On Wednesday, November 27, from 6 PM to 8 PM, the MUCEM, in partnership with Iméra and the CNRS, will host a round table bringing together musicologists, ethnologists, and musicians on the theme “Mediterranean Traditions of Oboes and Bagpipes: From Instrument Making to Musical Practice.” Lola Soulier, an oboist currently in residence at Iméra (Institute for Advanced Study of Aix-Marseille University), will represent the institute at this event. The meeting will feature live musical performances.
Free entry upon registration at mucemlab@mucem.org
Mediterranean Traditions of Oboes and Bagpipes: From Instrument Making to Musical Practice
This round table will highlight the central role of oboes and bagpipes in the musical traditions around the Mediterranean, focusing on both instrument craftsmanship and musical practice, addressing historical perspectives as well as current uses.
Iconic instruments of the pastoral world, the oboe and bagpipe, characterized by their distinct sound produced by a double reed made of cane, have traditionally accompanied rural, festive, and religious music. Often paired together, these instruments have evolved into numerous local variations: musette and oboe, zampogna and ciaramella, biniou and bombarde, gaita and gralla, mišnice and šurle, etc. However, modernization and standardization now threaten these traditions of instrument-making and musical interpretation.
Lola Soulier, recipient of the Mucem Méditerranée-Iméra residency, is a doctoral candidate in musicology at Sorbonne University and an oboist. She specializes in the historical making of reeds and the reconstruction of ancient oboes. Since 2014, she has collaborated with instrument makers to create oboe replicas for the Musée de la Musique-Philharmonie de Paris. She is also part of the steering committee for the project “Typologies of Oboes in France between 1650 and 1765,” led by the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles and the Institut de Recherche en Musicologie.
In 2024, she curated the exhibition “Conversations with the Reed” at the Komitas Museum-Institute in Yerevan, the result of two years of field research on the playing tradition and craftsmanship of Armenian oboes (duduk and zurna).
