University Library @ Rider University Blog

“All the World’s a Stage”: World Music and Ethnomusicology Resources at Talbott Music Library

By Genevieve Innes and Sarah Mason

Did you know that Talbott Music Library’s collections include music made by peoples from countries and cultures around the world? While Talbott’s collections are focused on Western art music, choral music, and classical music, we provide access to a wide range of international music as well! From Afrobeat to Brazilian Samba to Indonesian Gamelan music and French chansons, you can easily access the world’s music in streaming format from the Rider University Libraries website. Talbott Library’s collections also include books on ethnomusicology, the study of musical expression in its social and cultural contexts. Books on ethnomusicology and world music can be great sources for research papers or simply to deepen your understanding and appreciation of the music.

World Music

Music from around the world serves as a sensory window into other cultures, traditions, experiences and landscapes. Its aesthetic enjoyment enriches our lives and deepens understanding across borders. Grove Music Online describes world music as the local, folk, or roots music of a particular cultural group, society, or nation, often presented in conjunction with elements of religion, politics, and social customs. World music can also include the popular music of other cultures and countries–for example, Nigerian Juju music and Korean K-Pop. Examples include music of such diverse sources as Tuvan throat singers, Zimbabwean guitar bands, and Pakistani qawwali (Sufi music) singers, as well as non-mainstream Western folk musicians such as Cajun fiddlers and Hawaiian slack-key guitarists. From the early 1990s, when Paul Simon’s bestselling Graceland album featured an award-winning collaboration with South Africa’s Ladysmith Black Mambazo, world music has been an established mainstream musical genre. Contemporary world music artists with a wide audience include Youssou N’Dour (Senegal), Shivkumar Sharma (India), the Klezmer Conservatory Band (U.S.), Caetano Veloso (Brazil), and The Chieftains (Ireland). World music record labels include ARC, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, and Arhoolie Records.

To learn more about world music, please click here.

 Access streaming world music via Rider University Libraries’ Naxos Music Library database (Select Categories > World)

Search the Rider University Libraries’ catalog for world music recordings and books using these Library of Congress subject headings:

World music -- History and criticism
World music -- Instruction and study

Additional World Music Online Resources can be found here:

• Oxford Handbooks on Ethnomusicology/world music
• Latin American Choral Music
• Diversity in Music libguide

Ethnomusicology

Ethnomusicology is defined in Grove Music Online as “the study of social and cultural aspects of music and dance in local and global contexts” and its specialists are trained in anthropology and music. Ethnomusicologists examine music as a social process in order to understand not only what music is but what it means to its practitioners and audiences.

Learn more about ethnomusicology here.

Search the catalog for books/e-books on ethnomusicology using these Library of Congress subject headings:

Ethnomusicology
Ethnomusicology -- History

Selected Ethnomusicology Journals at Talbott Library:

Ethnomusicology
Ethnomusicology Review
Ethnomusicology Forum

Whether you’d like to enjoy listening to world music during study breaks or you’re conducting research for a musicology or anthropology course at Rider, we hope that you’ll take advantage of the extensive world music and ethnomusicology collections at Rider University Libraries. And don’t forget to Ask a Librarian if you need assistance–we can help you find what you are looking for!