Last week, Toronto had the distinct honour of hosting the American Musicology Society's fall conference. Some of the territory covered was "why did the songs of Tin Pan Alley contain so many allusions to Japan? What happened to the southern Philippine gong tradition known as kulintang? What makes the finale to Beethoven's Op. 131 String Quartet so unexpectedly piquant?" I dunno. But the musicologists were there, debating these and many other burning musical queries.

Hundreds of papers were delivered at a five-day think tank, attended by nearly 4,000 scholars from 15 academic societies. The political meaning of music, the gender question, ethnomusicological examinations of other cultures, and the evolvement of Western art music, plus a myriad of other fascinating topics were delved into. One of the program highlights was a session organized by prominent musicologist Max Lifchitz (The University of Albany, SUNY) on music and society in 20th century Cuba. One of the guest speakers was Leonardo Acosta: "Acosta’s work examines issues of musical borrowing, cultural imperialism, and grassroots transformation as demonstrated by the rise of the Cuban jazz band. As a professional journalist as well as a saxophonist and performer for years with the orchestra of Beny Moré, Acosta provides unique insights into the history of Cuban popular arts."

His presentation harkened all the way back to the music of the 1920s and 1930s, when the main audience for this music, on '78s, were middle-class whites and Hispanics. "Despite an early association with elite groups and performance venues, however, the genre soon attracted many Afrocuban musicians such as Alberto Socarrás and Mario Bauzá. These artists viewed jazz simultaneously as a high-status music, a means for achieving upward social mobility, and as an oppositional form developed and perpetuated by black artists in the United States."

If you want to know more about where music came from and where it could be headed visit the AMS site:

Campy Canadian Art: Vancouver artist Paul Wong was once described as "a kind of Chinese Canadian Warhol: in your face, radical, eccentric, sexy, campy, shocking, experimental, and spontaneous." He was the baddest of the bad-boy performance artists who dominated Western Front Gallery's performance art scene in the 1980s. (He once made "performance art' of a friend of mine's buffet table at a swish Kitsilano party.)

For anyone who's interested, Paul's now issued a CD-Rom with highlights of some of his most memorable, identity-forming moments from the past two decades. Wong is definitely worth checking out. A self-taught artist, he invented a lot of the techniques in video art that are commonly used in the this hyped up, techno art web world. (He was the recipient of the Bell Canada Award for Video Art in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the development of the art form.) The CD-Rom is bound to be a fascinating addition to your digital art collection.

Rights Revolution:
Tonight we get to hear the first of five much-hyped Massey Lectures for 2000. The esteemed writer Michael Ignatieff, who has been intently covering the human rights scene in Eastern Europe, Afghanistan and Africa, presents an essay called The Rights Revolution. He takes a contrary point of view on some of the most pressing issues in 21st century global politics, without actually coming out against human rights. He's not opposed to human rights organizations, but has concerns about what he calls "group rights."

"Are group rights jeopardizing individual rights? When everyone asserts their rights, what happens to responsibilities? Do individual rights weaken the idea of community?" This is an idea of some of the provactive terrain Ignatieff will be covering. If you're not a radio person, and would prefer to read it, much of this material is covered in Ignatieff's latest book, The Warrior's Honour, or a new text based on the lectures. However, if you can sit down for an hour and listen, the master lecturer will put a Canadian spin on the subject with a look at our Charter of Rights and, of course, the Quebec question. You'll find him an engaging and passionate speaker. That's tonight on Ideas at 9:05 (9:35 NT) on CBC Radio One, and more to follow each night this week.