What World Music Isand How to Locate It in Library Catalogs and Other Electronic Resources

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What World Music Isand How to Locate It in
Library Catalogsand 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)

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Ethnomusicology World MusicWhats the
Difference?

• Ethnomusicology
• The study of social and cultural aspects of
  music and dance in local and global contexts.
  (Grove Music Online)
• Largely a scholarly discipline studied primarily
  at universities.
• Focus tends to be on field workand indigenous,
  traditional music.
• Specialists are trained in music or in
  anthropology, sometimes in both, but the
  multidisciplinary nature of the subject produces
  differing interpretations.
• Alan P. Merriam (19231980), Indiana University
  Defined ethno-musicology 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.
• Mantle Hood (19182005), 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.

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Ethnomusicology World MusicWhats the
Difference?

• World Music 1
• Recent years have seen the phenomenal growth of
  the World Music Industry.
• A very defuse category, but there are certain
  traits that predominate.
• Lacks the academic connotations or discipline of
  ethnomusicology.
• Often popular music or Third World
  musicfrequently the music of the lower working
  classes and powerless members of industrialized
  societies, sometimes resulting from ruralurban
  migrations.
• The sound of globalization and transnationalisman
  international marketplace.
• A blending of traditional styles with Western pop
  featuresthis 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.
• 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.
• Clash of nativism (an established national canon
  of music supported by academe and/or the state)
  vs. creolism, creative hybridity, fusion, and
  pastiche.

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Ethnomusicology World MusicWhats the
Difference?

• World Music 2
• Transplanted Western idioms become transformed by
  local tradition.
• International stylesrock music, hip-hop, disco,
  sentimental ballads, easy listening.
• Music of diasporas and transnationalism.
• Themes include political statements, protest
  songs, pacifism, transnational sentiments,
  religion/devotion, dancing to world beats,
  conscious ethnic focus.
• Delivered by commercial mass communications media
  (sound recordings, radio, films, television, the
  Web) and concert/performance venues (the stage,
  night clubs, etc.)
• Uses amplification and electric instruments, and
  modified traditional or western instruments.
• Rise of concert artists and world music starsnot
  music performed within ritual, narrative, or
  other cultural contexts.
• World beat World music that is commercially
  marketed to Western consumers with eclectic
  tastes (Grove Music Online).

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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
• Remember that performers search as authors
• Genre of music (ska, salsa, etc.) shows up in
  some cataloging
• Use truncation to cover nouns/adjectives (e.g.,
  Jew? for Jews or Jewish)
• Limit search to sound recordings

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World Music as a Subject Term (in the Minuteman
Library Network Boston Metrowest)
World beat (Music) starting to appear as LCSH
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
recordingsdepends upon decisions of catalogers
entering or editing records in OCLC.

• 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.

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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!)
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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
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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.
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Sample World Music Record (No Subject Entry for
Popular Music)
Popular music and Folk music not used as subject
descriptorsonly World music
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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
descriptorsbut not Popular music.
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Sample World Music Record Thorough Subject
Analysis
Includes all performers and ensembles as authors.
Extremely thorough subject analysis covers
world, folk, and popular music.
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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 Lódz Ghetto
Lódz 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.
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Amazon.com Music Browse Categories or Popular
Music Search
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Amazon.com International Style World Music
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Amazon.com Browse Africa Selections
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Amazon.com Mali Selections
247 recordings retrieved
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Amazon.com International Mali Search under
Popular Music
8 recordings retrieved
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Contact InformationNEMLA http//www.wesleyan.ed
u/nemla/Erin Mayhoodmayhood_at_bu.eduDarwin F.
Scott dscott_at_brandeis.eduMargaret
ChevianMChevian_at_provlib.org