LibGuides: Music Appreciation: World Cultures & Traditional Music

Featured Books

Folk Music: A Very Short Introduction by Mark Slobin
ISBN: 9780195395020
Publication Date: 2011-01-13
Folk music: that must be Pete Seeger singing "This Land is My Land." But there's much more, across the world. This stimulating Very Short Introduction throws open the doors on a remarkably diverse musical genre, with a world-wide reach that goes far beyond America's shores to discuss folk music of every possible kind and in every corner of the globe. Written by award-winning ethnomusicologist Mark Slobin, this is the first compact introduction to folk music that offers a truly global perspective. Slobin offers an extraordinarily generous portrait of folk music, one that embraces a Russian wedding near the Arctic Circle, a group song in a small rainforest village in Brazil, and an Uzbek dance tune in Afghanistan. He looks in detail at three poignant songs from three widely separated regions -northern Afghanistan, Jewish Eastern Europe, and the Anglo-American world - with musical notation and lyrics included. He goes on to sketch out the turbulent times of folk music today and tomorrow, confronting new possibilities, frameworks, and challenges.
Hispanic Folk Music of New Mexico and the Southwest by John Donald Robb; Jack Loeffler (Foreword by); Enrique R. Lamadrid (Prologue by)
ISBN: 9780826344304
Publication Date: 2014-03-01
First published in 1980 and now available only from the University of New Mexico Press, this classic compilation of New Mexico folk music is based on thirty-five years of field research by a giant of modern music. Composer John Donald Robb, a passionate aficionado of the traditions of his adopted state, traveled New Mexico recording and transcribing music from the time he arrived in the Southwest in 1941.

Websites Recommended by Your Instructor

UNESCO Collection of Traditional Music
Links to 127 different collections of World Music. Most offer free 30-second sound clips.
A History of Irish Music
Written in 1905, this book traces Irish music from before the 6th century CE to the 1800's.
Irish Folk Music
46 sound clips of Irish folk music recorded live in 1972, in a variety of locations from pubs to Traveller's camps. Click on view to go to the page with the sound clip
Irish Instruments
History of the instruments traditionally used in Irish folk music.
Irish Traditional Music Archive - Sound Collection
Clips of songs and interviews.
Arirang, lyrical folk song in the Republic of Korea
Article with an 11-minute video on the history and current state of the Arirang.
Korea (Smithsonian Folkways)
Sound clips of various artists performing Korean court music or hyang-ak.
Korean Traditional Musical Instruments
Listen to the sounds of the most common instruments used in traditional Korean music.
Sounds of Korea: Traditional Music & Dance from New York
New-York-based Korean Performing Arts Center performance, including dance troupe, chamber music, and more. Presented by the Library of Congress. 1 hour, 4 minutes.
Mongolia: Traditional Music (Smithsonian Folkways)
A song and sound clips of various artists performing long song and playing the morin-khuur, a traditional two-stringed instrument.
Mongolian Art of Singing - Khoomei
See the 10 minute UNESCO video on Khoomei.
Mongol Biyelgee, Mongolian traditional folk dance
See the 10-minute UNESCO documentary on Mongol Biyelgee.
Folk long song performance technique of Limbe performances - Mongolian Circular Breathing
Ten minute documentary by UNESCO on the Limbe (a flute used to perform Mongolian folk songs) and the circular breathing technique.
The Traditional Music of the Morin Khuur
Four minute UNESCO documentary on the Morin Khuur, the two-stringed Mongolian horse head fiddle.
Five Norwegian Folk Songs, Arranged for Mixed Voices.
Five folk songs, with English translations, and information about the history and geography that produced the songs. Text only.
Norwegian Folk Songs (Smithsonian Folkways)
Sound clips from traditional Norwegian folk songs.
Norway: Fiddle and Hardanger Fiddle Music from Agder (Smithsonian Folkways)
A song and sound clips of dance pieces on the fiddle and Hardanger.
Norwegian Folk Music
Interview with a Norwegian Folk Violinist. (Podcast.)
Ukraine: Traditional Music
Free 30 second sound clips from Smithsonian Folkways.
Ukrainian Ethnic Music in the Library of Congress
Sound clips for 16 songs. Click on the image of the record to hear the sound clip.
Polyphony Project - Ukrainian Music
The Polyphony Project explores, preserves, and presents, the living musical folklore of Ukrainian villages, This site provides over 1,800 songs.
Traditional Ukrainian Songs and Music
Discussion of Ukrainian work, wedding, and ritual songs, and the traditional instruments.
Viet Nam: Tradition of the South (Smithsonian Folkways)
A song and sound clips performed by Nguyễn Vĩnh Bảo on the đàn tranh, a 17-string zither.
On the Origins of Traditional Vietnamese Music
An older (1962) Asian Perspectives article on the history of Vietnamese instruments.
TÂN NHẠC: Notes Toward a Social History of Vietnamese Music in the Twentieth Century
An essay on Tân Nhạc, or "New music" in Vietnam.
Viet Nam: Ca Tru & Quan Ho - Traditional Music (Smithsonian Folkways)
Features an article and sound clips of Ca trù and Quan họ music.
Viet Nam: Court Theatre Music: Hat-Bôi (Smithsonian Folkways)
Articles and sound clips of Hat-Bôi - royal court theater Music.

Finding Articles, Books and Videos

Finding Magazine and Journal Articles on World Music:

The best RTC database for finding journal and magazine articles on world music is ProQuest. Try some of these searches: (You'll have to log in using your RTC student email address and password.)

Possible ProQuest searches:

You can also try searching for articles in JSTOR. RTC Library doesn't carry all of the JSTOR articles. If you find something we don't carry, ask us about Interlibrary Loaning books and articles.

Finding eBooks on World Music:

Try EBSCOhost Community College eBook Collection for eBooks on world music .

Finding Videos on World Music:

Kanopy Streaming offer videos on world music. (Tip: Kanopy requires that you make a second personal account to use their videos. Need help? Check out this page.)

The Song of Harmonics. 40 minutes. Learn how overtone signing, practiced in Mongolia and Tuva, is done.
Sound of Heimat. 90 minutes. "Heimat" means 'the place you come from.' German folk music is music from the place you come from.
Jamesie, King of Scratch: A Spirited Musical Journal to the U.S. Virgin Islands. 71 minutes. Scratch music lyrics are "a form of oral history relaying the day-to-day trials and tribulations of living on a small Caribbean island."
Asiklar: Those Who Are in Love. 39 minutes. Ashiks, traditional Turkish minstrels, sing traditional songs and poems of their Anatolian society.

YouTube also offers concerts. This is a very small sample of the treasures you can find:

Vietnam Traditional Folk Music. 65 minutes. Instrumental.
Traditional Irish Music. 59 minutes. Instrumental and sung.
Norwegian Folk Music (Gudbrandsdalen). 20 minutes. Instrumental.
20 Norwegian Folk Songs. 50 minutes. Sung.
Korean Traditional Music Orchestra of the Blind. 46 minutes. Instrumental and sung.
Black Horse - Mongolian Traditional Classic Music Art. 65 minutes. Instrumental and sung.
Ukrainian Middle Age Music. 64 minutes. Sung.