Nigerian music genres, particularly Afrobeat, have historically sparked social consciousness, with Fela Anikulapo Kuti as a prominent figure. His energetic performances aimed to confront oppressive regimes in Nigeria and beyond, addressing neocolonial influences from Western powers. Despite facing assaults and imprisonment, Fela remained dedicated to his enduring belief that an artist’s role extends beyond entertainment; it includes provoking public thought and raising awareness about social issues. His commitment to these ideals has left a lasting impact on the cultural and political landscape of Nigeria.
Fela remained a steadfast opponent of Nigerian military rulers until his death in 1997. While some musicians have attempted to carry the torch of his activist legacy, few have been able to mobilize a significant following or resonate with the public as he did. Other genres, like Nigerian hip hop, have often faced criticism for promoting misogyny, materialism, and hedonism. In contrast, Fela’s counterculture has evolved into a broader global movement, gaining traction alongside the rising international popularity of Nigerian hip hop, now widely recognized as “Afrobeats.”
Cover art for the 1976 album Zombie, which was a scathing critique of the Nigerian government and military. Listen to the title track Zombie here.
One musician who has taken up this challenge is Falz, whose real name is Folarin Falana, is a dynamic Nigerian artist who combines humor with bold social commentary in his music. Like Fela, he uses his art to spotlight societal issues and foster awareness aimed at inspiring positive change. The son of renowned human rights lawyer Femi Falana and his wife, Funmi Falana, a lawyer and advocate in her own right, Falz initially trained as a lawyer before pursuing music, reminiscent of Fela’s own journey. Gaining fame through humorous social media skits that critique everyday Nigerian life, Falz’s music has evolved to address pressing social problems, urging ordinary Nigerians to recognize their role in perpetuating state repression and to advocate for change.
The Nigerian rapper Falz.
Falz initially garnered attention as a humorist on social media, creating skits that satirize everyday Nigerian life. As his music career progressed, his performances became more impactful, drawing inspiration from Fela both musically and politically. In his songs, Falz tackles pressing social issues in Nigeria and encourages listeners to actively resist and advocate for change. Notably, Falz emphasizes the collective responsibility of ordinary Nigerians, highlighting how the broader populace contributes to the state repression faced by citizens.
This according to “Re-imagining Afrobeat(s): Juxtaposing Fela and Falz’s social commentary and lyrical activism”, by Paul Ayodele Onanuga (African identities 23/3 [2025] 584–603; RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2025-1229).
In celebration of the 60th anniversary of Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale (RILM), we proudly present a short documentary film. Narrated by Executive Director Tina Frühauf and Executive Editor Zdravko Blažeković, and featuring several current and former RILM staff members, it explores RILM’s history, mission, and evolving role in music scholarship and cultural preservation.
As the film recounts RILM’s evolution from an ambitious vision to an international organization that occupies a unique place within the humanities, it explores ideas that have shaped RILM over six decades: a commitment to documenting the world’s musical and scholarly traditions in all their diversity, and an eagerness to embrace technological innovation, from the computer to generative artificial intelligence. Recent developments, including RILM’s recognition as a UNESCO-accredited NGO, also suggest directions for the organization’s future.
RILM serves a global music research community through an expansive range of bibliographic resources. This film offers a glimpse of the people and ideas that lie behind this endeavor. We hope you enjoy it.
To learn more about RILM and its resources, please visit www.rilm.org.
The four R projects emerged from the efforts of scholars, archivists, librarians, and musicians to create research tools that provide access to key sources of musical heritage and culture. These sources include musical works preserved in manuscripts and printed editions, historical and contemporary writings on music, and visual representations of music and musical performance. Recognizing that a vast body of music-related literature and iconography remained largely unexplored, the International Musicological Society (IMS) and the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres (IAML) jointly sponsored the development of the R-projects. The purpose was to create bibliographic research tools that identify, document, and facilitate access to this extensive collection of primary sources.
