COMTA History 1995 - 2004

COMTA Activities 1995- 2004

During the decade, a series of National Music Council were established in the region: Republica Dominicana, Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Venezuela , Bolivia, Uruguay, Paraguay , Chile and latinamerican and Caraibeans countries Meetings in Mexico, Cuba and in Rosario (Argentina) with the presence of the former Secretary General of the IMC, Mr Guy Huot and the sponsoring of the IMC and the Encuentros Foundation of Argentina.

In 1995 , during the General Assembly of the IMC in Korea, Alicia Terzian as a President of the CAMU as well as a organizer of the “Music Council of the Three Americas” (COMTA), proposed the official approval of the all the members presents at the General Assembly of this new Regional Council embracing all 3 Americas.
Altough not yet established as an independent legal entity, the IMC assembly in Korea officially approved the COMTA group with a large majority of votes and appointed Alicia Terzian as Secretary General.

Under her presidency the TRIMALCA 1993 and 1997 were organized in Argentina, joining delegates from all the country members of COMTA.

In 1996 Prof. Terzian organized an International Congress and Seminar about the “Musical Baroque in Latin America” under the COMTA auspices and with the cooperation of the Camping Musical Bariloche, the Festival of Organ and International Centre for Conservation of the Patrimony. In this event held in Bariloche and Buenos Aires and important specialists of the latinamerican baroc were presents coming from Peru, Mexico, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Guatemala, Argentina, Brasil, Uruguay, France as well as the responsible for the Project “World Atlas of the Baroque Music of the UNESCO”, Prof. Alberto Basso (Italy) and Dr. Elena Cattarini-Leger, director of this Project before the UNESCO.

In 1997 and together with the Encuentros Foundation, the CAMU orgnize the 4th National Congress of Musical Education and the 1st Meeting of Presidents of National Music Councils of the Three Americas (COMTA). These events had the presence of the IMC Secretary General and the Presidents of the Music Councils of El Salvador, Venezuela, Cuba, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Bolivia, Brasil, Chile and Uruguay.

In 2001 the Encounters Foundation invited the CAMU to organize the “Pan American Forum about the Condition of the Musician” with the participation of the International Federation of Musicians and their delegates from all over the world as well as IMC members from Canada, USA, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, República Dominicana, Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Brasil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, Panama and Honduras and all the Argentine provinces.
During this Forum was held the 3rd Regional Meeting of Presidents of the National Councils of Music from the Three Americas (COMTA) and they were devoted to “The national identity through the music of oral tradition, the creation and the musical education”. Prestigious personalities of the field of music of the Three Americas, Europe and our country attended the Forum.

In 2001 Terzian invited outstanding musicians, educators and personalities from all areas of the Argentine musical life to realize a research which outcome was a document called: “MUSICAL POLICY FOR ARGENTINA” (POLITICA MUSICAL PARA LA ARGENTINA ), which was presented before the COMTA.
On December 7th, 2001 ,this document was approved by the Government of Buenos Aires City and was presented before the TRIMALCA that took place in Asunción, Paraguay later on, in September 2004 under the sponsoring of the International Music Council.

In 2004 the CAMU organized together with the Fundacion Encuentros and COMTA, different workshops led by musical personalities from the MERCOSUR about: “Music of oral tradition of the MERCOSUR and contemporary techniques of creation in primary and secondary school”. 300 music teachers from the country participated in the workshops which were funded by the Encounters Foundation.

In March 2005 the CAMU and COMTA organized workshops in Buenos Aires : “An approach to indigenous cultures in Argentina” and dedicated to music professors of primary and secondary schools of Argentina. The topics were: Candombe and murga, Ethnic instruments to apply in the classroom, Oral tradition, Puppets and music, Music, dance and mapuche habits, Music, dance and wichi guaranies habits, the sonorous art of guaranies Mbya Apitiré of Misiones, Improvisation with percussion, The Argentine musical tale in the school, Rioplatense percussion in the school, Voice techniques, the School choir, Eutonia, Music and PC.

In the field of Musical Education the following aims were achieved:

- Musical policies in the Latin American countries. Globalization.
- Research on new methodologies due to the changes in the education programs and new Technologies.
- How to achieve an effective action of music in schools to benefit the community.- Promote the recognition and international equivalence of Diplomas given by official Argentine Conservatories, Universities, etc.
- Create a musical repertoire of composers in every country.
- Develop an action through radio and television such as “music schools adapted to local features” (rural schools )
- The music and homeless children.
- New Technologies to help music teacher in all levels.

In the field of the Multiculturalism the following aims were achieved:

- The Ethnic music of each country or cultural region and its presence in the community.
- The influence of African music in Latin America, the Caribbean and USA.
- The presence of ethnic music in the new creative-musical form of the young generations.
- The presence of the immigration in the popular regional music, such as: the influence of Italian and Spanish music in the popular quartets of the province of Cordoba (Argentina) and others in the continent.

In the field of Research the following aims were achieved:

- Project about the colonial American music.
- Seminars and Workshops devoted to the Research of Ethnic music in the Andean countries and its projection in the Musical Education.

In the field of Contemporary Music the following aims were achieved:

Seminar to study the consequences of the new technology on the music created towards the third millennium.
Dialogue about the creativity in the three Americas.Seminar and Festival about the Project of Ethnic Music in the contemporary Musical Creation in Argentina.
Participation at the IMC International Tribunes of composers from 1979 till 2006 presenting argentine works selected by a Jury including argentine important composers in the Argentine Annual Tribunes: TRINAC,TRIME and TRIMARG.

In the field of Defence of Musicians the following aims were achieved:

- A Congress was organized together with the International Federation of Musicians and the IMC to study the situation of the performer in the country (as soloist or integrating orchestras or other official or private organs, chamber, symphony or choir)

This Congress dealt about the situation of the musician in the society, his social rights and copyrights, performers, composers, musicologists and musical educators rights. It was developed in three steps: Argentina, MERCOSUR, the Americas, following the lines of the UNESCO, FIM and the IMC.

In the field of Cultural Policies the following aims were achieved:

Symposium about the topic: “Freedom and finance of the Argentine musical culture”.