MMRC - Music and Minorities Research Center

24/09/2026

To kick off the winter term, we are holding a small event at the MMRC for anyone interested in tracing the development of music and minorities research at the Department of Folk Music Research and Ethnomusicology at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna from the late 1980s to the present day.

During the event, we will present the digital exhibition 'Objects and the Archive', followed by a discussion about the landscape of ethnomusicological research in Vienna during this period. Individuals who experienced and advocated for change will provide insights.

Join us on 6 October 2026 from 18:00 at mdw - spiel|mach|t|raum.

Free entry - No registration needed.

Link:
https://musicandminorities.org/events/objects-and-the-archive-episodes-in-the-development-of-music-and-minorities-research/

27/08/2026

News from the Music and Minorities (M&M) Journal📖📖📖

Our journal is now registered with the Diamond Discovery Hub (DDH). The DDH is a community-driven initiative that aims to become a comprehensive registry for institutionally published and scholar-led Open Access journals without author fees in Europe, designed to improve the visibility and discoverability of diamond OA journals. Learn more about the DDH’s Diamond Criteria and how to use the registry here.

More info here ->
M&M journal: https://mm.publia.org/mm/index
DDH: https://ddh.edch.eu/docs/

25/08/2026

Mark your calendars!

Join us in Vienna for the 10th ICTMD Study Group Symposium on Music and Dance in Southeastern Europe!
A week of panels, performances, concerts, workshops, roundtables and more, exploring migration and the politics of othering, music and dance as labour, and research and activism.
Free entry, registration is mandatory.

📌 LINK IN BIO

Wir laden euch nach Wien zum 10. ICTMD Study Group Symposium on Music and Dance in Southeastern Europe ein!
Eine Woche voller Panels, Konzerte, Performances, Workshops, Roundtables und mehr – zu Migration und Othering, Musik und Tanz als Arbeit sowie Forschung und Aktivismus.
Eintritt frei, Registrierung ist erforderlich.

𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗹 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗠𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲

09/07/2026

🤓🤓The FWF research project "Made in YUGOSLAVIennA: Balkan Music and Multiple Marginality" by Jelena Gligorijević and Adriana Sabo had a promising start in April at the MMRC, and we're looking forward to sharing more details about it:

https://www.mdw.ac.at/musicandminorities/projects/made-in-yugoslavienna-balkan-music-and-multiple-marginality/

About the project:
As one of the largest and longest-standing migrant communities in Vienna, people from the former Yugoslavia have played a significant role in shaping the city’s musical and cultural life. Scholars have long examined how “Balkan difference” – the region’s distinctive blend of sounds, styles, and identities – manifests in Austrian musical contexts. Yet less attention has been paid to how Balkan popular music shapes the lives of those who experience multiple forms of marginalization, particularly along lines of gender and sexuality.

01/07/2026

Congratulations to Isabel Frey and Ioannis Christidis for receiving the "2026 Herta & Kurt Blaukopf Award" for outstanding dissertations at the mdw.

18/06/2026

Updates from the office!

In her FWF project, our colleague Chae-Lin Kim, is researching sign language choirs in German-speaking countries. Thanks to her initiative, content from her project is now also available also in sign language (in german and international sign) on our website.

Find out more about the project:
https://www.mdw.ac.at/musicandminorities/projects/music-for-the-eye-an-ethnographic-study-of-sign-choirs-in-german-speaking-countries/

11/06/2026

Congratulations - 35 years of Initiative Minderheiten 🤩

To mark the 35th anniversary of the ‘Initiative Minderheiten’, we recommend this event on the June 16th, 18:30 at Haus der Geschichte Österreich (hdgö).

Since its foundation, the IM has been dedicated to addressing the situation of marginalised groups from artistic, cultural and socio-political perspectives.

The IM has been a cooperation partner since the early days of the MMRC, providing an important resource to facilitate and maintain our approach to knowledge transformation and outreach to minority communities in Austria.

Heute 16.06.26 18:30h: Diskussionsveranstaltung
35 JAHRE INITIATIVE MINDERHEITEN
„Die 1990er Jahre“ | Umbruch und Aufbruch aus der Perspektive
widerständiger Akteur*innen
Dienstag, 16. Juni 2026, 18:30 Uhr
Haus der Geschichte Österreich
Neue Burg, Heldenplatz, 1010 Wien

Mit:
Josef Haslinger | SOS Mitmensch
Ursula Hemetek | Initiative Minderheiten
Mirjam Karoly | Romano Centro
Anny Knapp | asylkoordination österreich
Doron Rabinovici | Republikanischer Club
Moderation:
Vida Bakondy | Historikerin

Foto: „Aktion Grenzenlos“ gegen das Bundesheer an der Ostgrenze: „Mauerbau“ beim Grenzübergang Nicklsdorf, 1990
© asylkoordination österreich

28/04/2026

** Event invitation **
TODAS. Latin American Women* Musicians in Vienna.
Concerts, Lecture, Dialogues.

Date: 8 and 9 May 2026, Fanny-Hensel-Saal at mdw

TODAS is a two-day academic and artistic festival addressing the unique position of women musicians from Latin America in Europe, alongside the associated challenges of categorization, presentation, and marketing. Our aim is to illuminate how discourses on belonging and identity intertwine with national classifications, musical expectations, and cultural "othering."

In cooperation with the Institut für Volksmusikforschung und Ethnomusikologie and Opera Trip Cultural Association.

Please register here (free entry):
https://forms.mdw.ac.at/frontend-server/form/provide/251/?lang=en

More about the event:
https://www.mdw.ac.at/ive/events/todas/

22/04/2026

The MMRC stands in solidarity with ZARA - Zivilcourage und Anti-Rassismus-Arbeit. Please sign the petition to support ZARA's important work and raise awareness of this issue. This association's future funding is vital for its continued work against discrimination in Austria.

Link to the petition in the comments.

!

21/04/2026

We warmly invite anyone interested to this year's "Lange Nacht der Forschung/Long Night of Research" at the mdw.

On 24 April 2026, a total of 42 events will be presented from 5.00 pm to 11.00 pm, giving the public the opportunity to learn about the many different research projects. The MMRC will be represented by two projects, offering insight into the centre's various areas of work.
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🚩'"Songs and Dances of the Devadāsīs of Bengal"' with Bisakha Goswami, Christian Poske and Gerhard Rosner.

A lecture demonstration on the songs and dances of the devadāsīs (Sanskrit: “female servants of deities”) of Bengal. The devadāsīs, an abandoned religious and social tradition that originated in the 9th or 10th century AD, were historically dedicated to the service of patron gods and goddesses in temples across eastern and southern India, where they worshipped deities by fanning their central image, offering lights, and performing devotional songs and dances. The lecture demonstration will include practical demonstrations of these songs and dances.

📍Fanny Hensel Hall, Lecture-Performance, 24 April 2026, from 07:30pm until 08:30pm
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🚩"Objects and the Archive: Episodes in the Development of Music and Minorities Research” a contribution by and with Benjamin Fox-Rosen, Elnaz Mohammadzadeh und Hande Sağlam.

Engage with the history of music and minorities research in Vienna and take a glimpse behind the scenes of ethnomusicological fieldwork in this hybrid exhibition! Look and listen to interviews with scholars and musicians, recordings from the department's archive, the Austrian Phonogrammarchiv, and researchers' private archives, and get your hands on historic recording devices!

📍Banquet Hall, 24 April 2026, 17:00–23:00 Uhr

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We'd also like to take this chance to point out all the other events on the mdw programme. We are looking forward to welcoming many of visitors.