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Drago Kunej, PhD, Assoc. Prof.
Principal Research Associate

01 470 62 71

Drago.Kunej@zrc-sazu.si


Identifiers:
ORCID SICRIS

Drago Kunej is a Principal Research Associate at the Institute of Ethnomusicology, ZRC SAZU, where he headed the Institute’s Sound Archive from 1993 to 2024, chaired the Scientific Council from 2010 to 2014, and served as Head of the Institute from 2015 to 2019. He received his PhD in Music Theory from the Academy of Music, University of Ljubljana. He is actively involved in the technical and methodological aspects of sound recordings for research purposes, including the challenges of preservation, restoration, re-recording, digitization, long-term storage, and archiving. His research interests focus on the history of sound recordings and the earliest ethnomusicological sound recordings, with an emphasis on Slovenian material; the use of sound documents in ethnomusicological research; sound archives; the preservation and analysis of audio heritage; traditional musical instruments; folk dance ensembles; migrant music; and the folk music revival movement in Slovenia. He is an Associate Professor and a lecturer in ethnomusicology and musical acoustics at the Academy of Music and the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana and the Postgraduate School ZRC SAZU. As the leader and coordinator of several national and European projects, a member of international commissions, associations, and editorial boards, a visiting researcher and lecturer abroad, and through his teaching, he transfers knowledge and actively participates in the international research community.


Research interests focus primarily on:

  • The history of sound documentation in Slovenia
  • Sound recordings on old gramophone records and other historical carriers as sources for ethnomusicological and other research
  • Sound archives and the preservation, restoration, and archiving of sound material
  • Field sound recordings in ethnology and ethnomusicology

  • Traditional musical instruments

  • Folk dance ensembles and folk revival groups

  • Music of emigrants

 

Among the most important achievements of the research work are scholarly monographs and chapters in scholarly monographs published by Slovenian and foreign publishers, as well as numerous scholarly and professional articles.

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).
Teaching
  • Music Acoustics, course coordinator and lecturer, Academy of Music and Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana (2008–)
  • Music Folkloristics: An Introduction, course coordinator and lecturer, Academy of Music, University of Ljubljana (2012–)
  • Instrumental Folk Music and Folk Dance, course coordinator and lecturer, Academy of Music and Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana (2012–)
  • Selected Topics in Slovenian Folk Musical Heritage, course coordinator and lecturer, Academy of Music, University of Ljubljana (2012–)
  • Sound heritage, course coordinator and lecturer, Postgraduate School ZRC SAZU (2026–)
  • Supervision of Master’s and doctoral theses
Professional memberships
  • Editorial Board Member, Traditiones (scholarly journal), 2015–; Guest Editor, issues 43/2 (2014) and 48/2 (2019)
  • Editorial Board Member at the The International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance, Study Group on Music and Dance of the Slavic World, 2023–
  • Editorial Board Member, Iz arhiva Glasbenonarodopisnega inštituta, audio publication series, 2012–2023
  • Editorial Board Member, Glasba na Slovenskem po 1918 , monograph series, 2018–
  • Editorial Board Member, Etnofon series, 2023–
  • Guest Co-editor, Interdisciplinary Studies in Musicology. Poznań: Rhytmos, 2022.
  • Editorial Board Member, 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, 2020
  • Co-editor, Trapped in Folklore. Berlin: LIT Verlag, 2013
  • 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 Slovenija (1996– ); member of the Executive Board (1996–2000) and first President (1996–1998)
  • Member of the Audio Engineering Society (AES) (1995– )
  • Member of the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA) (1996– )
  • Member of the International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance (ICTMD) (1999– ); active particularly in the ICTMD Study Group on Sources and Archives for Music and Sound Studies and the ICTMD Study Group on Music and Dance of the Slavic World
Other
  • Field Research, California and Minnesota, USA, 2024
  • Visiting Professor, University of Sarajevo, Academy of Music, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, academic year 2019/2020 and academic year 2017/2018
  • Visiting Professor, University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, Graz, Austria, 2017
  • Research Grant of the Slovene Research Initiative, Center for Slavic and East European Studies, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA, 2016
  • Visiting Professor, The Ohio State University, School of Music, Columbus, Ohio, USA, 2016
  • Guest researcher, The National Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame and Museum, Cleveland, Ohio, USA, 2015
  • Guest researcher, Department of Russian Folklore, Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House), Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia, 2012
  • Guest researcher, Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research, Zagreb, Croatia, 2011
  • Guest researcher, Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 2011
  • Guest researcher, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, DC, USA, 2010
  • Guest researcher, Phonogrammarchiv, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria, several visits between 1994–2008
Research areas
Musicology H320
Folklore H400

Links
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