Call for Papers: AAWM Special Topics Online Symposium 2027 – Colouring Global Voices: Vocal Timbre in World Music Traditions Call for Papers Meetings & Events

The Analytical Approaches to World Musics (AAWM) journal and the Centre for Swedish Folk Music and Jazz Research are pleased to announce the forthcoming symposium Colouring Global Voices: Vocal Timbre in World Musics, which will be held online 10–11 April 2027.

The event will feature traditional paper sessions, discussion panels, workshops, and other presentation formats, as well as keynote lectures by Professor Tomas Riad (Stockholm University, Sweden; Swedish Academy) and Professor Nori Jacoby (Cornell University, USA).

All participants will be invited to participate in a special co-edited peer-reviewed volume of the conference proceedings, to be published as the most recent installment of our book series New Directions in World Music Analysis (Routledge).

This symposium aims to bring together scholars, performers, composers, and practitioners to explore interdisciplinary and cross-cultural scholarship focusing on vocal timbre in world music traditions, past and present, and to engage with theoretical paradigms, cultural frameworks, and analytical methodologies pertinent to the music of local communities and of the world. In order to foster interdisciplinary and cross-cultural dialogue, promote new research methods, and encourage collaborative research, the program will include special panel sessions, paper sessions, roundtable discussions, performance workshops, analysis workshops, and music performances.

The symposium will include several special panel sessions, including:

Revisiting Robert Cogan’s Theories of Musical Color and Phonology (Lawrence Shuster, chair)
Vocal Timbre in Rabindrasangit (Anton Vishio, chair)
Contrastive Linguistic Voice Qualities (Laura McPhearson)
Multi-modal Approaches – Vocal Timbre in Context (Kristin Jonzon, chair)

Proposals for papers, panels, workshops, lecture recitals, and alternative formats should include an abstract of no more than 350 words. The submission deadline is 15 December 2026, 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time. Notification of acceptance will be sent by 15 January 2027.

For full details, please see the symposium website:
https://conferences.iftawm.org/conferences/

Submission form:
https://forms.gle/sLfeFu2AavWMHGHN8

Contact:
aawmsweden27@gmail.com

Best wishes,
Anqi Wang
Rutgers University
On behalf of the Organising Committee