About
the world of music (new series) is an international scholarly journal dedicated to reporting and reflecting current theoretical perspectives on and research in the field of the world’s music and dance.
While every issue is designed to focus on a specific topic, the world of music (new series) does not confine its attention to any single region or methodological approach. We publish original, and sometimes challenging, contributions from all over the world, aimed at musicologists and musicians, dance researchers, anthropologists, cultural studies and post-colonial studies scholars, and others.
The articles contained in the world of music (new series) are informed by a variety of theoretical perspectives but devoted to a shared goal: understanding the musics of the world, their histories, and their manifold environments. It is our aim to generate a productive and creative dialogue between music researchers in disparate locations and contexts.
the world of music (new series) is a Diamond open access journal, but also available in print. For more information on the print version and how to subscribe, please visit VWB Publishers.
Announcements
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2025-06-30
the world of music (new series) 14 (1), 2025 now online
This issue explores the creation of a performance of the core Mande epic of Sunjata – the tale of the eponymous hero (Sunjata Keita) who founded the kingdom of Mali in the thirteenth century CE – as part of the Singing Storytellers Symposium held in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada in October 2014. It brings together contributions which present a variety of perspectives on the project, its cultural and intellectual roots, its challenges, and its achievements. The articles also to trace the impact and influence of that project in the decade since its inception. Our hope is that this multifaceted approach to representing a collaborative research-creation project may not only provide a record of an event recognizing an often overlooked location within the larger Black Atlantic, but also contribute to the developing discussion of the methods and potential of practice- and performance-based ethnomusicologies.
–Barbara Titus
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2025-01-24
Arabic translations of Acces to Waxes I [the world of music (new series) 12 (2), 2023] are now online
This issue is the first part of a double issue entitled "Access to Waxes – The Collections from the Arab World of the Berlin Phonogramm-Archiv: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Digitization and Open Access" (published in English in February 2024). All contributions are now also available in Arabic translation, to be found online with their English equivalents. They include a General Introduction to the double issue plus a set of five articles, written by Nadia Bahra, Lando Kirchmair, Matthias Pasdzierny, Albrecht Wiedmann, Salwa El-Shawan Castelo-Branco, Susanne Ziegler, Jean Lambert, and Ruth F. Davis. The Arabic translations of the second part of this double issue will be published soon.
–Barbara Titus
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2024-12-23
the world of music (new series) 13 (2), 2024 is online
This issue is the second part of a double issue entitled "Access to Waxes – The Collections from the Arab World of the Berlin Phonogramm-Archiv: Between Digitization, 'Repatriation,' and Online Publication". It includes contributions by musicologists, lawyers and historians about issues of ownership, technical infrastructures of digitization, and science diplomacy in the handling of sonic heritage. All articles of this double issue will soon also be available in Arabic translation on our website.
–Barbara Titus
Volume 14, No. 1The Sunjata Project in Unama'ki (Cape Breton): Community-Engaged Research-Creation
Issue description
This issue explores the creation of a performance of the core Mande epic of Sunjata – the tale of the eponymous hero (Sunjata Keita) who founded the kingdom of Mali in the thirteenth century CE – as part of the Singing Storytellers Symposium held in Cape Breton, Nova Scoti ... See the full issue