International Music Council elects new president, board

The elections took place during the sixth edition of IMC World Forum on Music, which began on 28 September at La Bellevilloise in Paris, France, and will come to an end today with the commemoration of International Music Day,

The event seeks to promote the activities of the IMC, its international member organisations and national committees, as well as its programme policy.

Swedish composer and EU cultural politics personality Alfons Karabuda was elected IMC president after serving as vice-president at the council from 2017 to 2019. He will be taking over from Kenyan educator Prof Emily Achieng’ Akuno.

Karabuda is the president of the European Composer and Songwriter Alliance, the chairperson of the Swedish Association of Composers, Songwriters and Lyricists and an expert in the field of artistic rights to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHCR). He is responsible for producing the first-ever UNHRC report on artistic rights in 2013.

US-based South African music educator Sheila Woodward was elected as executive vice-president while Spanish music director Marti Ferrer was elected treasurer.

The executive secretary of the International Centre for Research and Documentation on African Languages and Traditions, Charles Binam Bikoi, from Cameroon and Chinese composer Ye Xiaogang were both appointed vice-presidents.

Others elected on the executive board are musician Roula Abou Baker (Lebanon), art historian Paul Dujardin (Belgium), musician and music publisher Ardavan Jafarian (Iran), visual artist Jacques Moreau (France) and activist Naomi Pohl (UK).