About

Hub Vision

bringing people together in efforts for music and peacebuilding

Dear Friends, Colleagues, and Visitors,

On October 18, 2022, MOMRI launched a new digital initiative. On this website called the MOMRI Hub, we hope to make research on Music in Peacebuilding more accessible to a wider audience of both scholars and practitioners, and to better document the network of this emerging field.

In the future, we also hope to expand the MOMRI Hub to provide a digital space to showcase ongoing projects in the field and for individuals to connect and share.

Our parent institution, Min-On, was established on October 18, 1963 in order to connect people to people, and countries to countries, through music. Over the past 60 years, Min-On has established connections with more than 100 countries through organizing concerts, conferences, workshops and other activities. At MOMRI we want to continue this tradition of bringing people together in efforts for music and peacebuilding, by now taking advantage of opportunities afforded by digital and online spaces. The many new digital efforts and strategies pursued by organizations around the world due to the pandemic only further highlighted the potential of online communities of practice.

Through the MOMRI Hub, we hope to give you entry points into working for peacebuilding through music. We also want to provide individuals and organizations a space where they can share their work and resources that might support the work of others. Since MOMRI was founded in 2014, we have met so many inspiring individuals and organizations working on Music in Peacebuilding. Through the Hub, we hope to help others connect to each other as well. You may have participated in our survey in 2018 – through this, we heard from many people that they were looking for a space where they could better access resources, opportunities, and new connections in the field.

Please enjoy exploring this space! Now that we have taken the first steps in the journey of this Hub and are thinking about its future growth, we would love to continue to hear from you regarding what would be valuable to you in a digital community of practice based around Music in Peacebuilding. You can contact us directly at the bottom of this page.

With best regards and many thanks for your support,

Olivier Urbain

Director,
On behalf of Min-On and MOMRI

Meet the MOMRI Team

The MOMRI team is internationally-located, remote-based, and works in English. Scroll down to get to know us!

MOMRI's Publications

Olivier Urbain

Director

Olivier's Publications Write to Olivier

In the field of peace studies, I focus on preventive peacebuilding and on how people can avoid and prevent violence at all levels, here and now in their daily lives and communities. Further, I focus on “the application of music in peacebuilding” from various angles. I am currently exploring the potential of musicking to enhance conviviality and social skills in Japanese high schools and other institutions.

Member of the Board of Directors of the International Peace Research Association Foundation (IPRAF). (2017~)
Visiting Research Professor at Queen’s University Belfast (Northern Ireland). (2015~)
Former Director of the Toda Peace Institute (Tokyo and Honolulu). (2008~2017)

Bio
Born in 1961 in Tournai, Belgium. Obtained academic degrees in Belgium, the US and the UK. Delivered numerous lectures and presentations as university professor, as director of the Toda Peace Institute, and as director of MOMRI in around 20 countries.

Academic Degrees
PhD in Peace Studies, University of Bradford, UK (2009).
PhD in Literature, University of Southern California, USA (1990).

Awards, Honors and Accomplishments

Member of the Board of Directors of the International Peace Research Association Foundation (IPRAF) (2017~)
Founder (2002) and former convener (2002-2008) of the Art & Peace Commission of the International Peace Research Association (IPRA).
Recipient of several scholarships as graduate student at the University of Southern California (1985-90).

Michael Golden

Research Fellow

Michael's Publications Write to Michael

While my formal training in music was primarily in music composition and jazz improvisation, throughout my studies in those areas I continually came back to the question of why human beings make music. My exposure (in courses in ethnomusicology) to musics from around the world led me to believe that, along with the extraordinary diversity in the ways in which people in different cultures engage in musicking, there is a deeper underlying commonality; I believe musicking is essentially connective or integrative behavior. This has led me to my current areas of research, including the relationships between musicking and ecology, neuroscience, embodied cognition, human development and evolution. Of particular relevance to the mission of MOMRI are the links between these fields and identity, and fostering empathy and social change.

Professor of Music Composition and Theory, Soka University of America, Aliso Viejo, USA.

Bio
Born in 1952 in New York City, USA, Dr. Golden began learning jazz piano at the Jazzmobile School. He studied music composition and theory with Tomas Svoboda, William O. Smith, Diane Thome, William Bergsma, and Jonathan Bernard, and studied music history and ethnomusicology with Robert Trotter and Christopher Waterman. His compositions have been performed throughout the US and around the world, and include regional and national commissions and scores for film and theatre productions, along with numerous jazz works. As an educator, Prof. Golden teaches courses in World Music, Music and Ecology, Music Psychology, and Music and Peacebuilding, along with composition, improvisation, theory and computer music.

Academic Degrees
Doctor of Musical Arts (D.M.A.) in Composition, University of Washington (1992).
Master’s Degree (M.M.) in Composition, University of Oregon (1981).

Awards, Honors and Accomplishments

First Prize, Guitar Foundation of America International Composition Competition, 1996.
Meet the Composer/Commissioning Music USA Award, 1997.
Other Commissions:
- It’s a Long, Long River commissioned by the Huntington Symphony Orchestra, 1997.
- Echoes in Eternal Light (a setting of Ko-jyo-no Tsuki) commissioned by the Kansai 21st Century Symphony Orchestra, 1998.
- Suite Ceremonial commissioned by Aliso Viejo Symphony Orchestra, 2001.
- Three Friends, for chamber orchestra, computer and jazz piano, commissioned by South Orange County Chamber Orchestra, 2003.

