World

Resources in this category:

Africa Focus: The Sights and Sounds of a Continent
http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/AfricaFocus/

"This online collection is maintained on the website of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries. It contains digitized visual images and sounds of Africa contributed over the years to the African Studies Program of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. These digital files are stored in an accessible database and provided for personal use or educational presentations."

Africa on RootsWorld
http://www.rootsworld.com/africa/

A web-based periodical with reviews and audio clips of both popular and traditional recordings. Interviews with performers are included as well as a special section on African Reggae.

African Music Encyclopedia
http://africanmusic.org/

A searchable encyclopedia dedicated to African music performed by musicians in Africa and in countries around the world. There are country and artist indexes, along with a glossary of musical styles and terms. A list of links to related sites and information on buying African music are also included.

Afropop Worldwide
http://www.afropop.org/

A searchable database and international music archive of African popular music. Includes reviews, news, and links to live radio broadcasts from Africa.

Airs, Anthems, Ballads, Canons, Ditties, Folksongs, Hymns and War Songs
http://www.musicanet.org/robokopp/

A database of folksongs of the world including the areas of Germany, England, France, Ireland, Austria, Scotland, and Wales. Both the lyrics and sound files (MIDI format) are available for many songs.

American Folklife Center, Library of Congress: Omaha Indian Music
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/omhhtml/

"Omaha Indian Music features traditional Omaha music from the 1890s and 1980s. The multiformat ethnographic field collection contains 44 wax cylinder recordings collected by Francis La Flesche and Alice Cunningham Fletcher between 1895 and 1897, 323 songs and speeches from the 1983 Omaha harvest celebration pow-wow , and 25 songs and speeches from the 1985 Hethu'shka Society concert at the Library of Congress. Segments from interviews with members of the Omaha tribe conducted in 1983 and 1999 provide contextual information for the songs and speeches included in the collection. Supplementing the collection are black-and-white and color photographs taken during the 1983 pow-wow and the 1985 concert, as well as research materials that include fieldnotes and tape logs pertaining to the pow-wow."

American Folklife Center, Library of Congress: The California Folk Music Project
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/afccchtml/cowhome.html

"The California Folk Music Project, conceived and directed by Sidney Robertson Cowell was intended to be a representative collection of folk music being actively performed in Northern California. The project was one of the earliest attempts to document the performance of English-language and non-Black, non-American Indian, ethnic folk music in the United States." This website contains "sound recordings, still photographs, drawings, and written documents from a variety of European ethnic and English- and Spanish-speaking communities in Northern California. The collection comprises 35 hours of folk music recorded in twelve languages representing numerous ethnic groups and 185 musicians."

American Museum of Natural History: Congo Expedition, 1909-1915
http://diglib1.amnh.org/galleries/congo_sounds/congo_sounds....

A collection of recordings made by the filmmaker Armand Denis in 1934-5. "They were among the first recordings made of the sounds of the central Congo."

American Music Resource
http://www.uncg.edu/mus/courses/flmccart/amr/index.html

AMR contains bibliographies, lists and text files about all styles of American music and related issues. The collection is indexed by subject-name (i.e. the last names of composers) or topic-name (e.g. Electro-acoustic music).

The American Nyckelharpa Association
http://www.nyckelharpa.org/

A site dedicated to the nyckelharpa, a Swedish folk instrument. Included on this site are a history of the instrument, sound files, and articles from the monthly magazine, Nyckel Notes.

Asia on RootsWorld
http://www.rootsworld.com/rw/asia.html

A web-based periodical with reviews and audio clips of both popular and traditional genres. Interviews with performers are included as well as a special section on Tuva, a type of throat singing, and Tibetan chant.

Australian Children’s Music Foundation
http://www.acmf.com.au/default.htm

A collection of Australian sheet music for music educators. The downloads section includes the songs "Kookaburra", "I Love My Echidna", and "Dig, Dig, Dig (Like a Wombat)".

