Finding Books & Articles - IS 451: Bibliography of Africa - Music - LibGuides at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Search Tips and Subject Headings

Searching the catalog by subject is a great way to get a sense of what material is available on the topic you're researching. To search by subject in the library catalog:

Click on "Advanced Search" to the right of the search bar
Underneath "Search filters", you'll see that the default is set to "Any Field"
Click on the arrow next to "Any Field" and select "Subject" from the drop-down menu
Try a search with one of the subject headings recommended below
Once you've found a relevant book in the catalog, you can also use the subjects listed in the record to find additional related materials

When conducting a subject search, always start with what you know! Try searching for a style, country, region, or ethnic group and the term music. Then, evaluate your results to see how they are described. Check to see which Subjects are used to describe the topic -- you can then click on these to find related materials or use them to develop new search terms.

Examples of Subjects include:

Music -- Africa -- History and criticism
Music -- [Country] -- History and criticism
- Example: Music -- South Africa -- History and Criticism
[Ethnic Group] -- Music -- History and criticism
- Example: Zulu (African people) -- Music -- History and criticism
Popular music -- Africa -- History and criticism
Musicians -- Africa
Highlife (music)

Recommended Resources

The Music of Africa by J. H. Kwabena Nketia
Call Number: 780.966 N65M
The study of African music is a study at once of unity and diversity. The range of indigenous musical resources and practices found on this vast continent is as wide and varies as its topography. In this informative and highly readable book, Professor Nketia provides an overview of the musical traditions of Africa with respect to their historical, cultural, and social background, their organization and practice, and delineates the most significant aspects of musical style.
African Music in Perspective by Alan P. Merriam
Call Number: 780.96 M551A
African Musicology: current trends : a festschrift presented to J.H. Kwabena Nketia by Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje (Editor); William G. Carter (Editor)
Call Number: ML3797.1 A37
Ethnomusicology and African Music Collected Papers by J. H. Kwabena Nketia
Call Number: 780.89 N659e
The volume in hand deals with modes of inquiry and interpretation broadly organised into sections on theory, and historical and creative studies. The section on theoretical issues comprises papers on: the problem of meaning in African music; musicology and African music; the juncture of the social and the musical; integrating objectivity and experience in ethnomusicological studies; the aesthetic dimension in ethnomusicological studies; universal perspectives in ethnomusicology; and contextual strategies of inquiry and systematisation. The section on creative and historical topics covers the following: the history of music in African culture; history and the organization of music in West Africa; historical evidence in Ga religious music; processes of differentiation and interdependency in African music; African musical roots in the Americas; and developing contemporary idioms out of traditional music.
Music Is the Weapon of the Future: Fifty Years of African Popular Music by Frank Tenaille
Call Number: ML3502.9 .T4613 2002
From the unique voice of Salif Keita and the hard funk of Fela Kuti to the poignant blues of Cesaria Evora and the upbeat swing of South African township jazz, African music has shaken the planet. This book traces its history through 30 portraits.
Hip Hop Africa: new African music in a globalizing world by Eric Charry (Editor)
Call Number: Online Resource
Hip Hop Africa explores a new generation of Africans who are not only consumers of global musical currents, but also active and creative participants. Eric Charry and an international group of contributors look carefully at youth culture and the explosion of hip hop in Africa, the embrace of other contemporary genres, including reggae, ragga, and gospel music, and the continued vitality of drumming. Covering Senegal, Mali, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, and South Africa, this volume offers unique perspectives on the presence and development of hip hop and other music in Africa and their place in global music culture.
Fiddling in West Africa by Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje
Call Number: Online Resource
Fiddling has had a lengthy history in Africa which has long been ignored. Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje corrects this oversight with an expansive study on fiddling in the Fulbe, Hausa, and Dagbamba cultures of West Africa. DjeDje not only explains the history of the instrument itself, but also discusses the processes of stylistic transference and adaptation, suggesting how these may have contributed to differing performance practices. Additionally, DjeDje delves into the music, the performance context, the musicians behind the fiddle, the meaning of the instrument, and its use in these three cultures. This detailed work helps the reader understand and appreciate three little-known musical cultures in West Africa and the fiddle's influence upon them.
Hip-Hop in Africa by Msia Kibona Clark; Quentin Williams (Foreword by); Akosua Adomako Ampofo (Afterword by)
Call Number: ML3918.R37 C58 2018
In Hip-Hop in Africa, Msia Kibona Clark examines some of Africa's biggest hip-hop scenes and shows how hip-hop helps us understand specifically African narratives of social, political, and economic realities. Clark looks at the use of hip-hop in protest, both as a means of articulating social problems and as a tool for mobilizing listeners around those problems. She also details the spread of hip-hop culture in Africa following its emergence in the United States, assessing the impact of urbanization and demographics on the spread of hip-hop culture. Hip-Hop in Africa is a tribute to a genre and its artists as well as a timely examination that pushes the study of music and diaspora in critical new directions.