Musical Works
Score:

FramésetuDe, for solo guitar, Les Productions d’Oz, Montréal (2000).

Recordings:

Bidder to Better, on “American Music for Violin and Piano,” Nevelson Duo, Albany Records (2004).
The Sea Change, and Other Stories, on “Contemporary American Eclectic Music for the Piano, Vol. IV,” New Ariel Recordings (1997).
FramésetuDe, on “Bouquet,” Patrick Kearney, guitar, La Flame Records (1997).

Recent Compositions:

“Dream Catcher (for Haruki Murakami)” (2021) Piano
“Twelves” (2021) Computer
“Tetratudes” (2015-2021) Piano
“The Critters Project” (2014 – 2020) Various ensembles

Craig Robertson

Research Fellow

Craig's Publications Write to Craig

I am particularly interested in the continuum between wellbeing and conflict and how music can affect personal and societal placement on this continuum. My work is interdisciplinary, linking music therapy, conflict transformation, music sociology and peacebuilding. I have conducted scholarly research on music therapy, music and diaspora; music, food and identity; music and cultural identity, emotion and belief structures in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the North African nations affected by the “Arab Spring” and, most recently, in Palestine and Israel.

Research and Development Manager (Arts and Humanities), University of York, UK.
Director, Music for Healthy Lives Research and Practice Network, Leeds, UK.

Bio
PhD in Music Sociology at University of Exeter, UK.
MMus (Distinction) in Contemporary Music Studies at Goldsmiths College, University of London, UK.
PGCE in Secondary School Music at Middlesex University, UK.
BMus at Mount Allison University, Canada.

Awards, Honors and Accomplishments
In December 2013, he was shortlisted for the Exeter Impact Award for Outstanding Impact in Arts and Culture. He was the only sole candidate; the other entries were teams of researchers.

Academic Degrees
PhD in Music Sociology at University of Exeter, UK.
MMus (Distinction) in Contemporary Music Studies at Goldsmiths College, University of London, UK.
PGCE in Secondary School Music at Middlesex University, UK.
BMus at Mount Allison University, Canada.

Elaine Sandoval

Research Fellow

Elaine's Publications Write to Elaine

As an ethnomusicologist, I use ethnographic methods to study the pedagogies and institutions of various music practices. In particular, I analyze and theorize issues of coloniality, social justice, race, nationalism, and the production of space in relation to music teaching and learning. My recent project focuses on Alma Llanera, a music education program based on música llanera from the Colombia-Venezuela plains region. Alma Llanera is a program within Venezuela’s famed national music education system, El Sistema, and I conducted long-term fieldwork in Guárico state, Venezuela between 2016-2018. This project examines pedagogies of traditional and popular music, llanera (plains region) culture, politics of the state, and current economic and social crises.
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In addition to ethnographic approaches, I work with practices of assessment and evaluation, data management, non-profit management and network-building, and public and digital humanities. I am committed to Open Access publishing and the creation of Open Educational Resources.

Bio
Former Fulbright recipient, New York Public Humanities Fellow, and Sistema Fellow. Has taught undergraduate and graduate music courses at Brooklyn College, City University of New York, and has worked for the CUNY Pipeline Program, League of American Orchestras Knowledge Center, Sistema Global, and WolfBrown. Has lived and studied in Taiwan, China, the United Kingdom, and Venezuela.

Academic Degrees

PhD in Music, Graduate Center, City University of New York.

Master of Studies in Music, Oxford University.

Awards, Honors and Accomplishments

2019-2020 William Randolph Hearst Dissertation Year Award, Graduate Center, CUNY.
2019 Society for Ethnomusicology Student of the Month.
2017-2018 Public Humanities Fellow, Humanities New York
2016-2017 Fulbright IIE Student Study/Research Award for Venezuela
2014-2019 City University of New York Presidential MAGNET Fellow.
2014 International Society for Music Education Steve Dillon World Conference Award.
2012-2013 Sistema Fellow at New England Conservatory.
2011 Founder’s Award, Soka University of America.
2011 Makiguchi Memorial Education Scholarship, Soka University of America.
2010 Ikeda Scholarship, Soka University of America.

Elaine developed and manages the MOMRI Hub website. Please direct any technical issues or comments to her.

The Min-On Music Research Institute (MOMRI) was founded in 2014.

Our mission is to pursue a multidisciplinary investigation of the potential application of music in peacebuilding activities.

We've approached research on music in peacebuilding from a variety of perspectives — particularly ethnomusicology, music education, sociology, ecology, human rights, and justice. Through this work, we've also met and collaborated with so many other researchers, practitioners, and institutions doing similar work.

This Hub is an effort to strengthen connections and collaborations within the field, inspired by the six decades of achievements of our parent institution, Min-On.

The Min-On Concert Association was established in 1963 in Tokyo, with the goal of promoting cultural exchange and peace through music and the performing arts.

"Min-On" means "the people's music" (or — music "for the people," "by the people," "of the people").

Over sixty years, Min-On has brought performers from over 100 countries to perform in Japan, and has also brought Japanese artists to perform internationally. These events are characterized by their accessibility to a wide public, their focus on dialogue and exchange between performers, and their grounding in socio-cultural context. In 2019, Min-On was awarded the Koizumi Prize for Ethnomusicology.

The MOMRI Hub continues this work to promote exchange amongst those working on Music in Peacebuilding around the world, now through a digital space.

Thank you for visiting the MOMRI Hub for Music in Peacebuilding! Has something from the Hub helped you in your own work? Please let us know! We would love to hear from you, including your feedback on this website.

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