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

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.

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

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

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

Issue 13:1 of the world of music (new series) is now online. Guest-edited by Jacob Olley, the issue is entitled "Resounding 1923: Musical Modernities from the Ottoman Empire to the Turkish Republic“. The articles in this issue reconsider the historical and contemporary discourses that have accrued around 1923 and explore the relationship between music, politics, and social life in Turkey and beyond from the late Ottoman period until today. For this issue, guest editor Jacob Olley has brought together authors whose research engages with diverse periods, musical genres, and theoretical approaches. The contributions to this issue offer critical new perspectives on music and modernity, particularly in terms of political and cultural interactions between the Ottoman Empire, the Republic of Turkey, Europe, and the other communities and states that emerged out of the Ottoman Empire.

–Birgit Abels 

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: Between Digitization, "Repatriation," and Online Publication". Issue 12 (2) includes 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. Issue 13 (1), the second part of this double issue, will be published in a few months from now. It includes contributions from Dörte Schmidt, Mèhèza Kalibani, Christian Czychowski & Lea Riechers, Souheir Nadde, and Lando Kirchmair. All articles of this double issue will also be available in Arabic translation.

–Birgit Abels 

We are pleased to announce that the world of music (new series) has switched to an open access model. Starting with the first issue of this year, our journal will be freely accessible online (Diamond open access). We have a new homepage and are now published by Göttingen University Press. VWB Publishing, the journal’s previous publisher, will continue to publish a print edition. The new model will make the world of music (new series) more easily accessible around the world, and we look forward to exploring the various possibilities of the journal’s increased visibility.

–Birgit Abels