Who owns a culture? Who can claim cultural rights?

Although these questions initially may seem frivolous, they have immense political and economic ramifications and will be the subject of an international conference April 8-10 at the University of Pittsburgh, titled Music and Cultural Rights: Trends and Prospects.

The conference, sponsored by Pitt’s Asian Studies Center (ASC) and Department of Music, is designed to explore the meaning of cultural rights through the study of music as a cultural practice, a commercial product, and an aesthetic form.

“In recent years, much attention has been paid to individual creativity and the rights that pertain to it,” says Bell Yung, Pitt professor of music and director of ASC. “For example, scholars and advocates have been working on intellectual property rights and copyright law as legal instruments for determining and enforcing individual ownership and control to access. Little attention has been paid, however, to a group’s right to receive, share, develop, enjoy, and be inspired by music,” which—according to conference conveners Yung and Andrew Weintraub, Pitt associate professor of music—is as fundamental to humanity as are other human rights.

According to Weintraub and Yung, “cultural rights” is a term that has received increased attention and may be understood as a group’s ability to preserve its culture, to raise its children in the ways of its forebears, to continue its language, and not to be deprived of its economic base by the transnational and globalized environment in which it is located. Music, say the conference conveners, “provides an important means for the transmission of knowledge and ideas across regions and generations.” The loss of access to music “can result in the loss of a group’s sense of shared identity and, ultimately, its sense of self.”

Complex issues arise from the globalization of music, according to Yung and Weintraub. For instance, in a global environment, the players involved in the production, distribution, and consumption of music are different from those in the past, they say.

“Prominent players unfamiliar with local traditions transform traditional music genres and styles according to market demands,” comments Weintraub. “Often such products flow back to the home community in which the music originated, being hailed by some as progress, but condemned by others as corruption. The globalization of music has brought to the fore questions pertaining to the responsibilities of music industry players, from artists to policy makers.”

The conference will bring together people from different disciplines within the music profession, including musicians, concert impresarios, cultural officials, policy makers, music industry executives, legal experts, and academics from throughout the United States, as well as from Brazil, Canada, China, Israel, and South Africa, among others. On April 8-9, it will be held at the Pittsburgh Athletic Association, 4215 Fifth Ave., while events taking place the morning of April 10 will be held in the Babcock Room on the 40th floor of Pitt’s Cathedral of Learning.

Registration is required and costs $10 for one day and $20 for the entire conference. Registration forms must be received by March 28. For a downloadable registration form or for more information about the conference, the underlying position paper, and its speakers and performers, visit www.musicandculturalrights.org.