„Counter-hegemonic Voices in Music Archives.
Political Readings, Contextualizations, Contemporary References“

Project duration:
1 July 2023 – 31 June 2027

Applying institutions:
Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz (JGU)
together with
Stiftung Universität Hildesheim (SUH) &
Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover (HMTMH)

Partner institutions:

• JGU | UB Mainz (Archiv für die Musik Afrikas, Sammlungskoordination, Digitale Bibliotheksdienste, Schule des Sehens)
• JGU | Institut für Ethnologie und Afrikastudien (ifeas)
• HMTMH | Hochschulbibliothek, Hannover
• HMTMH | Europäisches Zentrum für Jüdische Musik (EZJM), Hannover
• SUH | Center for World Music (CWM), Hildesheim

KOSTIMA is planning the indexing, processing and thematic linking of partial holdings of the Archive for African Music (AMA) in Mainz, the European Centre for Jewish Music (ECJM) in Hanover and the Hanover, and the Center for World Music (CWM) in Hildesheim.

The collection holdings (sound recordings, song texts, film recordings and photos) and other research materials are examined with regard to political, counter-hegemonic messages. For contextualization, interviews will be conducted with actors involved. Questions of persecution, diaspora, and post-exile will allow for analytical connections between Congolese, Northern Nigerian and Jewish experiences.

Archival practices will be critically examined, with a special focus on the ethical treatment of collection holdings. KOSTIMA combines curatorial practices, questions of (re)presentation, and the involvement of source communities through making materials available and actively fostering participation of all stakeholders involved.

Sub-project 2 -
Musical-dramaturgical compositions from the "Peter Ury" estate at the EZJM, Hanover

The focus of the research is on compositions from the "Peter Ury" estate, which Peter Ury worked on together with the theater director Peter Zadek, in particular "Der Judaskuss - The Kiss of Judas", the opera "Timothy" (based on the fairy tale "Hinzelmeier" by Theodor Storm), as well as settings of poems by Else Lasker-Schüler and Erich Fried. These complexes of works are particularly relevant to Ury's experiences of 'persecution and rehabilitation', 'emotional limits of the intellectual' as well as political dissidence and cultural belonging. The materials belonging to the mentioned pieces in the form of manuscripts, musical scores, radio documents, photographs, correspondence, and other archival materials are presented as cultural legacies against the background of theexpulsion, flight, exile and resettlement of German-Jewish people.