Conference Agenda

This paper investigates how âşık/Alevi musicians transitioned from traditional cultural roles as transmitters of Alevi religious principles to urban public intellectuals who shaped political and cultural critiques in Turkey between 1960 and 1980. It argues that the âşık/Alevi musicians secured a significant cultural role by (re)articulating the political ideologies of the left, actively participating in leftist cultural debates and, engaging with the popular music genres and artists of urban settings. Following the Second World War, many âşık/Alevi musicians who had long held intellectual authority in their communities due to their role in preserving and transmitting the religious principles of the historically oppressed Alevi community migrated to major cities alongside their communities. Therein, they fused the political foundations of the Turkish left with the rebellious traditions of the Alevi community through their music, reaching beyond the Alevi community to engage the broader Turkish public. Through their music, speeches and writings in influential periodicals, these âşıks also involved in the ongoing debate between modernism and (socialist) realism in an effort to set aesthetic standards of an emancipatory cultural agenda to the socialist movement. Additionally, many collaborated with leftist-affiliated popular musicians and competed with pioneering artists from other genres -such as arabesk- actively engaging in the aesthetic struggles over identifying “authentic” music. As a result, they secured a public recognition as intellectuals and earned a position of authority to establish the standards of the folk music worlds in the urban sphere.

Bourdieu, Pierre. The Field of Cultural Production (Columbia: Columbia University Press, 1993).

Erol, Ayhan. İslam, Alevilik ve Müzik [Islam, Alevism and Music] (İstanbul, Bağlam: 2018).

Gramsci, Antonio. Selections from Cultural Writings, ed. David Forgacs and Geoffrey Nowell-Smith, trans. William Boelhower (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1985).

Markoff, Irene. “The Role of Expressive Culture in the Demystification of a Secret Sect of Islam: The Case of the Alevis of Turkey.” The World of Music, vol. 28, no. 3 (1986): 42-56.

Reinhard, Ursula and Pinto, Tiago de Oliveira. Türk Âşık ve Ozanları [Turkish Âşıks], trans. Elif Damla Yavuz (İstanbul: YKY, 2019).

Existing literature in voice studies and African humanities presents divergent approaches to understanding the voice. Euro-American scholarship often emphasizes its sonic, corporeal, and psychoanalytic dimensions, while African humanities and ethnomusicology frequently approach “voice” metaphorically, linking it to identity and cultural representation. For African operatic traditions, scholars such as Bode Omojola and Hilde Roos have examined the operatic voice as an expression of African presence on the global stage. However, these studies primarily focus on compositional style and symbolism, leaving a gap in understanding voice as both a sonic phenomenon and an embodied cultural practice.

What does an embodied-sonic-vocal practice become when shaped by specific languages, cultures, bodies, local technologies, and artistic economies in postcolonial Lagos? How do Nigerian classical singers negotiate institutional structures such as MUSON while adapting to commercial event culture and transnational performance circuits? Through a case study of Nigerian tenor Guchi Kest Egbunine’s 2018 Vocal Chain Concert Tour, themed Tutti Bel Canto, this research analyzes how operatic vocality intersects with commercial and institutional structures. While bel canto historically refers to an Italian operatic tradition, I argue that its invocation here signals flexible vocal artistry blending opera, Broadway, jazz, crossover and indigenous genres to reach diverse audiences. These performances, staged across institutional, commercial, and informal venues—including MUSON’s AGIP Hall, hotels, and restaurants—raise questions about the intersections of classical purism, economic imperatives, and transnational performance circuits.

This study examines the operatic voice in Lagos not as a colonial vestige but as a strategic and adaptive practice of cultural negotiation. Engaging theories of vocality as cultural inscription (Weidman 2006; Feldman 2015; Eidsheim 2019), voice as crossings and circulation (Kane 2015), and postcolonial hybridity (Bhabha 1994), this study draws on ethnographic fieldwork—including interviews with singers, vocal instructors, and stakeholders at MUSON—to argue that the operatic voice in postcolonial Lagos emerges from a dynamic interplay of cultural histories, pedagogical traditions, economic conditions, and local-global exchanges. By positioning their artistry within a hybridized framework, Nigerian singers challenge and reconfigure classical music paradigms, redefining the operatic voice as an agentive site of aesthetic and socio-political transformation in postcolonial performance cultures.

The music of Avril Coleridge-Taylor (1903–1998) has only recently begun to receive recognition; however, scholarly engagement with her oeuvre remains limited. Coleridge-Taylor inherited a distinguished musical legacy from her father, the composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, but faced significant challenges as a mixed-race female composer and conductor in twentieth-century Britain and beyond. Despite her relatively modest body of work, her orchestral compositions provide invaluable insights into Britain's cultural and musical landscape, particularly from the 1930s to the 1950s, during which she endeavoured to reinvent her musical language following the dissolution of her first marriage. Her compositions engage with the stylistic trends of the era while addressing themes of race, identity, and cultural belonging, making them a compelling subject of study.

I will present an overview of Coleridge-Taylor’s orchestral output, with a particular focus on how international conflict influenced her music. My analysis is informed by my ongoing project in collaboration with her estate and the Royal College of Music – where most of her music is housed – aimed at editing and preparing her works for performance and publication. This work also informed a recent recording from January 2025 featuring Dr. Samantha Ege, John Andrews, and the BBC Philharmonic, scheduled for release later this year. Consequently, I will also draw upon interviews with Dr Ege and Andrews as part of the process of rediscovering Coleridge-Taylor’s music and bringing it to a new audience. I will situate her orchestral works within the broader context of British music history, highlighting their stylistic diversity and the myriad influences she assimilated. By analysing her navigation through the socio-cultural and artistic challenges of the time, I intend to illustrate how her compositions challenge dominant narratives and broaden our understanding of mid-20th-century music. I will argue that Coleridge-Taylor’s contributions as a composer, conductor, and advocate for her father's legacy have been unjustly overlooked. Acknowledging her contributions is essential for enriching the historical narrative of twentieth-century music and ensuring her rightful place within it.