The Value of Ethnographic Research on Music: An Introduction

Abstract

Musical performances are at the heart of many significant cultural events and often represent and affirm distinct cultural identities. Ethnographic research on music thus provides an important lens through which to understand distinct cultural worlds. In this introductory article we consider the value of research on music for the communities for whom it is a highly valued form of cultural expression and for the produced understandings of peoples' social worlds. Extending Anthony Seeger's recent flagging of areas for improvement in ethnomusicological research, this special issue is framed in terms of several concerns: engagement with cultural tradition, music and essentialism, and music as sustainability activism. Against the contemporary context in which the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically altered the ways that musicians can gather and make music together, we consider the question of research on music from interdisciplinary perspectives and the varied positions of researchers, musicians and community members.