What World Music Is—and How to Locate It in Library Catalogs and Other Electronic Resources Presented by Darwin F. Scott Creative Arts Librarian, Brandeis University for the Rhode Island Library Association (RLA) June 1, 2006 Sponsored by the New England Music Library Association (NEMLA)
Ethnomusicology — World Music: What’s the Difference? Ethnomusicology •
“The study of social and cultural aspects of music and dance in local and global contexts.” (Grove Music Online)
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Largely a scholarly discipline studied primarily at universities.
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Focus tends to be on field work—and indigenous, “traditional” music.
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Specialists are trained in music or in anthropology, sometimes in both, but the multidisciplinary nature of the subject produces differing interpretations.
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Alan P. Merriam (1923–1980), Indiana University: Defined ethnomusicology as the anthropological study of music and stressed “the importance of cultural and social factors in any investigation of the processes of creation, aesthetics, and the training and acculturation of performers and audience.”
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Mantle Hood (1918–2005), UCLA: the first scholar to offer training in the performance of non-Western music (Javanese and Balinese gamelan), a practice now common at most large Western universities. He emphasized performance participation or “bi-musicality” as an essential aspect of research.
Ethnomusicology — World Music: What’s the Difference? World Music – 1 •
Recent years have seen the phenomenal growth of the “World Music Industry.”
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A very defuse category, but there are certain traits that predominate.
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Lacks the academic connotations or discipline of ethnomusicology.
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Often popular music or Third World music—frequently the music of the lower working classes and powerless members of industrialized societies, sometimes resulting from rural–urban migrations.
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The sound of globalization and transnationalism—an international marketplace.
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A blending of traditional styles with Western pop features—this dualism challenges the integrity of native cultures and the survival of national genres due to the overwhelming influence of popular music recordings from the U.S. and Europe.
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In some countries, indigenous traditional musics have grown marginal and irrelevant to the popular youth culture; in others with stronger native traditions in place, much more blending occurs.
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Clash of nativism (an established national canon of music supported by academe and/or the state) vs. creolism, creative hybridity, fusion, and pastiche.
Ethnomusicology — World Music: What’s the Difference? World Music – 2 •
Transplanted Western idioms become transformed by local tradition.
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International styles—rock music, hip-hop, disco, sentimental ballads, easy listening.
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Music of diasporas and transnationalism.
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Themes include political statements, protest songs, pacifism, transnational sentiments, religion/devotion, dancing to “world beats,” conscious ethnic focus.
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Delivered by commercial mass communications media (sound recordings, radio, films, television, the Web) and concert/performance venues (the stage, night clubs, etc.)
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Uses amplification and electric instruments, and modified traditional or western instruments.
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Rise of concert artists and world music stars—not music performed within ritual, narrative, or other cultural contexts.
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World beat: “World music that is commercially marketed to Western consumers with eclectic tastes” (Grove Music Online).
Searching for World Music in the Online Catalog Some Tips •
LC subject headings used: – Popular music
– World music (mostly a recent addition) – Folk music (tends to denote indigenous, ethnomusicology-oriented recordings) – Geographic area heading — can be any of the following: • Continent (Africa / African)
• Continent area (e.g., West Africa) • Country (e.g., Mali) • Specific people •
Contents notes — often essential for finding what you want – Use keyword search as opposed to title word or author search
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Remember that performers search as authors
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Genre of music (ska, salsa, etc.) shows up in some cataloging
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Use truncation to cover nouns/adjectives (e.g., Jew? for Jews or Jewish)
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Limit search to sound recordings
World Music as a Subject Term (in the Minuteman Library Network — Boston Metrowest)
World beat (Music) starting to appear as LCSH
Worth Noting: • World Music as sound-recording subject heading is in 2,644 WorldCat records. • Folk Music as sound-recording subject heading is in 36,787 WorldCat records. • Popular Music as sound recording subject heading is in 233,778 WorldCat records.
300 records in Minuteman Library Network using World Music as a subject heading; a growing number also with subdivisions. Not applied consistently, however, to world music recordings— depends upon decisions of catalogers entering or editing records in OCLC.
Sample Catalog Record — 2005 Cataloging, Excellent Descriptors — One Type of Music (Music of Cape Verde)
Performer as author Contents notes are searchable in most OPACs as keywords. A caveat: spellings match contents given on the CD notes (i.e., no authority control).
World music as subject heading Popular music as subject heading Geographic area as subheading (plus time period!)
Sample Catalog Record — 2005 Cataloging, Excellent Descriptors — Various Types of Music
Performers and groups as authors
Contents note
World music / popular music subject headings Broad geographical descriptors Genres / styles of music as subject headings
Sample World Music Record with Folk Music as Subject Heading
Popular music, Folk music, and World music all used as descriptors. Specific country (here Mali) used as geographic delimiter. A search on Africa would miss this recording.
Sample World Music Record (No Subject Entry for Popular Music)
Popular music and Folk music not used as subject descriptors—only World music
Sample World Music Record — Folk Music and World Music as Descriptors (not Popular Music)
Main performer (vocal soloist) and group as authors
Very broad geographic descriptor Folk music and World music used as subject descriptors—but not Popular music.
Sample World Music Record — Thorough Subject Analysis
Includes all performers and ensembles as authors.
Extremely thorough subject analysis covers world, folk, and popular music.
Sample World Music Record (No Subject Entry for Popular Music) — Not All Cataloging Tells You Everything You Need to Know!
Only title has reference to the Łódź Ghetto; Łódź not in subject descriptors
Oops, language is Yiddish! No sign of this anywhere in record.
Geographic descriptor as Jews — Music, not Jewish Music! World music as subject descriptor, but not popular or folk music.
Amazon.com: Music Browse Categories or Popular Music Search
Amazon.com: International Style = World Music
Amazon.com: Browse Africa Selections
Amazon.com: Mali Selections
247 recordings retrieved
Amazon.com: “International Mali” Search under Popular Music
8 recordings retrieved
Contact Information NEMLA: http://www.wesleyan.edu/nemla/
Erin Mayhood
[email protected] Darwin F. Scott
[email protected] Margaret Chevian
[email protected]
