5 - 10 juli 2010

40th International Ballad Conference

Meertens Institute, Amsterdam
Maritime Institute, Terschelling


The 40th International Ballad Conference of the Kommission für Volksdichtung is to be held in Amsterdam and Terschelling (Netherlands),
Monday morning, 5 July, to Saturday morning, 10 July 2010.
The conference is being hosted by the Meertens Institute, Amsterdam.

Agenda


Call for Papers

Ballad conferences are open to ethnologists, (ethno-)musicologists, literary historians and other scholars. The main theme of this conference is WATER. We welcome papers on maritime, coastal and insular music cultures, shanties and other songs of sailors and fishermen, ballads about the sea, lakes, rivers, waterfalls, sources and fountains, rain and draught, beaches, banks and bridges, swimming, shipwrecks, drowning, floods, fishes, sea monsters, mermaids etc. Other possible issues include performance, literacy vs. orality, language and identity, and ballad history, preferably in connection with the main theme.

Papers will be limited to 20 minutes. Abstracts of up to 300 words, together with requests for technical equipment, should be submitted by 4 JANUARY 2010 to prof. dr Louis Peter Grijp. The author?s address, affiliation and contact details should be clearly stated, together with a brief account of the author?s career and research interests.


Conference Location

The conference will start in the Meertens Institute in Amsterdam and will be continued in the Maritime Institute Willem Barentsz at Terschelling, one of the West Frisian islands in the very North of the Netherlands. Terschelling is famous for its nature, dunes, beaches and birds, and its maritime history. The island preserved its folk culture until the beginning of the 20th century. In that time the famous ethnomusicologist Jaap Kunst recorded traditional songs and dances, which are still performed by local groups. Terschelling can only be reached by boat.


Conference Schedule

Conference participants may register on Monday, 5 July 2010, from 9.00 in the Meertens Institute in Amsterdam, not far from Amsterdam Airport (Schiphol).
A tentative schedule of events (which may change in some of the detail) is as follows:

(1) After the first sessions, there is an Opening Lunch. In the afternoon we part for Terschelling by bus. Halfway we pay a visit to the Zuiderzee Museum in Enkhuizen, an open-air museum featuring traditional life in the fishing villages of the former Zuiderzee (?uthern sea?), now a fresh water lake called IJsselmeer. From there we take the Afsluitdijk (Closure Dike), a causeway separating the Wadden Sea from the IJsselmeer since 1932. In the town of Harlingen in Friesland we take the boat to Terschelling.

(2) Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday morning and Friday will be devoted to paper sessions. Friday afternoon will be closed with the annual general meeting of the Kommission f¸r Volksdichtung.

(3) There will be an (optional) Conference Excursion on Thursday afternoon, 8 July;

(4) The traditional (optional) Conference Dinner will be held in the form of a Beach Barbecue.

(5) Departure on Saturday morning, by boat and train or otherwise.


Travel Information

The Meertens Institute can be reached by the Amsterdam metro lines 50 and 51, stop Overamstel (one minute walk to the Institute). From Amsterdam Airport (Schiphol) there is an easy railway connection to railway station Amsterdam Zuid (8 minutes), where one can take metro 50 or 51 to Overamstel (4 minutes). Coming from the city centre or Amsterdam Central Station one can take metro 51 (10 minutes to Overamstel). Coming from Germany one can also use railway station Amsterdam Amstel, where you take metro 51 (4 minutes).

You can leave Terschelling after the conference at 7.00 am, arriving in Amsterdam Airport at 12:39 pm, or at 11.00 am, arriving in Amsterdam Airport at 15:39 pm. Time schedules may be changed in 2010.


Registration Fee

The conference registration fee will be € 50. There will be a pro rata fee for day registrations. The fee includes the conference pack with programme, coffees/teas during the conference, the Opening Lunch, and entry to any evening entertainment organised as part of the conference, but it does NOT include meals, the Conference Travel to Terschelling, the Conference Excursion, and the Conference Dinner. Also, the registration fee does not include the annual subscription for the KfV (€ 10).

Accommodation

The central accomodation will be the Europa Hotel, where participants can stay and use dinner together. The paper sessions will be held in the nearby Maritime Institute. Alternative lodging is in the nearby Stayokay Youth Hostel.
Participants coming from abroad may want to spend the night before the Conference (4 July) in Amsterdam. We will provide them with suggestions for hotels, which they have to book themselves.

Approximate prices

Hotel Europa: single room c. € 225-295
Hotel Europa: double room c. € 225
Stayokay Youth Hostel: c. € 135 p.p. (four persons on one room)
All prices are for 5 nights incl. breakfast and tourist tax.

Common meals: 3 lunches and 2 dinners in Hotel Europa: c. € 70
Conference Travel Amsterdam-Terschelling: still to be calculated (c. € 60)
(incl. ferry fee back from Terschelling to Harlingen)
Conference Excursion: c. € 40
Conference dinner (barbecue): c. € 45

Booking

The Accomodation, Conference Travel, Conference Excursion and Conference Dinner should be booked by 28 FEBRUARY 2010 on the Conference Booking Form which will be placed on the Meertens Institute website (www.meertens.nl) in January. If you want to apply now, please send us an e-mail and we will send you a Conference Booking Form in January.

For further information, contact the Conference Organisers:
prof. dr Louis Peter Grijp (+ 31 20 4628536, louis.grijp@meertens.knaw.nl and
drs Martine de Bruin (+31 20 4628513, martine.de.bruin@meertens. knaw.nl),
P.O. Box 94264, NL-1090 GG Amsterdam, Fax + 31 20 4628555
Joan Muyskenweg 25, NL-1096 CJ Amsterdam