Australian Folk Songs
http://folkstream.com/

An extensive collection of Australian folk tunes. Both sheet music and audio files are provided for each song. A glossary of Australian words is also included.

Australian Music World Wide Web Site
http://www.amws.com.au/

The Australian Music Web Site is "a series of links and pages that exist as a tribute to Australian music. The pages contained within aim to become a useful reference of discographies, biographies, links and news for as many Australian artists as possible." You can do a search by band or artist and look for Australian movies and DVDs, as well as browse the site for news and other information.

Batanga: Latin Music Internet Radio
http://www.batanga.com/en/

A source for a wide variety of Latin music genres ranging from popular to Norteño/Banda/Corridos, to Cubanísimo. Contents include interviews, reviews, videoclips, and links to radio broadcasts. Available in both English and Spanish.

Beat of India
http://www.beatofindia.com/index.html

A collection of folk music resources including information about and examples of wedding and childbirth songs. Other features consist of artist biographies and a calendar of events.

BET
http://www.bet.com/

Find out the latest on the Rap/Hip Hop scene.

Canadian Historical Sound Recordings: The Virtual Grammophone
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/gramophone/index.html

"A multimedia Web site devoted to the first half-century of recorded sound in Canada." The site provides "information on and images of 78-rpm and cylinder recordings released in Canada, and foreign recordings featuring Canadian artists or Canadian compositions, as well as details on the 78s and cylinders in the Recorded Sound Collection at the National Library of Canada. Biographies of prominent Canadian performers, short histories of Canadian record companies, background information on music styles and the recording technology of the time, and digital audio reproductions of selected 78s will also be included." Available in both English and French.

The Ceolas Celtic Music Archive
http://www.ceolas.org/ceolas.html

Information about Celtic/Irish music, including discographies of Celtic artists and upcoming tour schedules, and information about Celtic instruments.

The Colonial Music Institute
http://www.colonialmusic.org/

A source for a variety of resources related to American colonial music including instructions on how to dance a Country Dance, a Minuet, a Cotillion, or a Reel. Essays about American colonial music are also featured.

Cora Connection: The Manding Music Traditions of West Africa
http://www.coraconnection.com/

Resources for the West African Mandinka kora (cora), a lute like instrument that is played in a style similar to that of a flamenco guitar. The site also includes clips of the balaphone, a marimba-like instrument and ngoni, a plucked lute.

Country Music Hall of Fame
http://www.countrymusichalloffame.com/site/

The Country Music Hall of Fames’s website includes news of current events as well as a history of country music. The "Explore the Music" section includes an in-depth perspective on the Grand Ole Opry, a discussion of the instruments that are traditionally used in country music, recorded interview with artists, and a explanation of various country styles including cowboy, bluegrass, honky-tonk, and rockabilly.

Dagara Bewaa Culture Group
http://www.dagaramusic.com/

Features music of the Dagara people of northwestern Ghana, the northeastern Ivory Coast and Southern Burkina Faso. Includes a short video clip of an indigenous wooden xylophone, or gyil, as well as information about Bewaa and Bine musical genres. Available in both English and Spanish.

Dancedrummer.com
http://www.dancedrummer.com/

A collection of Anlo-Ewe resources including a virtual instrument museum, a performance gallery, and a section on tradition rhythms. On the Kogiri, a north Ghanain instrument, page you can "virtually" play the instrument.

Dandemutande Zimbabwean Music Worldwide
http://www.dandemutande.org/

A resource for Zimbabwean music including a magazine, a calendar of worldwide events, an e-mail listserve, and a resource guide to instrument makers, teachers, and performers. The embedded search engine allows you to limit searches for events to a particular city in many cases.

Didjeridu & Traditional Music of the Top End
http://manikay.com/didjeridu/

A site dedicated to the "promotion and enjoyment of traditional Arnhem land music. The included glossary of musical terms provides definitions for terms from "Aeroplane noises" to "Dja tpangarri" to "Yuta". An additional section includes a map with links to representative audio examples for particular regions.

