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: Indo-Islamic music in South Asia; liturgical and non-liturgical music in Islam; oral histories of Urdu-Muslim culture worlds; Bollywood and Indian film music; communalism, globalization, and neo-colonialism; new-media convergence cultures.
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
World Music Instrument Curator and Conservator; Director, Music of Thailand Ensemble; Adjunct Associate Professor
Münir Beken
Associate Professor
Melissa Bilal
The Promise Chair in Armenian Music, Arts, and Culture; Director of Armenian Music Program
Nick DePinna
Adjunct Assistant Professor--Musicianship
Mark Kligman
Professor of Musicology, Ethnomusicology, and Humanities; Mickey Katz Chair of Jewish Music; Director of Lowell Milken Center for Music of American Jewish Experience
Chi Li
Adjunct Professor
Steven Loza
Director of the UCLA Center for Latino Arts; Professor and Chair of Global Jazz Studies
Mohsen Mohammadi
Director of Indo-Persian Music
Rahul Neuman
Continuing Lecturer
Roger Savage
Professor and Chair of Ethnomusicology
I Nyoman Wenten
Adjunct Assoc. Professor
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)
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.
Music Alive in the Archive: An Exploration of Kulintang Music in the Danongan Kalanduyan
The Ethnomusicology Archive holds one of the world’s great collections of audio and video recordings documenting kulingang gong music and dance around the world. They are now freely accessible to the public on the California Revealed website. Archivist Maureen Russell documented the celebration of the collection’s launch for Ethnomusicology Review.
Freedom First to Feature Student Composition
On Friday, October 6, Schoenberg Hall will witness a special event. A concert for Keith LaMar will feature legendary jazz musicians Salim Washington and multi-Grammy Award winner Arturo O’Farrill. The concert benefits LaMar, currently on death row in Ohio, having been falsely convicted of murder in the aftermath of the 1993 Lucasville Prison uprising. *
Ethnomusicology Student Lauded by Kennedy Center
Isabel Folkers was only four when she unwittingly chanced upon her career trajectory. The occasion was a house party at the home of an Irish family. The band had finished for the night and they were breaking down their equipment. The young Isabel Folkers jumped up on the makeshift stage and took hold of the
For 2023 Undergraduate Student Commencement Speaker, Community is Key
When Yeremiya Wright arrived at UCLA in the Fall of 2019 as a first-year student, he was unaware that a global pandemic was literally right around the corner. Nor was anyone aware of what was in store. “I went home to New Jersey in the Spring quarter of 2020 thinking I would be coming back
Time for the Spring Festival of World Music
It's time for the annual Spring Festival of World Music. Travel the globe with us!
May 10 Fri
1:00pm
Free
world-music
Music Alive in the Archive: Celebrating the Music and Legacy of Rev. Tom Kurai
Join us to celebrate UCLA’s acquisition and digitization of Rev. Shuichi Thomas Kurai’s audiovisual holdings with an afternoon of taiko music and memories.
Lani Hall
May 17 Fri
7:00pm
Free
world-music
Music of Turkey and Korea
The Music of Turkey Ensemble and the Music of Korea Ensemble showcase traditional music from these regions on the same stage. In the Music of Turkey Ensemble class, students learn to perform the vocal and instrumental repertoire from art music, fasil, folk, and other genres found in Turkey and its periphery. Students may choose to sing
Schoenberg Hall
May 18 Sat
7:00pm
Free
world-music
Music of China and Thailand
The Music of China Ensemble and Music of Thailand Ensemble showcase traditional music from these regions on the same stage. The Music of China Ensemble performs arias from Kun opera of the 15th century, silk-and-bamboo music from the Shanghai area, folk dances for festive celebration, zheng zither music in the Keijia style from Canton Province,
Schoenberg Hall

Explore Other Degrees

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Graduate study and training in choral, orchestral, or wind conducting
Ethnomusicology
The study of global musical traditions through performance training, research, and field work
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BA
Music Composition
Mentorship in the creation and realization of music for concerts, opera, and visual media
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Preparation for music educators leading to a BA and teaching credential in just four years
BA
Music Industry
A leadership-focused professional degree which prepares students to transform the creative, entrepreneurial, and executive structures of the music industry
Musicology
The scholarly study of the histories, cultures, and critical interpretations of music and music-making
Music Performance
Study and training towards professional performance careers in Western classical music