Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
In this presentation, Lucy Durán will share her diverse career spanning five decades in academia, radio journalism, and the music industry. Using recordings and film clips from her personal archive, she will take the audience on a journey through the highs and lows of her unconventional path. Durán discusses the successes, such as launching little-known musicians into successful careers and elevating different musical styles. Lucy also reveals the challenges she faced, including scepticism about the value of her work from journalism and academia.
Durán, whose work is seen as a blend of journalism and academia, delves into the difficulties and nuances of navigating between these two worlds. She explains why she believes there is much to be gained by bridging the gap between them. Sharing her strategies and experiences, Durán aims to inspire future generations to think creatively and break traditional moulds in their pursuits.
Following the talk, Durán introduces the 52” documentary, "Ballaké Sissoko, Kora Tales," co-written and directed with Laurent Benhamou. This film, narrated by Malian rapper Oxmo Puccino, offers a unique exploration into the heart of the kora tradition. This is only the second public screening of this remarkable work in the UK.
The INSIDE/OUT public programme of lectures invites speakers and leading thinkers whose breadth of work, practice, thought and collaboration we feel will inspire all our students and staff across the wide range of disciplines in the Leeds School of Arts.
Lectures will be available as digital films through the LARC website and open to all.
This event is running during LEEDS 2023's Season Three: Dreaming.
Lucy Durán is Professor of Music at SOAS University of London specializing in the music of Mali and Cuba. After achieving a BMus and MMus from King’s College London, Durán became the first editor to advise on non-western music at Grove’s dictionary of Music & Musicians 6th edition. A chance encounter with a recording of the kora in the mid-1970s led her to fall in love with Mande music and to undertake extensive field work in Gambia and Mali, following through into academic publishing as well as album production.
To date Lucy has produced 26 albums with many awards, including three Grammy nominations. This experience has led Durán to an understanding of different approaches of music production, noting the difference between what she terms “a parachutist producer” and a collaborative producer acting from an informed perspective.