Below are short descriptions of the four R projects:
The Répertoire International des Sources Musicales (RISM), or International Inventory of Musical Sources, is dedicated to identifying, documenting, and providing access to musical sources worldwide. Through a network of independent national working groups, RISM catalogs printed music published before 1800, music manuscripts dating from after 1600, as well as libretti, theoretical treatises, and other music-related documents. These records are consolidated and standardized by the RISM Zentralredaktion (Central Editorial Office) in Germany, before being prepared for publication.
The Répertoire International d’Iconographie Musicale (RIdIM), or International Inventory of Musical Iconography, based in Switzerland, is dedicated to documenting and studying visual materials related to music, dance, theatre, and opera. To support research in musical iconography, RIdIM publishes catalogues, scholarly studies, and a newsletter and sponsors the annual scholarly yearbook Imago musicae, published in collaboration with Libreria Musicale Italiana.
The most recent of the four R-projects is the Répertoire International de la Presse Musicale (RIPM), or Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals (1800–1950). Established in 1980, RIPM was created to provide comprehensive access to historical music periodicals and to promote research based on this rich but often overlooked body of documentary evidence. By indexing and making available music-related journals and newspapers, RIPM has become an essential resource for scholars investigating the musical, cultural, and intellectual history of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale (RILM) publishes a range of digital resources that support the global music research community. Its flagship publication, RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, is a comprehensive bibliography of scholarly and professional writings on music. Other resources, such as the RILM Index to Scores and Collected Editions (RISE), provide digital tools for locating specific musical works within collected editions, anthologies, and series. RILM also offers specialized reference and archival resources. The RILM Archive of Popular Music Magazines (RAPMM) is an extensive and continually expanding digital collection of independently published popular music magazines and fanzines, spanning the late 1960s to the present. RILM Music Encyclopedias brings together a growing collection of full-text music reference works, while DEUMM Online provides access to the most comprehensive modern music dictionary in the Italian language. In addition, RILM hosts MGG Online on its platform, offering authoritative and up-to-date information on a wide range of music-related topics, including musicians, genres, historical periods, and scholarly concepts. RILM also now owns the Hofmeister XIX database.
RILM staff periodically contribute writings to EBSCOpost, a lively blog run by our partners that publishes pieces pertinent to librarianship, higher education, and beyond. Over time, some of these posts are removed, and even those that remain generally recede from view, following the ephemeral nature of much digital content. With 60 years of preserving the world’s writings on music and music-related topics behind us, we are now adding a small rescue project: bringing these blog posts back into circulation. However modest, they help document our history as an organization, and we hope they will continue to resonate with our international readership as well as with any music enthusiast who happens upon them.
For this installment in the series, we return to a post that caused quite a stir amongst the Bibliolore faithful when published here in 2017. In it, former RILM editor Jim Cowdery highlights a few tongue-in-cheek moments when musicologists, lexicographers, and even our staff injected some levity into their work. See if you can find them all, and check out Bibliolore’s recent post, Unique records in RILM Abstracts, which serves as a great companion piece.
The pointy end: Spoof articles
Many reference works for music—and presumably other topics—contain articles about fictitious characters. Sometimes writers for these works slyly slip them by their editors (an article on “Verdi, Lasagne” was almost typeset for printing in The new Grove dictionary); others are incorporated with the collusion of all parties.
RILM is not above adding a spoof article or two to RILM Abstracts of Music Literature. Of course, we won’t tell you which ones they are, but we’ll give you a hint: One includes a reference to the very real and wonderful Malcolm Bilson, who favors us with a Mozart concerto below.
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Since its launch in October 2009, Bibliolore has become a vibrant platform with over 1,870 posts exploring global music studies. The blog features a diverse range of topics, from Western music to global traditional and popular sounds, often inspired by significant dates, contemporary issues, and the celebration of both renowned and lesser-known musical figures. Interestingly, the blog has also showcased a number of unique outliers over the years highlighting the diversity of topics covered in RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, including animals, insects, and even food. Below are a four examples.
