Global Music
Cultures

The MA/PhD in Ethnomusicology investigates music in cultural and social contexts. In preparing students for careers in studying global music communities, our program assists students in understanding music as social practice from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. Students are introduced to the intellectual history of the field and its paradigmatic shifts, and research methodology in preparation for ethnographic fieldwork. Our ethnomusicology program seeks to prepare students for careers in the academy, public sector, the music industry, and/or cultural heritage policy-making. We also offer seminars in select global music cultures as well as topics, which examine music as related to gender, politics, religion, economics, philosophy, aesthetics, and musical practice.

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Student Perspectives:<br />
David Castañeda
Student Perspectives:
David Castañeda

“I enjoyed the connections that I made with my colleagues who have now become family, seeing my approach as a researcher develop substantially in such a short amount of time, and most of all the opportunity to grow as an instructor and educator.” – David Castañeda Ph.D. ’21 |  Ethnomusicology

Meet our Graduate Students

Armen Adamian
Instructor of Armenian Woodwinds; Ph.D. Student in Ethnomusicology
Lucas Avidan
Ethnomusicology – Research Focus: Cultural aesthetics and transmission in popular music in Tanzania
John Hyun-Jun Jang
Ethnomusicology – Research Focus: Migration, Aging, and Identity in South Korean Popular Music
Shahwar Kibria Maqhfi
Ethnomusicology - Research focus: Music and Muslim belonging in South Asia.
Mukesh Kulriya
Ethnomusicology – Research Focus: Gender, Music, South Asia, Folk Songs, Caste
Lorali Mossaver-Rahmani
Ethnomusicology – Research Focus: Chicanx and Latinx Protest Music, Decolonization, Mestizaje, Immigration and Diaspora, Critical Intersectionality, DIY (do-it-yourself) Punk as Organizational Method
Alec Norkey
Ethnomusicology - Research Focus: contemporary western art music, cultural production, feminist anthropology, hermeneutics and aesthetics
Rane Prak
Ethnomusicology – Research Focus: Hybridization of Traditional and Contemporary Arts in Cambodia and Khmer Diaspora
Mehrenegar Rostami
Ethnomusicology – Research Focus: Traditional and popular musics of the Middle East and Central Asia
Wan Yeung
Ethnomusicology

Ethnomusicology Faculty

Armen Adamian
Instructor of Armenian Woodwinds; Ph.D. Student in Ethnomusicology
Supeena Adler
Adjunct Associate Professor - Ethnomusicology, World Music Instrument Curator and Conservator, Director, Music of Thailand Ensemble;
Francis Kofi Akotuah
Lecturer - Ethnomusicology, Director of Music and Dance of Ghana Ensemble
Münir Beken
Associate Professor - Ethnomusicology (world music theory and composition), Director of Music of Turkey Ensemble
Melissa Bilal
The Promise Chair in Armenian Music, Arts, and Culture, Director of Armenian Music Program
David Bragger
Lecturer - Ethnomusicology, Director of Old-Time String Band Ensemble
Nick DePinna
Adjunct Assistant Professor - Musicianship
Gamin Kang
Lecturer - Ethnomusicology, Director of Music of Korea Ensemble
Cheryl L. Keyes
Professor - Global Jazz Studies and Ethnomusicology (Contemporary Jazz, Hip Hop)
Mark Kligman
Mickey Katz Chair of Jewish Music and Professor - Musicology, Ethnomusicology, and Humanities, Director of Lowell Milken Center for Music of American Jewish Experience
Chi Li
Adjunct Professor - Ethnomusicology, Director of Music of China Ensemble
Steven Loza
Professor - Global Jazz Studies, Ethnomusicology, Director of the UCLA Center for Latino Arts
Janice Mautner Markham
Lecturer - Ethnomusicology, Director of Klezmer Music Ensemble
Mohsen Mohammadi
Director of Indo-Persian Music
Anna Morcom
Mohindar Brar Sambhi Chair of Indian Music, Professor - Ethnomusicology
Rahul Neuman
Lecturer - Ethnomusicology, Co-Director of Music of India Ensemble
Helen Rees
Professor - Ethnomusicology
Roger Savage
Professor and Chair of Ethnomusicology
Miles Shrewsbery
Lecturer - Ethnomusicology, Music of India Ensemble
Joko Sutrisno
Lecturer - Ethnomusicology, Director of Music of Java Ensemble
Timothy D. Taylor
Professor - Ethnomusicology (Popular musics, world music, cultural theory)
I Nyoman Wenten
Adjunct Associate Professor - Ethnomusicology, Director of Music of Bali Ensemble
Diane White-Clayton
Lecturer - Ethnomusicology, Director of African American Music Ensemble
Guest Artists & Scholars Offer Students Unique Insights from the City of Angels

A stream of high-profile artists and scholars from around the world have energized and inspired our students, helping to transform their educational experience. Among them are J.H. Kwabena Nketia, considered Africa’s premier musicologist/ethnomusicologist; Akin Euba, a Nigerian composer, musicologist, and pianist; MacArthur Fellow Steven Feld, an American ethnomusicologist, anthropologist, and linguist, who worked for many years with the Kaluli people of Papua New Guinea; Judith Becker, professor emerita of ethnomusicology, University of Michigan; Mark Slobin, the author or editor of books on Afghanistan and Central Asia, eastern European Jewish music, film music, and ethnomusicology theory; Chano Dominguez, award-winning Spanish-born pianist, composer, bandleader, and educator, and Hossein Omoumi, a scholar and teacher of Persian traditional music, among others.

Dominguez-Chano-by-Jordi-Sunol Chano Dominguez (Photo: Jordi-Sunol) Chano Dominguez (Photo: Jordi Sunol)
What is Music's Value? A Conversation with Tim Taylor
Tim Taylor, professor of ethnomusicology and musicology at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, has always been curious about how we assess the value of music. The author of over 50 articles and a shelf of books, Taylor has explored music and capitalism, global pop, western music in the world, and more. His new
Mariachi de Uclatlán Visits Japan
On May 14, 2024, Mariachi de Uclatlán arrived at Haneda International Airport in Tokyo. Under the direction of Jesús Guzmán and in the company of the famed Mariachi Los Camperos, the group arrived for a week of performances and sightseeing.
Chi Li on CBS KCAL News
Chi Li, professor of ethnomusicology, was interviewed on KCAL news about her musical past and her mastery of the Erhu, a Chinese instrument dating back more than a thousand years.
Bridging Divides with Music
Mukesh Kulriya, a Ph.D. candidate in ethnomusicology under the supervision of Anna Morcom, has won a grant from the UCLA Initiative to Study Hate. His project studies the impact of a musical initiative in Rajasthan, India used to mitigate religious hate. The grant will support research, travel, and the production of a 10-episode podcast series recorded in
A Special Gift for Mother's Day
What are you getting your mother for Mother’s Day? A card, chocolates, flowers, perhaps a bottle of champagne? Well, what about endowing a scholarship in her name? This year, two alumnae of UCLA’s school of music had scholarships endowed in their names by their sons. Dana Gordon established the Diane K. Gordon Memorial Undergraduate and
Khon: Thai Masked Dance and Music
Organized by Supeena Adler, this monumental concert brought together internationally acclaimed Thai musicians and dancers with UCLA students and the greater UCLA community.

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