Polish ethnomusicologist Prof. Anna Czekanowska-Kuklińska, honorary member of the Polish Composers' Union, died on 18 October 2021 in Warsaw. As the main representative of Slavic music studies in Poland, she devoted the majority of her research to the origin of the Slavs in the musical and ethnographic perspective.
She studied musicology at the University in Poznań, the Freie Universität in Berlin and the University in Cologne. In 1968 she defended her habilitation thesis entitled Narrow range melodies in the Slavic countries at the University of Warsaw. In 1975 she obtained the title of associate professor, and in 1983 – the title of full professor of musicology.
From 1953 to 1999 she was working at the University of Warsaw. In 1958 she co-founded with Marian Sobieski the first Department of Folk Music (Ethnomusicology) in Poland, at the University of Warsaw. In 1969-1999 she was the head of the Ethnomusicology Department, and in 1975-1991 the head of the Institute of Musicology. She conducted many lectures at the Universities in Europe, USA and Russia. From 1999 to 2004 she was the head of Ethnomusicology Department at the Catholic University in Lublin. From 2004 she lectured at Collecium Civitas – a non-state university based in Warsaw, entitled to award doctoral degrees.
Anna Czekanowska was a member of the Polish Composers' Union (from 1967), Polish Cection of the Societe Internationale de Musique Contemporaine (from 1983), International Folk Music Council / International Council for Traditional Music (from 1957), European Seminar in Ethnomusicology (from 1982), Society for Ethnomusicology (from 1975), British Forum for Ethnomusicology (from 1998), Warsaw Scientific Society (from 1990), Scientific Society of the Catholic University of Lublin (from 2003). She sat on the IFMC / ICTM Board (1976-1983) and ESEM Board (1990-1996), she was the vice-president of the Polish Section of SIMC, an honorary member of ESEM (from 2002) and the Polish Section of SIMC.
The funeral will take place on 25 October at 12.00 p.m. in the St. Charles Borromeo Church at the Powązki Cemetery (Old Powązki) in Warsaw.
Hail to Her Memory!