The South African Society for Research in Music (SASRIM) will celebrate a major milestone when it hosts its 20th Annual Conference at the University of the Free State (UFS) Odeion School of Music from 27 to 29 August 2026.
Held under the theme Multidisciplinarity in (South) African Music Studies, the conference will bring together scholars, educators, performers, and researchers from South Africa and around the world to reflect on two decades of music scholarship while exploring the future of the discipline.
Since its establishment, SASRIM has served as a key forum for scholarly exchange, fostering dialogue across disciplinary, institutional, linguistic, cultural, and geographical boundaries.
"SASRIM 2026 is a landmark moment for the society and for music studies in South Africa. Twenty years ago, SASRIM was born of the amalgamation of the then Ethnomusicology Symposium and the Musicological Society. Brett Pyper and Stephanus Muller were both instrumental in the realisation of that amalgamation and will be recognised at this year's conference through the award of honorary membership of SASRIM," says Dr Carina Venter, Chairperson of SASRIM.
The conference marks a return to the UFS, which also hosted SASRIM's 10th anniversary conference in 2016.
"Looking back over the last decade, the music research community in South Africa and the broader African continent has developed tremendously, and our reach is truly global. The breadth of the research is staggering, and what is most exciting is that it is being led by a generation of energised and energising young scholars," says Dr William Fourie, Conference Programme Chair and Deputy Chairperson of SASRIM.
Hosted in Bloemfontein, the conference will welcome delegates from 26 universities and institutes worldwide, including the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, the University of Basel, the University of Education, Winneba, and the University of Amsterdam, as well as almost all major South African universities.
The programme includes keynote lectures, paper presentations, performances, and a book launch, showcasing the diversity of contemporary music research.
"There are two exceptional keynote speakers: Prof Dizu Plaatjies, whose artistic and intellectual contributions to African music are unparalleled, and Prof Andy Bennett, author of more than 25 books on popular music," says Dr Venter.
Prof Plaatjies will deliver the local keynote address on 27 August, while Prof Bennett will deliver the international keynote address on 28 August.
The conference comes at an important moment for scholarship on South African music. From indigenous musical traditions and jazz to classical music, popular music, sound studies, and music education, delegates will explore how music research contributes to conversations about culture, identity, heritage, memory, technology, and society.
"It is a tremendous privilege to host the twentieth congress at the Odeion School of Music at the UFS, which this year marks its 80th anniversary. SASRIM remains tenaciously committed to bringing together a plurality of practices, fields, voices, and sounds that sustain rigour, possibility, and belief in creative and scholarly work," says Dr Venter.
The 20th Annual SASRIM Conference will take place at the Odeion School of Music at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein from 27 to 29 August 2026.