Centrum Leo Apostel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Krijgskundestraat 33, B-1160 Brussel.
Phone: +32-2-640.67.37
Fax: +32-2-644.07.44
evankeer@vub.ac.be

Education

Lic. Kunstgeschiedenis en archeologie, oudheid (Vrije universiteit Brussel)
Aggr. S.O. groep2, Latijn (Vrije universiteit Brussel)
D.E.A. Philosophie et lettres, histoire des religions (Université de Liège)

PhD Project

Μούσαι φιλαύλοι. A comprehensive and integrated inquiry into the role of the aulos in ancient Greek myth.

Since ancient Greece has been recognized as a traditional “oral” performance culture rather than being the first “literate" society, the study of the performative category of Mousike has started to enjoy unprecedented attention and expansion in scholarship. In line with this new movement, this project takes up the study of the ancient Greek aulos-myths. The aulos (“double-flute") was the predominant wind instrument used throughout Greek history. However, it has never received much esteem in classical scholarship. Instead, it has the dubious reputation of being the quintessential Dionysian instrument as opposed to the Apollonian kithara. This perception roots largely in a literary-philosophical discours (Plato, Nietzsche) that can be qualified by integrating (a) the iconographical and especially also (b) the mythological evidence and approaches in the inquiry.
The historical approach which dominates the study of ancient Greek music and musical myths included, tends to disregard their mythical dimensions however they were fundamental: Mousikè literally means “of the Muses". An integrated approach is much more adequate and will produce a much more complex understanding of the role of the aulos in Greek society.
This project studies the corpus of aulos-myths that circulated in the Greek context. In particular, it integrates them in the perspective of the history of religions and investigates: 1) the variety of mythical associations, functions and capacities the aulos had, 2) the socio-religious perceptions and debates concerning the aulos of which myths were privileged vehicles, 3) the transforming cultural attitudes and culstoms to which they were related. This research aims at a new and more complex understanding of the aulos in Greek myth and culture that goes beyond the classical separations of music and religion, myth and history, Apollo and Dionysus, texts and images, object and concept, past and present, etc. They all interrelate in intricate ways and it is ultimately this complexity we need to understand.

Publications

1. “Chanter les dieux grecs. Compte rendu critique de Pierre Brulé & Christophe Vendries (Eds), Chanter les Dieux. Musique et religion dans l' Antiquité grecque et romaine. Actes du colloque des 16, 17 et 18 decembre 1999 à Rennes et Lorient (Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2001)”, Kernos 16 (2003), p. 357-363. [text]
2. “De Griekse Marsyasmythe: mythologie en iconografie” Kleio 34 (2004), p.13-24.
3. “The Myth of Marsyas in Ancient Greek Art: musical and mythological iconography”, Music in Art XXIX 1-2 (2004), p. 20-37.
4. “Penelope Murray & Peter Wilson (Eds), Music and the Muses: The Culture of Mousike in the Classical Athenian City (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004)”, Kernos 18 (2005), p. 553-357.
5. “Synnove Des Bouvrie (Ed.), Myth & Symbol II. Symbolic Phenomena in Ancient Greek Culture. Papers from the Norwegian Institute at Athens, 7 (Oslo: Paul Astroms Forlag, 2004)”, Kernos 21 (2008), p. 250-252.
6. “Sheramy D. Bundrick, Music and Image in Classical Athens (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005)”, Imago Musicae XXIII-XXIV (2008/2010).
7. “Roger D. Woodard (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Greek Mythology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007)”, L'antiquité classique (2009).
8. “Archaeology of Ancient Greek Music: from reconstructing instruments to deconstructing concepts”, in Studies in Music Archaeology 7 (2010).
9. “Daniel D. Ogden, Perseus (London - New York: Routledge, 2008)”, The Classical Review 60/2 (2010).
10. “Judith M. Barringer, Art, Myth, and Ritual in Classical Greece (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008)”, L'Antiquité Classique (2010).
11. “Jesper Tae Jensen, George Hinge, Peter Schultz, Bronwen Wickkiser (Eds), Aspects of Ancient Greek Cult: Context, Ritual and Iconography. Aarhus Studies in Mediterranean Antiquity (Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 2010)”, BMCR 2010.08.12. [text]
12. “On Bridging Theory and Practice in the Perspective of History”, in Diederik Aerts, Bart D'Hooghe and Rik Pinxten (Eds), Worldviews, Science and US: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Worlds, Cultures and society (Singapore: World Scientific, 2011), p. 181-220.

Presentations

1. “The Ancient Greek Myth of Marsyas: the curse of the music of the aulos and the blessings of mythological iconography in the study of music history” Paper. Music in Art: Iconography as a Source for Music History. 9th Conference of the Research Center for Music Iconography, commemorating the 20th anniversary of death of the Austrian-American musicologist Emanuel Winternitz (1898-1983). New York, CUNY, 5-8 November 2003 (abstracts p. 39).
2. “Marsyas in de Griekse Iconografie” Paper. “In zee met Zeus” Over de Griekse mythen en mythologie. K.U. Leuven, 30 March 2004 (abstracts p. 3).
3. “Olympus the Musician in ancient Greek art” Paper. Metamorphoses of Orpheus. Musical Images from Greek Mythology and their revivals in European art. Corfu, Ionian Academy, 26-29 June 2008 (abstracts p. 69).
4. “Integrating Sources and Approaches in the Study of the Ancient Greek aulos and Mousikè.” Poster. Musical Perceptions - Past and Present. On Ethnographic Analogy and Experimental Archaeology in Music Archaeological Research. 6th Symposium of the International Study Group on Music Archaeology. Berlin, Ethnological Museum, September 9-13, 2008 (abstracts p. 27-28).
5. “On the 'archeology of knowledge' of the ancient Greek aulos and Mousikè” Paper, 8th BIRTHA Postgraduate Conference: What we do, and why: interpretation and methodology in Classics. Bristol, 9 September 2009 (abstracts p. 9-10).
6. “Integrating Texts and Images in the Study of the Ancient Greek aulos-myths.” Poster and presentation. 3d Annual Meeting of MOISA: International Society for the Study of Greek and Roman Music and its Cultural Heritage. Moisa Epichorios: Regional Music and Musical Regions. Theory and Practice in Text and Image in Ancient Greece. Ravenna, 1-3 October 2009. [Image]
7. “The ancient Greek aulos and its myths” Presentation. IIIrd crosstalks sessions, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 20 October 2009.
8. "Musicians in Greek Images of sacrifical processions" Paper. Sound and Ritual in Music Archaeology: Bridging Material and Living Cultures. ICTM Study Group for Music Archaeology, University of Valladolid, Spain, 19-24 September 2011 (abstracts p. 14-15).

Stays abroad

1. Ancient Greek Summer School, Classics department, University College Cork, Ireland, July-August 2003.
2. Archive of Greek music iconography, Aristotle university, Thessaloniki, Greece, June 2010.

In Preparation

1. “Olympus the Musician in Ancient Greek Art: Iconography, Mythology and Music History”. Article [Abstract]
2. "Integrating music and religion in the study of the ancient Greek aulos. Poster.
3. "Musicians in images of sacrife in ancient Greek art" Paper.