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Ein
Brief von Luisa Del Giudice, der Präsidentin Ein Brief von Luisa Del Giudice, der Präsidentin 28. August, 2004 Liebe Kollegen, voll von Erinnerungen
von einer hervorragenden Tagung in Riga (wie allgemein festgestellt
wurde, eine der Besten überhaupt), die noch lebhaft in mir
nachwirken, schreibe ich vor allem um den Veranstaltern und besonders
Imants Freibergs, Dace Bula und Valdis Mutupavels für ihre
tadellose Koordination, ihre Herzlichkeit und Freundschaft zu
danken, aber auch allen Mitgliedern für ihre Unterstützung
in den fünf Jahren meiner Präsidentschaft in der Kommision
für Volksdichtung. Als ich die Arbeitsgruppe am ersten Tag
der Konferenz begrüßte, hoffte ich darauf, das diese
Tagung ein passender Abschluß meiner Amtszeit werden würde.
Sogar als ich das wunderschöne grüne Bernstein- und
Silberarmband in Empfang nahm und von der Tanzkette umkreist wurde,
auch beim Abschluß der Tagung befreundete ich mich mehr
und mehr mit der Bedeutung des Satzes: finire in bellezza.* Es
war ein wunderschöner Abschluß. Wann jemals und wo
jemals würden wir sonst zu Sekt und Kaviar in einen Präsidenten-Palast
eingeladen werden...? Ich danke von Herzen unseren Freunden Vaira
und Imants für ihre Großzügigkeit, Wärme
und dafür unsere Arbeitsgruppe in solchem Stil und so festlichem
Rahmen geehrt zu haben. A letter from the President, Luisa Del Giudice August 28, 2004 Dear colleagues, With memories
of a splendid conference in Riga (by consensus, one of the best
ever) still recent and vivid, I write to thank foremost, the organizers,
and in particular Imants Freiberg, Dace Bula, and Valdis Muktupavels,
for their impeccable coordination, their unfailing good cheer,
and their warm friendship, but also our entire membership for
their support during my rewarding five years as president of the
Kommission fur Volksdichtung. In welcoming the group on the first
day of the conference, I hoped it would be a fitting conclusion.
Even as I accepted the beautiful green amber and silver bracelet,
and chain danced to where I sat at the conference's end, I more
and more appreciated the meaning of our phrase: finire in bellezza.*
It was a beautiful closure. Whenever or wherever else would we
be invited for caviar and champagne in a presidential palace…?
I sincerely thank our steadfast friends, Vaira and Imants, for
their generosity, warmth, and for honoring our group in such style
and with such grace. With continuing gratitude, Luisa Del Giudice *finire in bellezza: to end something on an elegant upbeat. Lettre
de la Présidente, Luisa del Giudice Chers collègues, Ayant encore
en mémoire les souvenirs vivaces d'une splendide conférence
à Riga (de l'avis de tous, une des plus réussies
de la Commission), je prends la plume avant tout pour remercier
les organisateurs, et en particulier Imants Freiberg, Dace Bula
et Valdis Muktupavels, pour leur impeccable collaboration, leur
inaltérable bonne humeur, et leur chaleureuse amitié;
mais aussi pour remercier l'ensemble de nos membres pour leur
appui pendant les cinq années de ma présidence de
la Commission Internationale pour l'Etude de la chanson traditionnelle.
Dans mon adresse aux participants le premier jour de la conférence,
j'exprimais l'espoir qu'elle constituerait une conclusion appropriée.
En recevant le magnifique bracelet d'argent et d'ambre verte de
la main des danseurs en chaine, et jusqu'aux tout derniers moments
de la conférence, j'ai pu apprécier le sens de notre
expression: finire in belleza.* Mon mandat s'est terminé
en beauté. Nulle part ailleurs sans doute aurions-nous
été invités à une réception
au champagne et au caviar dans un palais présidentiel!
J'adresse mes remerciements les plus sincères à
nos fidèles amis, Vaira et Irmants, pour leur générosité
chaleureuse, et pour avoir accueilli notre groupe avec un tel
style et une telle grâce. Luisa del Giudice *Finire in belleza: terminer en beauté Inaugural letter: Dear Friends and Colleagues, I greatly appreciate your vote of confidence and look forward to serving the Kommission für Volksdichtung as president for the next five years (2000-2005). Congratulations to Vaira Vikis-Freibergs, for her extraordinary and history-making election as new president of Latvia. Folksong scholars take heart! We all also thank Stefaan Top, outgoing, 3-term president, for his many years of loyal and cheerful service, and Jürgen Dittmar, one of the longest-time members still active with the KfV, who concludes his duties as Executive Secretary. We welcome David Atkinson, who was voted to fill that position during the Aberdeen meeting. There are several areas of interest I wish to pursue on the organization's behalf. They are: enhanced internationalization of our group, establishing and maintaining a KfV archive, increasing communication among members (via e-mail, in addition to other channels), networking with other folksong/music organizations, and finally, clarifying the parameters for membership, as well as the rules for the scope and transferral of executive authority. The drafting of a proposal for the last two items occured informally during the Memphis meeting of the American Folklore Society. All this increased administrative activity may signal to some an unwelcome bureaucratization of the organization, but look on the bright side: it is a sign of our growing stability and maturity, as well as numbers, and the desire for clarity and smooth continuity. It may also be heartening to remember that we are the most active subgroup of the Société Internationale d'Ethnologie et de Folklore.* We represent its only subgroup to hold annual meetings, for example. We must maintain this open dialogue between colleagues across linguistic and cultural boundaries. This means, among other things, finding strategies to better communicate at meetings, formally and informally. I welcome workable solutions to this ongoing problem. We wish to welcome, never alienate, members of diverse provenances. Recall that the official languages of our organization are: German, English and French. Any of these languages, therefore, is acceptable for oral or written communication.** There may even be reason to expand the official KfV languages. I could easily envision adding Spanish, for instance, to our roster. Certainly romancero and corrido scholars are many, and their greater participation at our meetings and in the organization would be welcome. Further, the worldwide status of Spanish would merit this inclusion. As English gains ground in international arenas, this should not preclude communication in other languages, or reduce us to monoglossy. The choice to adopt one of the official languages for communication should remain however, a strictly personal matter. Best wishes, avec mes plus cordiales salutations, mit freundlichen Grüssen... (and Saluti cordiali, not to mention ¡salutaciones!) Luisa Del Giudice
* You may be interested to know there are several others, among which: Commission for Ethnological Food Research (with an informal association), Commission for the Ethnology of Religion, and Commission for Picture Research (sic). Cf.: http://www2.hu-berlin.de/inside/sief/ ** Unlike our polyglot former president, Stefaan Top, who speaks Dutch, English, French, and German, I can manage English, French, Italian. Please feel free to write to me in any one of the three official languages. I, on the other hand, will likely respond in English. The language of our newsletter, edited by David Atkinson, will continue to be trilingual. Please consider the following special requests and issues and send us your ideas.
Newsletter: Send Tom your news: publications, research in progress, notices of meetings, sound recordings, publications, job openings, etc. of interest to our membership. Luisa Del Guidice: luisadg@humnet.ucla.edu
Tom McKean: kfvweb@aol.com
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c 2004 Kommission für Volksdichtung