LAÓN-LAÓN 2008 A FORUM OF ON MUSIC RESEARCH CENTERS IN ASIA:

TOWARDS GREATER COOPERATION AND NETWORKING TOWARDS PRESERVATION OF CULTURAL MEMORY IN THE MUSICAL TRADITIONS OF ASIA

 

The UP Center for Ethnomusicology organized LAÓN-LAÓN 2008  A Forum on Music Research Centers in Asia, following the inscription of  the José Maceda Collection, the Center’s main holding, in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. The principal aim of the Forum was to explore possibilities of establishing mechanisms and building capacity for exchange and collaboration on the scientific investigation, documentation and creative production of the musics of Asia.  Held 12-15 October 2008 at the Sulo Hotel in Quezon City, the  3-day intensive dialogue was intended to be part of the revitalization program of the Center in its service to the cultural development of the country and its role in the revitalization of contemporary musical life in the Asia.

 

The Forum was conducted as a round-table meeting of experts representing different local and international institutions.  The foreign experts were headed by Dr. Dietrich Schueller, former director of the Phonogrammarchiv of the Austrian Academy of Science, who gave the keynote address on the significance and the technical aspects of preserving physical documentation of intangible heritage.  The presentations of the resource persons served as the main component  of the forum, where information on individual institutions was shared in terms of visions, missions, goals and objectives,  services, as well as methodologies and technical operations.  The open forum after each presentation, aside from further clarifying some points of interest, focused on possible convergences and commonalities, that could lead to the  sharing of resources and establishing  a network to facilitate the collaborative investigations and studies of musical cultures in Asia, as well as the role and accessibility of  modern communications technology in the field of cultural conservation.  The discussion welcomed the participation of local and some foreign observers who represented libraries, archives, and other institutions for research and documentation of cultural heritage across the Philippines, as well as in some countries represented in the forum.

 

The  institutions represented consisted of Paññãsãstra University in Cambodia (Dr. Sam-Ang Sam), the Institute of Art Education of Indonesia (Dr. Juju Masunah and Ayo Sutarma), National Museum of Ethnology (MINPAKU)(Dr. Yoshitaka Terada), the Music Research Department of the National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts (Dr. Yong-Shik Lee), Sonic Asia Music Consultants (Dr. Joseph Peters), Music Digital Archives Center of the College of Music, National Taiwan Normal University (Dr. Chien Shan-Wa and Dr. Chun Zen Huang), College of Music, Mahidol University in Thailand (Prof. Anak Charanyananda), Association of Vietnamese Folklorists, Dr. To Ngoc Thanh, Lembaga Pendidikan Seni Nusantara of Indonesia (Dr. Endo Suanda and Ratna Yulianti), Maha Sarkham University Library and Archive (Dr. Jarernchai Chonpairot), and the UP Center for Ethnomusicology (Dr. Ramon P. Santos).  Other attendees represented the National Library of Singapore, the UP College of Music, UP Music Library, the Library of UP Baguio, the Department of Education, the Filipinas Heritage Library, St. Paul’s University, UP Department of Anthropology, UP School of Information and Library Science, UP College of Engineering, One Planet One Cradle Production, UP Asian Center, National Commission for Culture and the Arts and The Japan Foundation Manila.

 

Other ancillary activities were the opening of the Exhibit of Vintage Tape Recorders that were used by Jose Maceda and his research teams from the 1950’s to the end of the century, and the Technical Workshop on analogue to digital transfer of sound recordings.  The exhibit was assembled and curated by David Guadalupe, Technical Assistant, and Fredeliza Campos, Resident Archivist; while the workshop was conducted on the last day by Dr. Dietrich Schueller and the digitization team of Guadalupe, Mark Laccay, and Dodie Lucas.   The workshop proved to be a revelation to most of the participants whose collections have mostly been done with digital technology.  Furthermore, it rekindled the consciousness to retrieve old recordings of historical performances in the different participating countries.

 

The entire event did not only succeed as an exploratory meeting, but it was able to generate some concrete ideas relative to the objectives of the Forum, and the consensus to sustain Laón-Laón as an ongoing project in the region, possibly as  a permanent organ of the Asia-Pacific Society for Ethnomusicology.  It was tentatively agreed upon to hold the next meeting in  Cambodia in 2009 as part of the activities of the Asia-Pacific Society for Ethnomusicology Conference that Cambodia has accepted to host.

             Possible areas of concern and future action include the following:

1. INSTITUTIONAL NETWORKING

To sustain the project as a special organ of the Asia-Pacific Society for Ethnomusicology.

To collectivize the capability of the dialogue members to serve the scholarly community in the preservation of collected data (individual scholars who may wish to digitize their collections).  This capability can also be utilized for re-mastering recordings in old formats; e.g. gramophone recordings

Exchange of resources (personnel) and services.

To be a cooperative of music research centers

Standardization of preservation strategies especially in the context of digitization of data collected in old formats.

To formulate a Memorandum of Agreement that will cover exchange of materials, intellectual rights provisions, and access and dissemination policies. (Dr. To) (Endo Suanda strongly suggested to  define the scope of archiving, access, strategies and living traditions, as well as education that can be part of access much like tv and radio besides copyright.)

To affiliate the network with IASA (International Association of Sound Archivists)

2. COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS

Production of meaningful documentation. (Terada) An example is the extensive documentation made by MINPAKU of Cambodian performing arts with the collaboration of Dr. Sam-Ang Sam.  To establish a mechanism by which the performing arts in the region can be equally shared.

To undertake a collaborative production of research materials to be packaged in modular  format  geared towards providing materials for teaching;

To coordinate individual publication of materials, by which all kinds of production can be translated into a common language bank.

3. EDUCATION

Facilitating accessibility of materials to children and the education community.

To influence the educational community to establish a teaching paradigm that is culture-based. (Endo Suanda)

4. SPECIAL CONCERNS/ADVOCACY

To address the matter of “living archive” the “biological” database.

To use the Forum as a collective force in retrieving old documentations (recordings, photographs, films) of Asian intangible heritage as well as other materials such as old instruments, from private collection and other places outside Asia.  An example is the recording made by American anthropologists of Filipino traditional music during the first decade of the 20^th century.

To address the ecological arena vis-à-vis the preservation and documentation of living musical traditions.

LAON-LAON was a special project sponsored by the Office of the Chancellor of the University of the Philippines Diliman, and supported by the College of Music, the UP Musical Arts and Research Management Foundation, the Japan foundation, with assistance from UP College of Law, UP Vargas Museum, the NCCA, and the Office of the President, University of the Philippines.

“Laón-laón” implies the concept of “lasting” as of ancient vintage.

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