Music for cats (14 November 2012)—Features the compositions of David Teie, who creates music specifically tailored to engage domestic cats. His unique style draws inspiration from feline vocalizations and environmental sounds that capture a cat’s interest, incorporating genres such as kitty ditties, feline airs, and cat ballads.
Bug music (9 June 2014)–Explores David Rothenburg’s book, which analyzes how the sounds made by insects—such as cicadas and other humming, clicking, or thrumming creatures—may have influenced human rhythm and dance. The post highlights the intriguing connection between these natural sounds and the development of musical rhythm and synchronization in human culture.
The Elvis sandwich (19 October 2015)–Celebrates Elvis Presley‘s fondness for the pan-fried peanut butter and banana sandwich, a dish that became almost as iconic as his music. This post chronicles the sandwich’s history in “Southern po’ folks cuisine”, highlighting its cultural significance and connection to Elvis’s legacy.
Corn chip music (4 August 2014)–Examines the innovative creation of a musical passage by George Eapen of Frisco, Texas that mirrors the tasting experience of corn chips’ flavor notes. This unique composition is designed to be played while tasting the snack, allowing for a combined sensory experience that enhances both the enjoyment of the music and the food.
In the late 1990s, RILM began the development of a new editorial database system designed to modernize its bibliographic indexing operations. This project eventually became iBis–the Internet Bibliographic Indexing System–a web-based platform that fundamentally changed how RILM manages, edits, and shares its data. Developed by SoftWhite, Inc., a New York–based software company, iBis was designed by lead programmers Rick White and Will Limratana using a SQL Server database and a web-based interface built in ASP/VB. The system replaced existing workflows with a centralized, more efficient platform capable of supporting RILM’s expanding international network.
Development experienced significant challenges and delays due in part to the events of 11 September 2001. SoftWhite’s offices were located adjacent to the World Trade Center, preventing the development team from accessing their workplace for an extended period following the attacks. As a result, the anticipated launch schedule was pushed back considerably. Despite these setbacks, the vision for the new system remained clear. The International Center anticipated significant gains in productivity through IBis features such as automatic defaulting from authority lists, the ability to view abstracts while indexing records, and advanced filtering tools that would allow editors to focus on records within their areas of expertise. The system was also designed to support direct participation from national committees, enabling them to enter records into the database over the Internet while accessing RILM’s authority files and editorial tools in real time. This promised to improve data consistency, reduce duplication of effort, and eliminate the need for rekeying records at the International Center.
Screen shot of a form for accessing abstracts in the first iteration of iBis.
After several years of development, iBis entered beta testing in 2003. Editors at the International Center spent several weeks working simultaneously in both the old and new systems to ensure that the platform functioned as intended. The successful testing period paved the way for a full transition to iBis in August 2003. The move brought immediate benefits. One of the most important advances was the ability to output data in Unicode, allowing the accurate display of diacritical characters from languages around the world. While not all RILM’s publishing and distribution partners were prepared to support Unicode at the time, the transition represented a major step toward more accurate representation of international scholarship.
Furthermore, expanded access for national committees through iBis meant that committees would be able not only to create new records but also to modify existing ones directly within the database. Development of this committee access level was scheduled to follow shortly after the system’s launch, with testing planned in the months ahead. The final phase of development focused on creating tools that would support the export of data for RILM’s printed volumes.
Early iBis logo.
The launch of iBis at the International Center represented a milestone in RILM’s technological evolution. Although some components–specifically a new print production module–remained under development, the core system quickly showed its value. Twelve national committees adopted the new editorial database system during its initial rollout, joining the editorial staff in using iBis for their daily work. RILM envisioned expanding participation so that many national committees could work directly within the platform. To achieve this goal, ongoing refinements were planned to make the interface as efficient and user-friendly as possible. The successful implementation of iBis was aided by the contributions of numerous collaborators, including Lenore Coral and Julie Schnepel, who tested the system on behalf of the national committees and provided valuable feedback that helped shape its development. By storing data in Unicode and providing web-based access to editorial tools, authority files, and bibliographic records, iBis established a foundation for a more connected and efficient RILM.
