Introduction to 1983 Paris Congresses
When Rolando Benenzon wrote in an earlier issue of Voices about the World Congresses with which he had been involved , he said:
Because of internal divisions and ideological differences between Edith Lecourt and Jacques Jost, Paris ended up with two 4th World Congress[es] of Music Therapy. Unfortunately, the audience of both events had the feeling of being forced to make a choice among two theoretical and practical points of view in music therapy. I decided to participate in the conference chaired by Edith Lecourt. During this event I proposed the organization of an international committee with representatives from England, Germany, Austria, France, Spain, Argentina, Brazil, Italy, Puerto Rico, Japan and USA, to study the possibilities and convenience of World Federation of Music Therapy. The members of this committee did the groundwork and the first constitution outlines to be discussed during the upcoming 5th World Congress of Music Therapy held in Genoa, Italy in 1985." (https://normt.uib.no/index.php/voices/article/view/370/293)
Tony Wigram, who wrote the Introduction to the Voices series on the World Congresses , also spoke of the two world congresses. He said that he had attended
two world conferences in Paris in 1983, and giving my first ever paper in a large salon with only 10 people attending, four of whom were my colleagues! I was up against a session taking place in another room at the same time with a very impressive team of US presenters led by Richard Graham – so I wasnÂ’t surprised. But this did not put me off, and I relished every congress I attended thereafter for the wonderful opportunity to meet and mix with so many different cultures and ideas. However these Paris congresses in 1983 were also the place where the first concrete steps were taken to form the World Federation of Music Therapy (WFMT)... .(https://normt.uib.no/index.php/voices/article/view/424/348)
Both of these leaders of the World Federation of Music Therapy make it clear that these Paris World Congresses of Music Therapy were important to the development of the World Federation of Music Therapy. They also both convey some of the confusion that it seems existed because of the two associations in France at the time and the fact that there were two conferences that year. The interviews and other contributions in this issue of Voices will shed light on these important events.
Ruth Bright, the 2nd President of the World Federation of Music Therapy, recently shared her impression that these congresses were not called "world congresses" until later. She says, "I think they were called International rather than World Conferences, by the way. It was not until 1990 in Rio, I think, that a conference was organised specifically for WFMT" (from an e-mail, Oct. 4, 2009) – and once the WFMT was responsible for the organization of the congresses, her impression is that they were called World Congresses."
In the interviews and other communications from people who attended these two congresses in Paris, we will read their impressions of the congresses and some of the highlights of these important events.
I would like to thank all of those who have provided their memories and photographs for this presentation, many of whom spent many hours looking through documents and photographs and writing their memories. I especially thank Edith Lecourt who has now helped enormously with the memories of TWO World Congresses.