Esflamenco.com
http://www.esflamenco.com/enindex.html

Covers Spanish flamenco culture: dancing, guitar playing, and singing.

Experience Music Project
http://www.emplive.org/

Experience Music Project (EMP) is a music museum combining interactive and interpretive exhibts that document American popular music. Online exhibits feature both well known and underground artists and bands as well as interactive educational sections which provide instruction on harmony signing, recording techniques and guitar playing and more.

Flamenco-world.com: The Flamenco Web
http://flamenco-world.com/

A collection of resources pertaining to Spanish flamenco music. This site features an online magazine with interviews, community news, reviews of CD releases, and sample audio files. You will also find an encyclopedia of flamenco artists, a dictionary of terms, and and a "cyberpeña" , or cyber club, for flamenco enthusiasts. Available in both English and Spanish.

French Music Database
http://www.aplmusique.com/db/

A collection of resources related to French popular music. Here you’ll find information about artists including Zazie, Pascal Obispo, Ophélie Winter, Céline Dion, Genette Reno, Bruno Pelletier, Marie Carmen, Mario Pelchat, and Roch Voisine.

Gamelan Sekar Jaya: Balinese Gamelan in America
http://www.gsj.org/gsj/index.cfm

Gamelan Sekar Jaya "is a nonprofit volunteer organization dedicated to the study and presentation of traditional and contemporary Balinese performing arts." This site features a library of sound files and encyclopedic entries on a variety of Balinese Gamelan ensembles including Gong Kebyar and Angklung.

The Great Empire of China: The Internet Chinese Music Archive
http://www.ibiblio.org/chinese-music/

A vast collection of audio resources. Genres represented include children’s songs, traditional, popular, and ceremonial genres. The site is available in both Chinese and English.

Herodotus Project
http://losttrails.com/pages/Hproject.html

The focus of this educational website is to document and translate the works of Greek historian Herodotus. In addition to the text of his works, you can also find extensive photography of the locations and artifacts mentioned in the book. In keeping with the interests of Herodotus in ethnography and history, there are also field recordings and examples of authentic traditional folk music from Greece and Romania. Music from Turkey and Bulgaria will be added soon.

Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
http://www.irishtune.info/

Coverage of recorded sources of Irish traditional music. Includes a tune search and finder, album search and finder, discography and bibliography.

Jammin' Reggae Archives
http://niceup.com/

Large web site for things related to reggae music and the culture that surrounds. Has information about artists, discographies, sound files, histories, tour dates, festivals, lyrics and pictures. Also contains information about reggae variants like ska and dub.

Japanese Traditional Music
http://jtrad.columbia.jp/eng/index.html

A pictorial chronology of Japanese music history is provided along with a survey of each era. Musical genres including Gagaku, Kabuki, and Shomyo are described in detail and several example sound files are available.

Jazz: A Film by Ken Burns
http://www.pbs.org/jazz/

The online counterpart to Ken Burns' documentary Jazz includes extensive biographical profiles and discographies of major jazz musicians, a chronology of the development of jazz, essays about jazz and its place in American culture, and audio clips of jazz compositions.

Kavals and Dzamares: End-blown Flutes of Greece and Macedonia
http://www.research.umbc.edu/eol/4/tammer/index.html

A history of the end-blown flutes of Greece and Macedonia. The making of kavals is depicted in a series of photos and instrument design and tunings are discussed in an appendix.

Mariachi Publishing Company: Education Resources
http://www.sobrino.net/mer/

A collection of resources for mariachi enthusiasts including articles about mariachi styles like the Son Jaliscience, the Jarabe, and the Ranchera. The site also features a brief history of the mariachi tradition, a mariachi trumpet articulation guide, violin & trumpet voicing guide,vihuela chords chart, and tuning/strum charts

MBIRA
http://www.mbira.org/

"MBIRA is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to educate the public regarding traditional Shona music of Zimbabwe, including mbira music, and to develop a library of recordings to preserve that music."

