Yuko Eguchi, a doctoral candidate in ethnomusicology, received an Outstanding Paper Award at Pitt’s 2010 Grad Expo for her presentation, "The Art of the Geisha: Constructing Feminine Identity and Social Class." The paper is part of Eguchi’s dissertation research that she expects to defend in April of 2011. In her paper, Eguchi focuses on geishas' music and dance and shows how geisha arts deal not only with women’s feelings of sensuality and femininity, but also of powerless in a male-dominated society.

Pitt's Asian Studies Center will host a book launch for The Flower Princess (Di Nü Hua): A Cantonese Opera, translated, edited and introduced by Bell Yung, assisted in translation by Sonia Ng and Katherine Carlitz. The book launch takes place on Friday, April 2, from 4–6 p.m. in Room 4130 Wesley W. Posvar Hall at University of Pittsburgh.

The Carpathian Music Ensemble, led by Assistant Professor of Music Adriana Helbig, will join the Kyiv Ukrainian Dance Ensemble for the world premiere of The Bayan Player on Saturday February 6, 2010, 3 p.m. at Andrew Carnegie Music Hall in Carnegie, Pennsylvania. The Bayan Player is an original Ukrainian Folk ballet about a village put under the spell of an angry witch, the young woman on a mission to save them, and the bayan player with the power to do so!

For complete details about the event visit the Kyiv Ukrainian Dance Ensemble home page.

Dr. E. Kwadwo O. Beeko (PhD 2005) will give a lecture for the African Studies program Thursday, January 28, 2010 for the African Studies Center  on African musical Practices: Journeying from the Traditional to the Global. The talk will take place in Room 4130 Posvar Hall from 5-7 p.m. According to Beeko,

"Many scholars have apparently embraced as almost obvious the standpoint that most of what is unique about African and African Diaspora musical cultures is credited to the persistence of an African heritage. This lecture discusses the conceptual approaches to the process of music making, and  shows how these elements can be identified, by examining and analyzing various forms or modes of cultural representation that are employed in the musical performances."

To find out more about this lecture visit the African Studies Center Events Page.

Pitt's Carpathian Music Ensemble, founded and directed by Professor of Ethnomusicology Adriana Helbig, is featured this week in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. It's an extensive article and you will want to read the whole thing, but here's a snippet that provides good insight into what the Carpathian Ensemble is all about. According to Helbig,

"[The music school] said I could start whatever ensemble I wanted. I looked at what I knew, and what would fit with Pittsburgh — there are so many Eastern European immigrants in this area — and instead of going country by country, I decided to choose the name 'Carpathian' which is regional. It includes Hungary, Slovakia, Ukraine and Poland, so I can focus on ethnicities from that region."

As the Ensemble congealed, however, Helbig realized that there's already a strong Balkan music scene in Pittsburgh, so now they play music from that area of Europe as well. "We seem to have developed a genre that people like. Instead of doing it traditionally like you'd hear it in a village, we play the instruments in our own interpretative way, like a fusion approach."

Pitt's Carpathian Music Ensemble is throwing a dance party on Saturday, December 5 at 8 p.m. in the Willliam Pitt Union Assembly Room. The party is free (but donations will be accepted) and will include regional food and lots of great music.

Chatham University will celebrate the Global Focus Year of West Africa at the Sounds of Africa Music Festival, Friday, October 2 and Saturday, October 3. Pauline Rovkah, professor of music and the festival director, has assembled Pittsburgh's finest music scholars and musicians for an incredible weekend of free events in the James Laughlin Music Hall. For more information contact Pauline Rovkah at 412-365-1676 or rovkah@chatham.edu. The festival will include discussions and performances by Pitt Department of Music faculty including Akin Euba, Eric Moe, and Roger Zahab, alumni Anicet Mundundu and members of Alia Musica Pittsburgh, and current graduate students Oyebade Dosunmu, Charles Lwanga, and Ayo Oluranti. Here is the complete schedule of events:

Friday, October 2, 4:00 p.m. "Jazz Imaginings of Africa: Aesthetics, Memory, and the African Cultural Continuum" This talk will include discussion and performance of select jazz composers' works, which demonstrate the creative connections between traditional African music and modern jazz. Dr. Kenan Foley, professor of music Dr. Anicet Mundundu, a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), is an expert in traditional and contemporary music from the central African region Immediately following: Trio performance featuring Dr. Mundundu

Saturday, October 3, 2:00-4:30 p.m. "Composition in Africa: Transmission and Reception" (Panel discussion, 2:00-3:00) Moderator: Dr. Margit Hawelleck Dr. Akin Euba, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Music, University of Pittsburgh Dr. Kenan Foley Mr Charles Lwanga Dr. Eric Moe, composer and pianist, professor of music, University of Pittsburgh Dr. Anicet Mundundu Mr. Ayo Oluranti Chamber Music Concert Works by African composers: Kwabena Nketia, Akin Euba, Vindu Bangambula, Joshua Uzoigwe, Ayodamope Oluranti Performers: Kelly Lynch, Eric Moe, Roger Zahab, Robert Frankenberry, Oye Dosunmu, Ayodamope Oluranti, Richard Page*, Pauline Rovkah, Alia Musica Sextet *Principal Bass Clarinet of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra