Music of the Oppressed. Tradition, un-tradition, and the unschooling of music

Helga Davis (vocalist and performance artist) and Alkinoos Ioannidis (composer and musician) in conversation. Moderated by Stathis Gourgouris (English and Comp Lit, ICLS, Classics)

Wednesday, April 3
6:15 pm - 8:00 pm
Casa Hispanica 

Helga Davis and Alkinoos Ioannidis have independently of each other engaged with the question of music as political engagement, from the vantage point of the creator and the performer, especially with what could be termed, a la Paulo Freire, “music of the oppressed". They have been articulating this question in the music that they create and perform, especially from within the context of what constitutes “tradition” in musical education and what the role of the Classics can be in the production of modern music.  As teachers, they have taken these questions to their students actively facing the challenges of what it takes to unschool children in music and school them again in a music project that is emancipatory (or e-womancipatory, e-humancipatory) utilizing the long tradition of humanity (mythology, in the case of Helga Davis, or "traditional" music, as Alkinoos Ioannidis does). They are both engaged in reorienting music for children as a pedagogical project, teaching them what music can do for humanity. The event, moderated by Stathis Gourgouris, will be a dialogue on what can be possible for music on the stitches, on the borders, in the folds of its being.

This event is organized by the Justice-in-Education Initiative and co-sponsored by SNFPHI, African American and African Diaspora Studies, the Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities, the Department of Classics, the Department of Latin American and Iberian Cultures, the Department of Music, the Tamer Center for Social Enterprise, the Leros Humanism Seminars, and Columbia Global Centers-Athens

Click on the link to register for online or in-person attendance.