Minnesota Public Radio: One hundred Years of the Maple Leaf Rag
http://music.mpr.org/features/9905_ragtime/index.shtml

A history, complete with a timeline and audio files, of ragtime music in the 20th century.

MTV Online
http://www.mtv.com/

This is MTV's official site with current news, animation, music reviews, weekly schedule, buzz clips, etc. Definitely not for the slow of modem.

Music Australia
http://www.musicaustralia.org/

"A collaboration between the National Library of Australia, ScreenSound Australia, the National Screen and Sound Archive and other national cultural institutions and the wider Australian music community." This site contains "more than 100 pieces of digitized sheet music, most dating from before 1930, more than 60 digital audio files, with most recordings dating from before 1952, several 'digital scores' - contemporary music scores created using music notation software, several synchronized multimedia items, which integrate digitized score and audio elements, and a small number of related music resources including text, pictorial and manuscript items."

Music Information Centre Norway
http://www.mic.no/english

Genres on this website include: world/folk/ethnic; jazz; classical/contemporary; pop/rock/electronica. There are also sections dedicated to artist biographies, CD reviews, and music downloads. Available in both English and Norwegian.

Music.org.za
http://www.music.org.za/

Provides information about South African musical artists and general information to support regional music as well as to educate an international audience.

MusicFinland.com
http://www.musicfinland.com/

Resources for Finnish popular, classical, jazz, and contemporary folk music. Artist profiles are included as well recording reviews and audio samples.

The National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts
http://210.95.200.104/eng/index_eng.jsp

Information about Korean music, dance, and instruments. This site covers a wide range of genres including Dang-ak, Hyang-ak, Chwita, and Minyo. There are also collections of pages that describe the traditional instruments of Korea.

Ohwejagehka Iroquois Earth Songs
http://www.ohwejagehka.com/songs.htm

A discussion of the social songs of the Iroquois community complete with recorded examples. Examples include the Standing Quiver, the Moccasin Dance, and the Smoke Dance.

Pan-African Hip Hop
http://www.africanhiphop.com/

Formerly known as Rumba-Kali and Motherland Funk, this page features new and archived articles on hip-hop music in Africa, reviews of African hip-hop artists, interviews with prominent figures of the musical community, as well as a calendar of events. The site covers hip-hop scenes reaching from Tanzania to South Africa and Liberia. This page also links to Rumba-Kali radio.

Piazzolla.Org: The Internet Home of Astor Piazzolla and his Tango Nuevo
http://www.piazzolla.org/

Available in both Spanish and English. Dedicated to the music of Argentinean, Astor Piazolla. Features include an extensive biography and an audio library.

rec.music.celtic Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.cs.uu.nl/wais/html/na-dir/music/celtic/faq.html

"This document attempts to answer the questions which are asked on a weekly basis in the REC.MUSIC.CELTIC newsgroup. REC.MUSIC.CELTIC is an unmoderated forum for the discussion of all issues relating to Celtic music. Generally understood, 'Celtic music' refers to the folk musics of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, (Spanish) Galicia, Cornwall, the Isle of Man, and certain parts of Canada (esp. Newfoundland/Cape Breton), as well as more recent musical styles (i.e. rock, jazz, new age) that draw heavily from these folk traditions. It should be understood, though, that not all musicians who hail from Ireland/Scotland/Wales/Brittany/etc. necessarily play Celtic music."

Reverb Central
http://www.reverbcentral.com/

Instrumental surf music is the focus of this website by Phil Dirt of KFJC 89.7 FM (a "teaching laboratory for the Fine Arts and Communications Department of Foothill College"). Features include CD reviews ande an extensive collection of articles about surf music.

