Monthly Archives: October 2015

Laudan Nooshin Presents WOMEX 2015 Professional Excellence Award in Budapest

Laudan Nooshin was in Budapest last week to present the 2015 WOMEX Professional Excellence Award to Iranian music producer Ramin Sadighi. Sadighi set up the Hermes record label in 1999 and has since produced some of the most innovative and boundary-breaking music in Iran. WOMEX is the annual world music industry exposition which this year was held in Budapest from 21st to 25th October and attended by over 2,500 artists, producers, promoters, journalists and others involved in the world music industry.

Laudan chaired a Q&A session with Ramin on 24th October and presented his award at the closing ceremony. Here is an extract from her speech:

“I am deeply honoured and humbled to be presenting the 2015 WOMEX Professional Excellence Award to Mr Ramin Sadighi. I believe that WOMEX has shown great foresight in giving this award to a man who – I think it is no exaggeration to say – has changed the face of music production in Iran, setting new standards, challenging stereotypes and opening new musical spaces.

As someone who has been involved with Iranian music for more than 30 years, I am grateful for this opportunity to publicly thank Ramin – and Hermes, the label that he founded 16 years ago. And, of course, this award is also intended to recognise all of those working in the independent music sector in Iran, and to pay tribute to their amazing resilience and creativity. And, given the overwhelmingly negative media representations of Iran, it’s all the more important to have such moments of recognition.

When I think of Hermes, four words come to mind: Vision. Quality. Integrity. Trust.

Hermes’ work is visionary and boundary-breaking. Above all, it has provided a space for supporting, promoting the work of, and creating an audience for music which crosses boundaries of many kinds, musical and cultural.

Hermes has set new standards of quality for music production in Iran, from the music itself, the presentation of albums, the many concerts at home and abroad – in particular bringing musicians to Iran; and numerous events such as discussion and listening sessions and film screenings. Hermes is much more than a record company – it has created a community around this music.”

http://www.hermesrecords.com/en/

Womex 2015 Awards Ceremony Ramin Sadighi by Yannis Psathas 20151025_123859_resized IMG_3044  IMG_2943

Music Department 40th Birthday Boat Trip.

City University’s Music at 40 Cruise was a truly wonderful occasion. A clear, crisp October evening in London provided the perfect backdrop for a night of celebrations, laughter, music, and cake (it was a birthday celebration after all, and what birthday would be complete without cake?). Arriving at Temple pier with some of my classmates, the first two people I recognised in the line were two who not only played a big role in our first week at City to make sure we all settled in, but who continued to make a difference to us throughout our time there (albeit in very different ways).

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These two familiar faces were quickly followed by a medley of people who we graduated with, those in the years above and below, the lecturers and personal tutors who made sure we survived, and a large number of completely new faces. Making our way down the line (looking for “the lady with the ipad and name stickers”), it really hit home how many people over the last 40 years had embarked on the same journey that we began just 4 years ago and it made me hope that many more will follow in our footsteps!

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The night itself was smooth sailing (literally), with highlights including a speech given by the founder of the Department, Professor Malcolm Troup, which was incredibly humbling and inspirational; and the surprise of finding a gamelan set on the top deck that would be played later in the night. Most of all though, it was wonderful to see my peers and lecturers once again and to catch up with one another over a year on from graduating. That may not sound like a long time but when life gets in the way as it too often does, events like this are more important than ever to remind us to cherish the relationships that began in City University’s Music Department. Here’s to the next 40 years!

Zara Lim, BMus alumnus (graduated 2014)

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Dr Diana Salazar wins International Computer Music Award

DianaSalazarDr Diana Salazar, Lecturer in Music, has been awarded the International Computer Music Association Regional Award for Europe 2015. Dr Salazar was awarded the prize for her 5.1 fixed media work ‘Rewind [Modus Operandi]’. The work was selected for performance at this year’s International Computer Music Conference in Texas last month, and a stereo version of the work will be released later this year on a CD publication featuring selected works from this year’s conference. The work will also be performed in the Bernaola Festival in Spain in November.

New publication by PhD student Miranda Crowdus

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PhD student Miranda Crowdus has published a chapter in the new book Boundaries, Identity and Belonging in Modern Judaism (Routledge). The work is a collection of interdisciplinary scholarship relating to contemporary Jewish identity. Miranda’s chapter explores negotiations of Jewishness at recent Palestinian Hip Hop performances in the Tel Aviv-Yafo underground.