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Scheduled events Jul, 2009 | Aug, 2009 | Sep, 2009
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- Thursday, August 20, 2009 6-8 (Presentation starts at 6:30 PM)
Robert C. Provine, Professor of Ethnomusicology, University of Maryland School of Music
The Story of the Earliest Korean Music Recordings, made in Washington DC
On July 24, 1896, three young Korean men in Washington DC were recorded by American ethnologist Alice Cunningham Fletcher on Edison wax cylinders, as they sang traditional songs from their home country. There were only a few Koreans in the U.S. capital at the time, most of them associated with the Korean Legation, representing the then-undivided and largely unknown country of Chosôn. Their performances, as it were, were also part of the fascinating story of early Korea-US relations and Korean music recordings in the turbulent late 19th century. Richly illustrated with images and audio excerpts, this lecture explores the historical circumstances and musical significance of these early recordings, and touches on many interesting characters, both Korean and American. Among them, a group of Korean musicians sent to the World Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago, collectors of Korean instruments at U.S. museums, Korean revolutionaries from the attempted coup d¡¯état of 1884 who fled to the United States, a pioneer of American ethnomusicology, and the first Korean graduate of an American university.
This presentation will be accompanied by a display and audio excerpts of selected items from Dr. Provine¡¯s personal collection of Korean music recordings, as well as traditional music instruments from the KORUS House collection. Concurrently on display is The Light of Korea, an exhibition of selected artwork from the 2009 Nationwide Korean American Art Contest. A light Korean dinner buffet will be served after the presentation.
RSVP: AWOJ(at)koreaembassy.org | (202) 587-6168
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Robert C. Provine is Professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of Maryland¡¯s School of Music. He holds a B.A. and M.A. in Music, an M.A. in Regional Studies (East Asia), and a Ph.D. in Music, all from Harvard University. From 1978 until 2000, he was Professor of Music at the University of Durham in the United Kingdom, during which time he served as President (1993-95) of the Association for Korean Studies in Europe. More recently, he served as President of the Association for Korean Music Research (1996-2000) and on the annual conference program committee of the Society for Ethnomusicology (1999), and currently he is a member of the editorial board of Acta Koreana and the editorial advisory board of Korean Studies. He is author of ¡°Essays on Sino-Korean Musicology: Early Sources for Korean Ritual Music¡± (1988), as well as several dozen articles in varied academic journals. He researches the music of East Asia (China, Korea, and Japan), with a particular focus on Korean traditional music and a disciplinary emphasis on historical ethnomusicology.
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Jul, 2009 | Aug, 2009 | Sep, 2009 |
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