RootsWorld: Finland
http://www.rootsworld.com/rw/finland/

"In addition to the usual audio excerpts from CDs, this section also includes original audio recorded exclusively for RootsWorld on location in Finland."

RootsWorld: Latin, The Caribbean, and South America
http://www.rootsworld.com/rw/feature/latin-caribe.html

A collection of interviews, articles and CD reviews related to the Latin music of the Caribbean and South America.

Rootsworld: Louisiana (Cajun, Creole, Zydeco and R&B)
http://www.rootsworld.com/rw/feature/cajun.html

A collection of interviews, articles and CD reviews related to the cajun, creole, zydeco, and R&B music of Louisiana.

RootsWorld: South America, Central America and Mexico
http://www.rootsworld.com/rw/feature/sa.html

A collection of interviews, articles and CD reviews related to the Latin music of South America, Central America, and Mexico

RootsWorld: They Call Themselves Roma
http://www.rootsworld.com/rw/gypsypage.html

At this site you’ll find answers to questions including: Roma: Who are they? What is Gypsy music? You’ll also find listening examples of works by the Karandila Brass Orchestra and saxophonist Yuri Yunakov.

Salsa & Merengue
http://www.salsa-merengue.co.uk/revealit/explode.html

Available in both English and Spanish, this site explores the Latin genres salsa and merengue through music and dance. Histories of both genres are included as well as a glossary of terms.

Salsaartists.com
http://www.salsaartists.com/

Available in both English and Spanish. "The most current in salsa news and information, ...interactive chats and message boards, links to fan clubs, direct music and video downloads."

Southern Cross University: Music Archive for the Pacific
http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/arts/music/musicarchive/Archiv...

Music of the indigenous people of Australia (incl. Torres Strait), Papua New Guinea (incl. Bougainville), New Zealand as well as the nations of the Pacific Islands - Cook Islands, Easter Island, Fiji, Hawaii, Nauru, New Caledonia, Rarotonga, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tahiti, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.? Resources on this site include general information articles about musical styles, audio examples, and a bibliography for further research.

The Pontic Music Homepage
http://www.scimitarmusic.com/pontos/

Resources relating to the Greeks of Pontos who were settled mostly in Macedonia after the 1922 Treaty of Lausanne. Instruments including the kemenche, a type of lyra, and the tulum, a type of bagpipe, are discussed as well as dance forms including dipat, kochari, and serra.

The Red Hot Jazz Archive
http://www.redhotjazz.com/

This jazz archive primarily focuses on music before 1930 and features artists like Benny Goodman, Coleman Hawkins, Gene Krupa, and Bessie Smith. Contents include artist biographies, audio files, video files and essays like "Billie Holiday’s Small Band Recordings of 1935-1939" and "The Young Sidney Bechet".

The Robert Johnson Notebooks
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MUSIC/rjhome.html

A biography of the singer/songwriter/guitarist Robert Johnson. Other features include sound clips of performances by the artist, a lesson plan for teachers to "illustrate the poesy of Robert Johnson's blues lyrics", and a glossary of verse terms.

The Traditional Music and Cultures of Kenya
http://www.bluegecko.org/kenya/

Dedicated to the recording and preservation of traditional Kenyan music. A variety of sound clips are available as well as a healthy bibliography of resources about musical traditions and techniques in Kenya. "Currently comprises over 500 pages of texts, 235 images and seven hours of music."

Thelonius Monk Institute of Jazz
http://www.jazzinamerica.org/home.asp

A jazz resource library complete with lesson plans for educators, audio clips, artist biographies, and digital images. You will also find "style sheets" that describe the general characteristics of a variety of jazz styles including dixieland, cool jazz, swing, bebop, ragtime, and third-stream.

Todo Tango
http://www.todotango.com/english/main.html

A site dedicated to the tango and available in both English and Spanish. A source for daily music news in Argentina, artist interviews, biographies, sheet music, lyrics, and audio files.