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Accueil > Expositions > In tune with the times

In tune with the times

From 13 March 2009 to 26 September 2010 MEG | Carl-Vogt All music is to some extent affected by the spirit of the times. It is both the product of a tradition and the expression of an age. Drawing on the International Archives of Folk Music (Archives internationales de musique populaire, AIMP), which were built up at the MEG during the 1940s and 1950s by the well-known Romanian ethnomusicologist Constantin Brailoiu (1893-1958), the exhibition "In tune with the times" (L'air du temps) addresses a major issue: identity and memory in the era of globalization.

Rendez-vous Publications Bande annonce Le fonds Brailoiu Version française Dossier de presse

Constantin Brailoiu and assistants during a recording session at Dragus, Transylvanie. Photo Iosif Berman, 1929.

The image of society

"In tune with the times" recalls the challenges of collecting, preserving and utilizing musical archives. A statement on cultural diversity, it reveals the intimate and universal connection between music and emotions. Visitors are called on to immerse themselves in a world of sound subjected to multiple and diverse influences. The world changes, and music along with it, adapting to the circumstances in response to our needs and expectations. So what makes a melody genuinely authentic? Respect for traditional forms? Its power and its impact on listeners? Or simply its performers' intentions?

"In tune with the times" explores these questions in unusual ways. From the village melodies of the past to the manele, modern Gypsy songs that use state-of-the-art technology, it presents Romanian folk music through a spectacular audiovisual remix. The exhibition ends with the hits, these catchy tunes that saturate our audio space and are engraved on our memories without our realizing it.

Music, from this point of view, is both the image of society and the product of culture. In this exhibition, Constantin Brailoiu and the example of Romanian folk music are both the leitmotiv and the lens through which visitors are given an anthropological view of the universality of music.