In addition to specific journals listed below, also check out the Current Bibliographies (retired) from the Society for Ethnomusicology for specific articles and our guide dedicated to finding articles:

Current Bibliographies (SEM)
Includes dedicated section for Africa. Issues of each respective Bibliography are tied to a particular Volume and Issue of our journal, Ethnomusicology. Current Bibliographies prior to the year 2000 can be found printed in the journal.

Finding Journal Articles for Music Research
by Music and Performing Arts Library Last Updated Nov 9, 2023 54 views this year

Journals

African Music
African Music is an annual, peer reviewed, accredited, academic journal established in 1954 by Hugh Tracey, founder of the International Library of African Music. The journal publishes original articles, not previously published, pertaining to contextualized studies of African music and related arts. Since it was re-launched in 2007 it features a CD compilation of audio examples illustrating the articles in each edition, which generally consists of field recordings from the article authors' research.
African Musicology Online
African Musicology Online is a high quality open-access, peer-reviewed and refereed multidisciplinary research journal, dedicated to serve the society by the global dissemination of information through an unparalleled commitment to quality, reliability, and innovation in research work. African Musicology Online welcomes and acknowledges high quality theoretical and empirical original research papers, case studies, review papers, literature reviews and conceptual framework from researchers, academicians, professionals, practitioners and students from all over the world.
Ethnomusicology
As the official journal of the Society for Ethnomusicology, Ethnomusicology is the premier publication in the field. Its scholarly articles represent current theoretical perspectives and research in ethnomusicology and related fields, while playing a central role in expanding the discipline in the United States and abroad. Aimed at a diverse audience of musicologists, anthropologists, folklorists, cultural studies scholars, musicians, and others, this inclusive journal also features book, recording, film, video, and multimedia reviews.
Muziki: Journal of Music Research in Africa.
Focused primarily on African music research, Muziki: Journal of Music Research in Africa welcomes scholarly articles and reviews of books, music, and recordings related to musical theory and practice of the African continent and beyond. We aim to provide a platform for established and emerging scholars in the fields of performance practice, ethnomusicology, and ‘traditional’ musicology as well as jazz and popular music studies encompassing diverse aspects of local, diasporic, and global research.
Popular Music
Popular Music is an international multi-disciplinary journal covering all aspects of the subject - from the formation of social group identities through popular music, to the workings of the global music industry, to how particular pieces of music are put together. The journal includes all kinds of popular music, whether rap or rai, jazz or rock, from any historical era and any geographical location. Popular Music carries articles by scholars from a variety of disciplines and theoretical perspectives. Each issue contains substantial, authoritative and influential articles, shorter topical pieces, and reviews of a wide range of books.
SAMUS: South African Music Studies
SAMUS: South African Music Studies is the official organ for the South African Society for Research in Music (SASRIM). It gives priority to the publication of research on South African music, but continues to represent the wider field of research interests in the country and in the rest of Africa. The journal invites work from any of the sub-disciplines in music studies, including musicology, ethnomusicology, popular music studies, music theory and music education, as well as research that draws connections between music and other fields in the arts and humanities.

Databases that focus on music sources:

Music Index This link opens in a new window
Contains cover-to-cover indexing and abstracts for every aspect of the classical and popular world of music including musicological and organological topics, as well as book reviews, record reviews, first performances, and obituaries from more than 850 music periodicals from over 40 countries.
Alternate Access Link
Music Periodicals Database This link opens in a new window
A database with full-text and abstracts of articles on music. Includes indexing for music articles and obituaries from the New York Times and The Washington Post. Covers nearly all aspects of music, including scholarly studies and popular trends. Coverage: 1874 - present.
RILM Abstracts of Music Literature This link opens in a new window
RILM Abstracts of Music Literature is a comprehensive bibliography on writings about music featuring citations, abstracts and indexes. It covers nearly one and a half million publications from around the world on traditional music, popular music, jazz, classical music and related subjects. Coverage begins in the early 19th century and extends to the present.
Alternate Access Link
RIPM Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals This link opens in a new window
An index to more than eighty historical music periodicals in thirteen languages, published primarily in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. (RIPM is the acronym for Répertoire international de la presse musicale.)
Alternate Access Link

Databases that focus on performing arts sources:

Performing Arts Periodicals Database This link opens in a new window
This database provides indexing and abstracts for more than 395 international periodicals, plus full text for more than 160 of the indexed journals. The database currently includes almost a million records, the majority from the most recent ten years of each journal. Performing Arts Periodicals Database covers a broad spectrum of the arts and entertainment industry - including dance, drama, theater, stagecraft, musical theater, circus performance, opera, pantomime, puppetry, magic, performance art, film, television and more.

Coverage: 1864 - current

General databases with good music/interdisciplinary coverage:

JSTOR This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Provides page images of back issues of the core scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, and basic sciences from the earliest issues to within a few years of current publication. Users may browse by journal title or discipline, or may search the full-text or citations/abstracts. New issues of existing titles and new titles are added approximately on a weekly basis. The University of Illinois has access to the following JSTOR collections: Arts & Sciences I-XV, 19th Century British Pamphlets, Business IV, Global Plants, Hebrew Journals, Ireland, Life Sciences Collection, Lives of Literature, Security Studies, Struggles for Freedom - South Africa, Sustainability, and World Heritage Sites - Africa.