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
-
2026-06-25
the world of music (new series) 15 (1), 2026 now online
This issue encompasses key decolonial writings on music and East Asia. Examining forms of cultural, epistemic, exploitation, settler, and internal coloniality, the issue demonstrates the necessity of grounding decolonial analysis in the historical particularities and discourses of specific geographies. There are two main areas of concern: (1) Exploitation and cultural colonization that is linked to Euro-North American imperialism and the influx of Western musics (hymns, military band music, pop, rock etc.) into East Asia in part via Japan, Japanese colonization in East Asia in the interwar years, as well as Chinese imperialism over millennia. (2) Minoritization that is linked to settler and internal colonization (e.g. Xinjiang) as well as marginalization of diasporic peoples and musics from East Asia who migrated around the world.
–Barbara Titus
-
2026-01-08
Arabic translations of Acces to Waxes II [the world of music (new series) 13 (2), 2023] are now online
All contributions of the second 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 December 2024) are now also available in Arabic translation, to be found online with their English equivalents. They include an introductory position statement by Dörthe Schmidt and a set of four articles, written by Souheir I. Nadde, Christian Czychowski & Lea Riechers, Lando Kirchmair and Mèhèza Kalibani. A general introduction to both issues can be found in the first part of this double issue (also available in Arabic translation).
–Barbara Titus
-
2025-12-18
the world of music (new series) 14 (2), 2025 now online
This themed issue presents current research on the interplay between music, sound and the environment across the Australasian region and beyond. Seven case studies explore how the relationship between people and their environment is mediated through music and/or sound and how they foster a more holistic rather than human-centered mindset, which might well be fundamental in redressing environmental crises. In the articles on music and dance traditions in this volume, sound and movement encompass the socio-cultural construction of place: spaces that have meanings through people's interaction with the physical environment over time. The issue emphasises Indigenous authorship and ownership of place-centred knowledge, working against the dominant frameworks which have through history prioritised representation of white, university-educated voices, neglecting the voices of those educated outside of these systems including Indigenous scholars and tradition bearers. The contributing authors all work within an academic tradition which values long term relationships with communities and reciprocity to ensure that there are benefits which go back to the communities and people who have shared this information. Many of these activities are discussed in the articles in this special issue.
Volume 15, No. 1Countering Coloniality in Music and East Asia
Issue description
The concept of decolonization has been important to geographies from various parts of Asia to the Americas. This special issue is the first collection to bring key decolonial writings from Asia and other locations to bear on music and East Asia. Examining really-existing forms ... See the full issue