UCLA inaugurates Musical Humanities Center
The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music is set to host an exciting inaugural event for its new Centre for Musical Humanities. Titled "Anthem: Remixing Race and Nation," the symposium and concert will take place on May 8, from 3:30 p.m. to 9:15 p.m., at Schoenberg Hall.
The Centre aims to delve into music's broad social, cultural, and historical contexts, fostering interdisciplinary study of music's impact on human experience. Its purpose includes examining music as a medium for storytelling, identity, and community across diverse cultures.
For its inaugural event, the Centre will critically engage with national anthems and their relationship to race and nationhood. This includes discussions, performances, and scholarly presentations that question and reinterpret how anthems reflect and shape racial and national identities. The event seeks to remix traditional narratives, amplifying marginalized perspectives and inviting participatory dialogue among audiences and artists.
Wade Dean, a graduate student in musicology at UCLA, will discuss Marvin Gaye's reimagining of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the 1983 NBA All-Star game. Cecilia O'Leary, a professor of history at CSU Monterey Bay, will present an overview of nationalism and nationalist symbols in the 19th century during the symposium.
The evening concert will feature transgressive performances of the national anthem by UCLA students and faculty, as well as a video montage of historical performances. Grammy-nominated songwriter and jazz vocalist René Marie will perform the black national anthem, "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing," sung to the tune of "The Star-Spangled Banner."
Following Rene Marie's performance, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, who protested the national anthem in the NBA, will participate in a discussion led by UCLA faculty members Shana Redmond and Robin D.G. Kelley.
Shana Redmond, an associate professor of musicology and African-American studies at UCLA, is the curator and symposium moderator for the inaugural event. The Centre for Musical Humanities has an advisory board consisting of faculty from various disciplines.
The Centre for Musical Humanities is administered by the school of music and aims to foster interdisciplinary interest in music and the humanities across the university. For details, attendees can refer to the Anthem: Remixing Race and Nation website.
The inaugural event is free and open to the public, aligning with the Centre's mission of decentralizing authoritative narratives and promoting community-driven dialogues on music and identity. This approach resonates with the broader academic and artistic trends at UCLA's Herb Alpert School of Music, which values diverse musical traditions and interdisciplinary inquiry.
The Centre for Musical Humanities, with its focus on education-and-self-development and interdisciplinary study, aims to explore music's impact on human experience, including its role as a medium for storytelling, identity, and community across diverse cultures. The inaugural event, "Anthem: Remixing Race and Nation," will delve into the social, cultural, and historical contexts of national anthems, offering entertainment through performances, discussions, and scholarly presentations that question and reinterpret their relationship to race and nationhood, including learning opportunities such as the analysis of Marvin Gaye's reimagined "The Star-Spangled Banner" by graduate student Wade Dean.
