Brittany is known to be a land of poets and musicians. It is also a place where education from kindergarten to university is highly regarded for a very long time and considered a natural engine for personal and collective achievements.
Generations after generations, Brittany “produced” a great numbers of scholars in all fields and is very proud of the vitality of its many schools and universities. No wonder why a significant number of symposiums, congresses, research centers meet in Brittany on a regular basis, bringing scholars and students from all over the world in one or the other of its cities, Nantes, Rennes, Lorient, Vannes, St Brieuc, Lannion, Brest, Quimper…
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An international “Music and Minorities” symposium in Brittany : where else ?
Given all this, how can we be surprised, only by the fact it is the first time, that Brittany through one of its most renowned laboratory, the Center for Breton and Celtic Research, (CRBC, EA 4451) is welcoming the International Council for Traditional Music “Music and Minorities” Study Group 9th Symposium in July 2016…
Indeed, the CRBC pole of University of Rennes 2 led by Professor Anne Goarzin, will host the week long communications and work session centered on two themes especially « at home » in Brittany, given its linguistic and musical identity: « Music and Languages » and « Minorities among Minorities ».
Hosted by Ethno-Musicologist Professor Yves Defrance and supported by eminent fellow members of the Center for Breton and Celtic Research, (CRBC, EA 4451) Professors Anne Goarzin, Ronan Le Coadic, Stephan Moal, Yann Bevant to name a few, international researchers in ethno-musicology gathering for the first time in Brittany, will discuss these topics through more than 30 different communications illustrating with case studies the relations between language and music, starting July 4 through July 8.
In 2012, Yves Defrance led the effort to make the FEST-NOZ recognized as part the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.
Thanks to the CRBC, the July 4-8 2016 ICTM “Music and Minorities” Symposium in Rennes 2 will bring, one might say at last, highly recognized international researchers in ethno-musicology to Brittany, a place so relevant to their field of studies that it is hoped they might decide to become regulars and want to further study along with their Breton colleagues, how and why the living tradition of music and dancing is so deeply rooted to Breton identity and shared with so many other people around this small planet.
Indeed, when an international “Music and Minorities” symposium is held in Brittany with “Music and languages” as a topic, one might simply think: Where else ? Really !
