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Drago Kunej, PhD

Senior Research Associate, Assistant Professor in the Field of Ethnomusicology, Head of the Sound Archives

01 470 62 71

Drago.Kunej@zrc-sazu.si


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Research interests:

  • history of sound documentation in Slovenia,
  • early gramophone records and other sound documents as a source for ethnomusicology research,
  • sound archives and preservation, restoration and archiving of sound material,
  • field recordings in ethnology and ethnomusicology,
  • traditional musical instruments,
  • folk dance ensembles and folk revival groups,
  • music of emigrants.

 

Teaching:

  • Lecturer of the course Music Acoustics (undergraduate study programme, 1st cycle Bologna programme) at the Academy of Music and at the Department of Musicology, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana,
  • Lecturer of the courses Music Folkloristics: An Introduction and Instrumental Folk Music and Folk Dance, module Slovenian Folk Music Heritage (Masters study programme, 2nd cycle Bologna programme) at the Academy of Music, University of Ljubljana,
  • Mentor and lecturer to PhD students in the Doctoral study programme Humanities and Social Sciences (3rd cycle Bologna programme) at the University of Ljubljana,
  • Guest lecturer at the Academy of Music, University of Sarajevo (both semesters of the academic year 2017/2018 and 2019/2020).

 

Research and pedagogical activities abroad:

  • Department of Musicology and Ethnomusicology, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2017, 2018, 2019),
  • The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA – research grant of the Slovene Research Initiative at the Center for Slavic and East European Studies, OSU (2016),
  • The National Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame and Museum, Cleveland, Ohio, USA (2010, 2015),
  • Department of Russian Folklore at the Institute of Russian Literature (the Pushkin House), Russian Academy of Science, Sankt Petersburg, Russia (2012),
  • The Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research, Zagreb, Croatia (2011),
  • Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany (2011),
  • The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, Washington, USA (2010),
  • Phonogrammarchiv, Dunajska akademija znanosti (1994–2008),
  • guest lectures at the Cleveland State University, Lakeland Community College, Cleveland, Ohio (2010) and at the Ohio State University, School of Music, Columbus, Ohio (2016), and Kunstniverzitäet Graz, Austria (2017).

 

Leading functions, membership and functions in associations and societies:

  • Head of the Institute of Ethnomusicology (2015–2019),
  • Head of the Sound Archives at the Institute of Ethnomusicology ZRC SAZU (1993–),
  • Head of the Academic Council of the Institute (2010–2014),
  • Chair of the Slovenian section of the Slovenian Research Initiative, in partnership with The Ohio State University, Center for Slavic and East European Studies (2018−),
  • Member of the Academic Council of the Institute (2001–),
  • Member of the Slovenian Acoustical Society – SDA (1998–),
  • Member of the Slovenian Society for Conservation-Restoration – DRS (2003–),
  • Founding member of the Cultural and Ethnomusicological Society Folk Slovenia (1996–), member of the executive board (1996–2000) and the first president (1996–1998),
  • Member of the Slovenian branch of the Audio Engineering Society – AES (1995–),
  • Member of the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives – IASA (1996–); active especially in the IASA Technical Committee (1997–), where I was a member of the executive board of the Committee and the committee’s secretary (2004–2010), and in the Research Archives Section (2001–),
  • Member of the International Council for Traditional Music – ICTM (1999–); especially involved in the Study Group on Historical Sources of Traditional Music (2005–), Study Group on Folk Musical Instruments and Study Group on Music and Dance of the Slavic World.

 

Monographs

  • Music from both sides. Gramophone records made by Matija Arko and the Hoyer Trio. 1st English ed. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, ZRC SAZU, 2017. (co-author Rebeka Kunej)
  • Glasba z obeh strani. Gramofonske plošče Matije Arka in Hoyer tria. 1. izd. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, ZRC SAZU; Ribnica: Rokodelski center, 2016. (co-author Rebeka Kunej)
  • Fonograf je dospel! Prvi zvočni zapisi slovenske ljudske glasbe, (Zbirka Folkloristika). Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, ZRC SAZU, 2008.

 

Articles / Chapters

  • France Marolt's endeavours to sound document folk music. Muzikološki zbornik, 2020, 56(2): 107–135, doi: 10.4312/mz.56.2.107-135.
  • Presentations and transformations of traditional music practices as reflected in sound recordings. In: Zdravkova-Džeparoska, Sonja (ed.). Tradition and transition: a selection of articles developed from paper presentations at the first and the second symposia of the ICTM Study Group on Music and Dance of the Slavic World. Skopje, North Macedonia: ICTM NC Macedonia. 2020, 29–50.
  • Dancing for ethnic roots: folk dance ensembles of ethnic minority groups in Slovenia. Muzikološki zbornik, 2019, 55(2): 111–131, doi: 10.4312/mz.55.2.111-131. (co-author Rebeka Kunej)
  • 78 rpm records as a source for ethnomusicology and folklore research: experiences from Slovenia. In: Ziegler, Susanne (ed.). Historical sources of ethnomusicology in contemporary debate. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017, 34–49.
  • Folklorna skupina v diaspori: soočanje tradicije in ustvarjalnosti v Ameriki. Etnolog, 2016, 26(77), 49–64. (co-author Rebeka Kunej)
  • "Jaz nisem muzikant, jaz sem ljudski godec": vloga Franca Laporška pri revitalizaciji trstenk. Traditiones, 2016, 45(2): 83-101, doi: 10.3986/Traditio2016450206.
  • Gramofon v službi sakralne glasbe?. Muzikološki zbornik, 2014, 50 (2): 279–291, doi: 10.4312/mz.50.2.279-291.
  • Med kodami skrita zvočna dediščina Slovencev. Glasnik Slovenskega etnološkega društva, 2014, 54 /(1/2): 22–28.
  • Leto 1908 - začetek diskografije slovenske glasbe?. Traditiones, 2014, 43(2): 51–73, doi: 10.3986/Traditio2014430203.
  • Intertwinement of Croatian and Slovenian musical heritage on the oldest gramophone records. Narodna umjetnost, 2014, 51(1): 131–153.
  • Digitised early sound recordings as scholarly resources. In: Kunej, Drago (ed.), Šivic, Urša (ed.). Trapped in folklore? : studies in music and dance tradition and their contemporary transformations, (Musikethnologie, Bd. 7, vol. 7). Zürich; Berlin: LIT. 2013, 181–196.
  • Kako hitro se vrtijo plošče z 78 o/min? = How fast do 78 rpm records turn? Muzikološki zbornik, 2010, 46(2): 175–184.
  • The use of CD-Rs for archival storage and preservation: vulnerability of CD-Rs based on the susceptibility to sunlight experiment. IASA j., 2004, 21: 65-80.
  • New perspectives on the beginnings of music: archeological and musicological analysis of a middle Paleolithic bone "flute". In: Wallin, Nils L. (ed.), Merker, Bjorn (ed.), Brown, Steven (ed.). The origins of music. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2000, 235–268. (co-author).

Research interests:

  • BSc in Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana (1991)
  • MA in Music Theory, Academy of Music, University of Ljubljana (2001)
  • PhD in Music Theory, Academy of Music, University of Ljubljana (2007)
  • Assistant professor in the field of Ethnomusicology, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, 2008.

 

Employment:

  • Glasbenonarodopisni inštitut, Znanstvenoraziskovalni center SAZU (1993 - )
Research areas
Muzikologija H320
Narodopisje H400