Research Guides: MUSC 289: World Musics: Ethnomusicology links

Ethnomusicology Sites

American Musicological Society: Mega-site with web sites of interest to musicologists, including folk music and ethnomusicology.

Archive of World Music: Collections from Asia and the Middle East at Harvard's Loeb Music Library.

Archives of African American Music and Culture: AAAMC is a repository of materials covering various musical idioms and cultural expressions from the post-World War II era at Indiana University.

Archives of Traditional Music: Indiana University Music Library's ethnographic sound archives, including commercial and field recordings of vocal and instrumental music, folktales, interviews, and oral history, as well as videotapes, photographs, and manuscripts.

Australian Folk Songs: A collection of Australian traditional and bush songs, with words, music and information about each song.

British Library Sounds: World & traditional music: Ethnographic collection available for non-commercial research, study and private enjoyment. Not to be altered or used in ways that might be derogatory to the indigenous communities who are traditional custodians of the content. Before using these recordings, please read Ethical and permitted usage of recordings.

Canadian Centre for Ethnomusicology (University of Alberta): Archive and research resource housing a collection of more than 4000 titles in audio and video recordings from local and international communities, as well as a diverse instrument collection.

Canadian Museum of History: The CMH's online exhibitions currently include: Marius Barbeau: a glimpse of Canadian culture, 1883-1969, and another exhibition entitled: Crossroads of Culture: 200 years of Canadian immigration, which features in part the music instruments brought to Canada by immigrants.

Encyclopedia of Music in Canada: Search specific topics or Ethnomusicology in general.
Ethnomusicology - World Music: Extensive links provided by University of Washington Music Library.

Smithsonian Global Sound for Libraries: Queen's community restricted access (requires web proxy) to published recordings owned by the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings label, as well as to the archival audio collections of legendary record labels in the United States. Also includes music recorded in Africa and South Asia.

Smithsonian Institution: Links to sites for artists, exhibitions, musical instruments, performances and recordings, including Smithsonian Folkways Recordings and Music and Musical Instruments

The Society for Ethnomusicology: Links to web sites and several online journals with ethnomusic content.

Musical Traditions Internet Magazine
Contains articles for traditional music throughout the world, including one on Inuit Throat-Singing.

Native Drums: A diverse dialogue on culture, history and traditional knowledge with Aboriginal cultural partners, educational institutions, government and private industry. Centred around the central themes of drums and music in Aboriginal society, Native Drums traces the history, mythology, and significance of the drum in traditional Aboriginal societies of Canada's Eastern Woodlands, compared with Western Coastal regions in terms of history, arts and culture.

TuneBook Live!: Formerly entitled Richard Robinson’s Tunebook, this is a database of various traditional forms of northern and western European traditional tunes (jigs and reels, polka, polska, schottische, bourrée, etc.) and their North American relatives. Contains PDF links to sheet music and midi files.

Turtle Island News
Weekly newspaper.


Woody Guthrie and the Archive of American Folk Song: Highlights correspondence between Woody Guthrie and staff of the Archive of American Folk Song (now the Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center) at the Library of Congress, between 1940-1950.