From Archives to Algorithms: Memory, Digital Infrastructures, and Ethnomusicological Research on the Musical Traditions of the Greek World

May 21-23 2027, Athens

Organized by:The Musical Folklore Archives of Melpo Merlier (Centre for Asia Minor Studies) ; The Music Library of Greece "Lilian Voudouri" of the Friends of Music Society.

Conference Website

The convergence of historical memory archives and computational technologies is transforming the way we preserve, analyze, and disseminate traditional musical heritage. This conference aims to bridge the gap between traditional musicology/ethnomusicology and modern digital humanities, exploring how semantic web technologies, music information retrieval (MIR), and digital curation can enrich our understanding of oral and folk music traditions.

We invite proposals for individual papers, posters, and panels addressing (but not limited to) the following thematic axes (see also the official webpage):

1. Historical Memory: Archive management, ethnomusicological research, and safeguarding oral/endangered heritages.

2. Musical Traditions and Social Transformation

3. Documentation, Digitization, and Digital Infrastructures: Music
Information Retrieval (MIR), automatic transcription, rhythmic/melodic similarity modeling, and corpus studies.

4. Algorithmic Approaches: Voice and instrument identification, automatic alignment of audio-to-score, and pattern discovery in traditional tunes.

5. Ethics, Law, and Politics of Archival Research

6. Creative & Public Valorization: Public folklore, community engagement, educational applications, and modern artistic re-creations using archival sources.

We welcome proposals for:

Individual Papers (20-minute presentation followed by 10-minute Q&A)

Poster Presentations

Organized Panels (3-4 papers addressing a thematic unity)

Proposals must be submitted through email (mla@kms.org.gr) and should include:

A title and an abstract of up to 300 words (detailing the research
questions, methodology, and main findings).

A short biographical note of the author(s) (up to 100 words).

Contact details (name, affiliation, email).

Languages of presentation: English and Greek (simultaneous interpreting).

Abstract submission deadline: December 10, 2026

Notification of acceptance: February 15, 2027

Conference dates: May 21-23, 2027