ethnomusicology

[eth-noh-myoo-zi-kol-uh-jee]

noun

1. the study of folk and primitive music and of their relationship to the peoples and cultures to which they belong.

ethnomusicology

/ ˌɛθnəʊmjuːzɪˈkɒlədʒɪ /

noun

1. the study of the music of different cultures

Other Word Forms

• ethnomusicologist noun
• ethnomusicological adjective
• ethnomusicologically adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of ethnomusicology¹

First recorded in 1945–50; ethno- + musicology

Example Sentences

Even more consequential was the trust that the Barbers placed in Marshall Stearns, who had an academic pedigree in medieval literature and a subsuming interest in the ethnomusicology of jazz.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Belly dancing, which originated outside the Arabian Peninsula, is "a bit more provocative than regional dance", said Lisa Urkevich, professor of musicology and ethnomusicology at Georgetown University.

Read more on Barron's

“A lot of these clubs in L.A. pre-dated the revolution. Artists like Googoosh were already coming in from Iran to perform. Many musicians who were in U.S. when the revolution happened thought they were having a little sojourn and intended to go back someday,” said Farzaneh Hemmasi, a professor of ethnomusicology at the University of Toronto who wrote the book “Tehrangeles Dreaming: Intimacy and Imagination in Southern California’s Iranian Pop Music” and contributed the liner notes for “Tehrangeles Vice.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

A native Angeleno, Washington grew up in South L.A., attended Hamilton High School on the Westside, and earned a degree in ethnomusicology from UCLA.

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Cross, who occasionally freelances for The Seattle Times, first brought the idea of digitizing the magazine to John Vallier, curator of the UW Ethnomusicology Archives, in 2015.

Read more on Seattle Times

Related Words

• country music