International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance

A Non-Governmental Organization in Formal Consultative Relations with UNESCO

ICTMD Study Group on Music and Dance in the Turkic World

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OBA Film & Video Festival 2026 – Call for Submissions

The OBA Film & Video Festival 2026 invites submissions for its inaugural edition, Unheard Stories: Music, Dance, Memory and Living Heritage Across the Turkic World, taking place 19–23 November 2026 at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Çanakkale, Türkiye.

An initiative of the Institute for Living Stories, presented in partnership with the ICTMD Study Group on Music and Dance in the Turkic World, and hosted by the Faculty of Music and Performing Arts and the Faculty of Communication at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, OBA is an international, artist-led, curated Film & Video Festival with a mentorship-based residency.

We welcome submissions from artists, researchers, musicians, dancers, archivists, media artists, digital creators, educators, students, cultural practitioners, and community knowledge holders whose work engages with music, dance, memory, archives, ritual, and living heritage through moving-image practices.

Submission deadline: 15 August 2026

For submission guidelines and further information, please visit livingstories.art/oba.

 

                                                                    Click here for more details  
5th Symposium of the Study Group, Almaty, April 2016
                       5th Symposium of the Study Group, Almaty, April 2016

Mission Statement

The Music and Dance in the Turkic World Study Group is dedicated to the practice, documentation,

preservation, and dissemination of the traditional music and dance found across the vast Turkic

World — stretching from South Siberia to the Mediterranean and extending into global diasporas.

 

This cultural sphere encompasses the artistic heritage of numerous communities, including Altai,

Azerbaijanis, Balkars, Bashkirs, Chuvashes, Crimean Karaites, Dolgans, Gagauz, Karachays,

Karakalpaks, Kazakhs, Khakas, Krymchaks, Kyrgyz, Nogais, Qashqai, Shors, Tatars, Turkmens,

Turks, Tuvans, Uyghurs, Uzbeks, and Yakuts, as well as historic states such as the Bulgars,

Göktürks, Khazars, Kipchaks, Seljuks, Timurids, and others. In an era of globalization and

shifting identities, the careful study of Turkic music and dance illuminates performance practices,

deepens cultural understanding, and supports the continuity of this rich and diverse heritage.

 

Contact details

ictmd.turkic@gmail.com

Chair

Prof. Dr Abdullah Akat

Istanbul University State Conservatory, Department of Musicology,

Maltepe/Istanbul, Turkey, Tel: +90 543 9016578, e-mail: abdullahakat@istanbul.edu.tr 

Vice-Chair

Prof. Dr Lala Huseynova

Vice-Rector of the Azerbaijan National Conservatory, Baku, Azerbaijan 

Tel: +994-50-354-35-46,  e-mail: lalahuseynova1962@gmail.com

Music Liaison

Assoc.Prof. Dr Galina Sychenko

President, Eurasia Archive named after Romano Mastromattei (Italy) / Novosibirsk, Russia

Tel: +39-39-21-279-251,  e-mail: sytchenko@mail.ru

Dance Liaison

Sashar Zarif

Director, The Institute for Embodied Wisdom, Canada / Iran

Tel: +1 416 450-4529,  e-mail: sashar@sashardance.com

Co-Secretaries

Assoc.Prof. Dr Valeria Nedlin 

Kazakh National Conservatory named after Kurmangazy

Tel. +7 707 353 99 25 email: leranedlin@gmail.com   

Prof. Dr Anna Oldfield

Coastal Carolina University

Tel. +1 (843) 349-6591 aoldfield@coastal.edu

The Encyclopaedia of Music Realities of Turkic-Speaking Peoples

Dear colleagues,

we would like to announce a new project entitled  “The Encyclopaedia of Music Realities of Turkic-Speaking Peoples”. The project in collaboration with Turksoy was initiated by the ICTM Study Group on Music of the Turkic-Speaking World and introduced/ approved  on 13th July 2019 at the SG business meeting during the 45th ICTM World Conference in Bangkok. We have a preliminary agreement with “Medina Publishing House” (Nizhny Novgorod-Moscow, Russia) to publish the Encyclopaedia in Russian, English and Turkish languages.

Programme: 6th Symposium of the ICTM Study Group on Music of the Turkic-speaking World

Please see the attachment for the full text of the Call for Papers.

Call for Papers: 6th Symposium of the ICTM Study Group on Music of the Turkic-speaking World

Please see the attachment for the full text of the Call for Papers.

Programme: 5th Symposium of the ICTM Study Group on Music of the Turkic-speaking World

5th SYMPOSIUM OF THE ICTM STUDY GROUP ON MUSIC OF THE TURKIC SPEAKING WORLD

 To mark the 10th anniversary of the Study Group establishment 

21-23 APRIL, 2016, Almaty, Kazakhstan

FROM VOICE TO INSTRUMENT:
SOUND PHENOMENON IN TRADITIONAL CULTURAL HERITAGE OF THE TURKIC SPEAKING WORLD

Call for Proposals: 5th Symposium of the ICTM Study Group on Music of the Turkic-speaking World

Call for Papers: "From voice to instrument: sound phenomenon in traditional cultural heritage of the Turkic Speaking world" 

21-23d April 2016

Kurmangazy Kazakh National Conservatory, Almaty, Kazakhstan 

Report on the 4th Symposium of the ICTM Study Group on Music of the Turkic Speaking World

18-20 April 2014 Istanbul, Turkey, Istanbul Technical University

Announcement of the 4th Symposium of the ICTM Study Group on Music of the Turkic-speaking World, Istanbul Technical University, 18-20 April 2014

Here is the announcement of the 4th Symposium of the ICTM Study Group on Music of the Turkic-speaking World, which will be held in the Istanbul Technical University on 18-20 April 2014.

Download Symposium programme.

Minutes of the meeting of the ICTM Study Group on Music of the Turkic-speaking World, 15 July 2013

On 15 July 2013, the ICTM Study Group on Music of the Turkic-speaking World held its business meeting at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, in Shanghai, China.

Study Group Co-Chair Razia Sultanova called the meeting to order at 13:30, and welcomed all twenty-six members to the meeting.

Under general business, Sultanova announced that Co-Chair Dorit Klebe had so far been unable publish the proceedings of the Berlin symposium in 2010, but that work was being continued.

Report of the 3rd Symposium of the ICTM Study Group on Music of the Turkic-speaking World

“Popular Culture in Turkic Asia and Afghanistan: Performance and Belief” was the subject of the 3rd Symposium and Workshop of the ICTM Study Group on Music of the Turkic-speaking World, held at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge. The event started with a roundtable revolving around "The study of Turkic languages in the University of Cambridge", where the representatives of the embassies of Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan and the Deputy Secretary General of Turksoy (Ankara) actively participated of the discussion.

Third Symposium of the ICTM Study Group on Music of the Turkic Speaking World, 1-2 December, 2012, Cambridge, UK

Dear Colleagues,

We are delighted to announce that the Third Symposium of the ICTM Study Group on Music of the Turkic Speaking World will take place on 1-2 December 2012 at the University of Cambridge, UK.

The title of the Symposium is “Popular Culture in Turkic Asia and Afghanistan: Performance and Belief”

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