played, sung, composed, listened to by the Armenians in Istanbul with a new methodology and a new approach, out of the bias treatment that was common hitherto. In parallel, Armenian musics’ visibility seems to have increased, as attested, for instance, by the recent publications in Istanbul of recordings of Armenian songs, always paralleling with other musical traditions of the old Ottoman Empire (Hergel et Yıldız éd. 2014, Avedikyan éd. 2010). However, such investigations are rare and Istanbul’s field is still largely to be investigated, especially for the present-day music. Istanbul appears as an interesting field because, on the one hand, one estimates that 75% of the Armenians of Turkey are living there (Poyraz Doğan 2012) and, on the other hand, the town arouses rich musical exchanges for a long time (Élias 2012).  

    The symposium will be the place of pooling and comparison of data and results of researchers working at the international, on musical practices of the Armenians in Istanbul. The historical Armenian community, that is the Turkish citizens registered in the Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul, will be taken into consideration, as well as the sometimes many migrants from Armenia who entered the town since the fall of U.S.S.R. The primary objective of the project is to provide an inventory of these contemporary practices, both individual and collective, religious and secular, intimate – as lullabies (Amy de la Bretèque; Bilal 2013) – or demonstrative – like the Mass (Damon-Guillot 2014) or concerts –, dying or changing. Moreover, we’ll try to understand how they take place in the sonic dimension of the town (cf. Guillebaud 2014 et Candau ; Le Gonidec 2013), by estimating their publicity in particular through the musical edition, the discographic production (Kalan Müzik for example) and the artistic scene of Istanbul (for instance: choirs, Armenian pop, çiplak Ayaklar, or the very new group Vomank). Last, the memorial function of the Armenian music in Istanbul must be taken into account as effective in the present (Martin 2008), within cultural, political and identity stakes.

    The architectural and intellectual visibility of the Armenian community constrasts with its small sonic and musical presence. Indeed, the Armenian heritage, in terms of architectural traces and of religious buildings, is still rich in Istanbul, in spite of the low demographic reality of Armenians (Pérouse 2005). Moreover, the intellectual life, kept up in particular by the bilingual (Turkish-Armenian) newspaper Agos, remains active. How can this huge gap be explained?What is the real sonic presence, both quantitative and qualitative, of the Armenians in the present-day Istanbul? Starting from this point, other questions will be asked :

The specificity of the musical forms in question, in their interaction with the several musical systems (makam, tonal system for example) that contributed or contribute to defining them.

How do the musical practices of the Armenians from Istanbul position themselves in relation with the world diaspora, Turkey, Armenia, western Europe ? What do these choices reveal about the community?

What does music say, when there are sometimes no more words (Balancar 2011) ? What does the community let hear from itself ?

    Communications will be based on records and field investigations and, if necessary, on primary written sources.

        The project has four components :

1. Seminar 
2. Şusic workshops (by Aram Kerovpyan), intended first for students
3. Performance (Gomidas’la yolculuk (the journey with Gomidas) by the company çıplak Ayaklar from Istanbul)
4. Publication (audio recordings and texts).     

Selected references

• Amy de la Bretèque, Estelle ; Bilal, Melissa. « The Oror and the Lorî : Armenian and Kurdish lullabies in present-day Istanbul », Remembering the Past in Iranian Societies, P.Kreyenbroek and C.Allison (eds). Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz, 2013. p. 125-140.
• Avedikyan, Sezar éd. Sesin Bekçisi ; Baba Hampartzum 1768-1839 ; Besteler ve şaraganlar. 2 CD Kalan 516, Istanbul, 2010.  
• Balancar, Ferda, ed. The Sounds of Silence ; Turkey’s Armenians Speak, Istanbul, Hrant Dink Foundation Publications, 2011.
• Candau Joël ; Le Gonidec, Marie-Barbara, eds. Paysages sensoriels : essai d’anthropologie de la construction et de la perception de l’environnement sonore, Paris, éditions du CTHS, 2013 (collection Orientations et méthodes, n° 26).
• Damon-Guillot, Anne. « « Lire » et « offrir » la messe : voix et terminologies des chantres de l’Église apostolique arménienne d’Istanbul », Dire/chanter, B. Ramaut-Chevassus et Anne Damon-Guillot dir. Saint-Étienne : P.U.S.E., 2014.
• Élias, Nicolas. Lavta, étude pour un luth d’Istanbul. Istanbul, Isis ; Institut Français d’Études Anatoliennes, 2012 (Les Cahiers du Bosphore LXVII).
• Guillebaud, Christine ed. Toward an Anthropology of Ambient Sound, New York : Routledge (Anthropology series), 2014.
• Hergel, Ari ; Yıldız, Burcu éd. Yerkaran ; Gomidas vartabed’in ermenice, kürtçe ve türkçe derlemelerinden düzenlemeler (arrangements from Armenian, Kurdish, and Turkish songs collected by Gomidas Vartabed). 1 CD Kalan 631, Istanbul, 2014.
• Kerovypan, Aram ; Yilmaz, Altug.  Klasik Osmanli Müzigi Ve Ermeniler [La Musique classique ottomane et les Arméniens, en turc]. Istanbul, Ermeni Hastanesi Vakfı Kültür Yayınları, 2010.
• Martin, Denis-Constant. « Traces d’avenir ; Mémoires musicales et réconciliation en Afrique du Sud », Cahiersd’ethnomusicologie n° 22 (2008). p. 141-168.
• Pérouse, Jean-François. « Les non musulmans à Istanbul aujourd’hui : une présence en creux ? Le cas de l’arrondissement de Fatih », Revue des mondes musulmans et de la Méditerranée [en ligne], n° 107-110 (septembre 2005) http://remmm.revues.org/2815
• Poyraz Doğan, Yonca. « Les Arméniens de Turquie sortent « du silence » », Zaman [en ligne] (5 Janvier 2012)http://www.zamanfrance.fr/article/les-arm%C3%A9niens-de-turquie-sortent-%C2%AB-du-silence-%C2%BB
• Yıldız Burcu. Cultural memory, identity and music, thèse de doctorat non publiée. Istanbul, Istanbul Technical University, 2012.

Proposal Submissions Guidelines

    Each proposal, in French or English, should include :

• Author’s last and first name ;
• Author’s institutional affiliation and profession (please specify if you are a student) ;
• Author’s biography (up to 150 words)
• Author’s mailing address, phone number and e-mail ;
• Author’s recent publications, in reverses chronological order (up to 5) ;
• Presentation title ;
• Presentation abstract (300-500 words).
• Selected bibliography (mandatory).

Lectures must last 30 minutes.

Files should be sent as e-mail attachments (Word format) to anne.damon@univ-st-etienne.fr

The deadline is July 25th, 2014.