Getting Started

This guide presents a selection of resources that will help you find books, articles, recordings, and other materials focusing on African music.

Use the tabs to the left to learn more about finding specific types of materials in our collection. Read the box below for recommended background and reference material to help ground your research. Or, consider checking out the Music in Africa portal (linked below)!

Music in Africa Portal
Music In Africa (www.musicinafrica.net) is easily the fastest growing information and exchange web portal dedicated to the African music sector, reaching millions of people every year. A non-profit initiative, Music In Africa aims to support the African music sector through knowledge exchange and fostering collaboration. With access to seasoned music journalists and researchers from across the world, we offer a unique range of quality and useful content about the sector.

Background Information & Reference Sources

Reference sources are a great place to start your research when you need to gather initial information about a topic or get a rough overview of a subject so you can decide what areas to research further. Reference books and online tools are also excellent for looking up a quick fact, definition, or date, and they will often direct you to more sources.

If none of the recommended resources are quite what you're looking for, try a search in the library catalog for the subject you're researching and "reference", "handbook", "guide", or "companion" to see what reference materials we might have on the subject. Remember that you can always reach out to a librarian for help if your search doesn't turn up promising results!

Below is a list of recommended resources, both in print and online.

The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music by Bruno Nettl and Ruth M. Stone (Editors)
Call Number: MPAL Reference Non-circulating ; ML100 G27
Location: Music & Performing Arts Reference [non-circulating]
Also available online.
The Garland Handbook of African Music by Ruth M. Stone (Editor)
Call Number: ML350 G272008
The Garland Handbook of African Music is comprised of essays from The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: Volume 1, Africa, (1997). Revised and updated, the essays offer detailed, regional studies of the different musical cultures of Africa and examine the ways in which music helps to define the identity of this particular area.
Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World by John Shepherd, Peter Wicke, David Horn, Dave Laing, and Paul Oliver (Editors)
Call Number: ML102.P66 C66
Location: Music & Performing Arts Reference [non-circulating]
Includes extensive bibliographies, discographies, sheet music listings and filmographies.
Also available online.
Music of Sub-Saharan Africa: an international bibliography and resource guide by John Gray
Call Number: ML120.A35 G72 2018
Location: Music & Performing Arts Reference [non-circulating]
Contents include General works, Musical instruments, Regional studies, African music abroad, and Biographical and critical studies.
African Music: a pan-African annotated bibliography by Carol Lems-Dworkin
Call Number: ML120.A35 L45
Location: Music & Performing Arts Reference [non-circulating]
Cross-disciplinary in approach and extensively indexed, the bibliography lists (mostly with annotation) some 1,700 titles, covering a wide variety of sources, and including material in English, French, German, Spanish, and Portuguese.
The Da Capo Guide to Contemporary African Music by Ronnie Graham
Call Number: ML3502.5G72 D2
Location: Music & Performing Arts Reference [non-circulating]