CfP: Music, Crisis, Memory – An International Interdisciplinary Conference (08.-09.05.2026, Newcastle University) Deadline: 16.01.2026.

Music, Crisis, Memory
An International Interdisciplinary Conference

School of Arts and Cultures, Newcastle University, 8-9 May 2026

Call for Papers

Music can act as an essential tool for accessing and even shaping memories, particularly in times of crisis or when experiencing grief and loss. Music can also trigger vivid memories, including those related to specific events, emotions, or individuals. In various published studies, scholars demonstrate that music has long served as a powerful medium for communal mourning and remembrance in times of crisis, providing a way to process grief and make loss audible.[i]

When we discuss the relationships between music, crisis, and memory in depth, many questions arise: How does music support people through times of crisis and loss (e.g. global pandemic, fatal warfare and natural disaster)? How do we remember or forget crises musically? How can music function as a memory carrier as well as a healer? What remarkable crisis has the music industry dealt with? How does the crisis inspire music composition and create musical memory?

In the light of those questions, we would like to examine not only music-related and crisis-related memory, but also how people choose to remember and forget unfortunate experiences or pasts through musicking. We look forward to receiving abstract submissions on the following music-related topics, among others, whereby worldwide contexts can be considered:

  • Music as a response to crisis

  • Music-related remembering/forgetting about crisis

  • Selective memory and power 

  • Crisis and memory in the music industry

  • Memorizing and reflecting with and through music

  • Musical objects, places and spaces of remembrance

  • Affective impact and emotion in musical memory

  • Music or musicking as a therapeutic medium or practice during crises

  • Politics of memory and identity through music-related practices

  • Remembering and nostalgia in different music cultures 

Formats: The conference will be onsite and in-person only.

• Paper: 20 minutes + 10 minutes discussion

• Roundtable, panel discussion, conversation format or short workshop (30 minutes)

Conference language is English.

Please send an abstract (max. 300 words) stating the desired format (paper, project presentation) and a short biography (approx. 100 words) online via this form by 16 January 2026.

The decision on acceptance will be made by 20 February 2026.

Please contact us at this e-mail address if you have any questions: numcm2026[at]gmail[dot]com (Note: No abstract will be accepted via this email address).

Conference organising committee:

Professor Ian Biddle, Professor Nanette de Jong, Dr Meng Ren, Dr Adam Behr, Dr Richard Elliott, Dr Larry Zazzo, Dr Joe Lockwood. 

 

CFP, NewsHelene Heuser