Society for Ethnomusicology Southwest Chapter Meeting

Keynote Address Abstract

Ethnomusicology is a very young discipline that was profoundly shaped by a few scholars of the 1950s in Indiana. One of them was Bruno Nettl, whose work led us to a deeper dive into the meanings and significances of musics of the world. Among his numerous contributions, Nettl pioneered the study of music of Indigenous North Americans and the music of Iran. Central in his work were the lessons Nettl modeled about compassion and humility, having survived the Nazi genocide through a daring family escape in 1939. A lifelong learner, over the years Nettl openly challenged his own early ideas in ways that few scholars are capable of doing. The first part of the presentation pays tribute to the late Professor Nettl and to his mentee, Professor Emerita Victoria Levine, whose many accomplishments include furthering the study of North American Indian music, as well as the study of Hispano music of southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. Most importantly, Levine has continued the legacy of compassion and humility that Nettl, her mentor, modeled for the discipline.

The second part of the presentation will focus on the process of compiling an online annotated bibliography on the Danza de Matachines and festive culture in New Mexico, Mexico, Colombia, and Peru, the subject of my long-standing research and forthcoming monograph. As I have worked on the bibliography, various issues have arisen regarding its organization, mainly due to the importance of contextualization to our interdisciplinary field. I will foreground this organizational process as an aspect of ethnomusicological method and ask the audience to evaluate the approach and make suggestions to better address the issues discussed.

From "'Who is Bruno Nettl?' and Other Historiographical Concerns" by Dr. Brenda Romero