Introduction
Bringing together the DjembeDance research group and its international Scientific Advisory Board, the symposium presents ethnographic, computational, and experimental approaches to rhythm as multimodal, embodied and culturally situated practice.
Open to scholars, students, and the interested public.
Program
Thursday, 17 September – Public symposium
Presentations by project members on key findings and ongoing questions, followed by a public roundtable with members of the international Scientific Advisory Board.
Location: Salen (IMV)
Format: Hybrid. Click here to join the Zoom webinar.
Friday, 18 September – closed SAB workshop (non-public)
Feedback session with the Scientific Advisory Board.
Monday, 21 September – Public guest lecture
Professor Kofi Agawu: Finding the Beat in African Music.
Location: Salen (IMV)
Format: Hybrid (streamed on YouTube)
Public symposium (Thursday, 17 September): schedule
| 09:30–09:45 | Coffee, tea, and snacks |
| 09:45–10:00 | Rainer Polak Welcome and overview |
| Ethnographic approaches | |
| 10:00–10:30 | Rainer Polak Performance and audiency in djembe music and dance |
| 10:30–11:00 | Diego Marin-Bucio Improvisation and interaction in djembe dance |
| 11:00–11:30 | Coffee break and informal discussions |
| Computational corpus analyses | |
| 11:30–12:00 | Rainer Polak Cueing of meter in audio and motion data |
| 12:00–12:30 | Sagar Dutta Rhythm and tempo in video data |
| 12:30–14:00 | Lunch break |
| Experimental approaches | |
| 14:00–14:30 | Rainer Polak Rhythm perception across cultures |
| 14:30–15:00 | Coffee break and informal discussions |
| Roundtable discussion | |
| 15:00–16:30 | Kofi Agawu, Elina Seye, Sylvia Nannyonga-Tamusuza, Rainer Polak African music and dance research today: current debates, challenges, and future directions |