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Sonny Rollins began teaching himself the alto saxophone in 1942, switching to the tenor saxophone four years later. By the late 1940s, he had already become a recognized figure in the New York jazz scene and appeared on numerous recordings with leading bebop musicians between 1949 and 1954. His breakthrough came in 1955 through his collaboration with the Clifford Brown and Max Roach Quintet. After Brown’s death, Rollins continued performing with various ensembles. From 1959 to 1961, he withdrew from the jazz world for more than two years. Upon returning, he resumed playing hard bop while also exploring freer, less structured forms of improvisation, notably in partnership with trumpeter Don Cherry. Following another creative hiatus from 1969 to 1971, Rollins performed with a wide range of ensembles–often featuring lesser‑known musicians–and expanded his stylistic reach from hard bop to fusion. In 1972, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship, which he used to compose a concerto for tenor saxophone and orchestra that premiered in 1986. He subsequently toured throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan.
Cover art for the 1957 release Saxophone colossus.
Alongside Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane, Rollins is regarded as one of the central figures in modern jazz improvisation. His sound helped define the hard bop approach to the saxophone, characterized by exceptional technical command, expansive imagination, and a deeper engagement with the harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic possibilities of modern jazz. Drawing from Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, and Dexter Gordon, Rollins shaped his full, resonant tone with extraordinary flexibility, employing staccato articulation, the subtle swallowing of notes, and a wide range of vibrato effects.
The style Rollins developed in the 1960s was a deliberate move away from the formulaic melodic patterns common in modern jazz at the time, replacing them with an improvisational stream of consciousness that emerged from thematic material. Rollins’s style featured a multifaceted rhythmic approach that juxtaposed fast, sharply articulated melodic lines with subtle micro-rhythmic deviations–playing ahead of or behind the beat–alongside the variation of small rhythmic cells and the purposeful use of silence. His repertoire extended beyond standard jazz tunes and blues forms to include thematic material from popular culture, such as film music, as well as a number of original compositions, some even written in the calypso idiom.
A 1968 performance in Denmark.
Despite his iconic status, Rollins never considered himself one of the greats of modern jazz. Speaking about his legacy in a 2021 interview, Rollins revealed, “No, I don’t consider myself to be one of [greats]. I’m a very self-effacing person. You know, the thing is with music, you never get to the place you want to get. And until I had to stop playing some years ago, I was always practicing, I was always trying to get better, I was always trying to get to that next level. And I never got there! Sometimes I felt like I was getting there, but it was sort of an elusive dream somewhat. I don’t want to think of myself as one of anything. I do, of course, think that my music will inspire people, maybe even some up-and-coming musicians in some kind of way.”
Below is a short promotional documentary for the 2020 release of Rollins in Holland: The 1967 studio & live recordings, by Resonance Records in collaboration with the Nederlands Jazz Archief.
The Hofmeister XIX database provides searchable access to more than 330,000 bibliographic records from the Hofmeister Monatsberichte, published between 1829 and 1900. As a major primary source for the study of 19th century music publishing, repertoire, and musical taste, the database includes records of music scores, music-related books, periodicals, portraits, and other ephemera, with a primary focus on Germany and Austria. A digital version of Friedrich Hofmeister’sMusikalisch-literarischer Monatsbericht, the database allows users to search by composer, title, publisher, and year. This enables researchers to trace publication histories and examine trends in 19th century musical repertoire and publishing practices.
The Hofmeister XIX database was developed by Royal Holloway, University of London and King’s College London Department of Digital Humanities under the leadership of musicologists Nicholas Cook and Liz Robinson, with support from the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council. Since 2007, the project has provided open-access resources for music librarians, scholars, and researchers worldwide. Ownership of the database has since been transferred to RILM, which is committed to maintaining its long-term accessibility, preserving the database’s scholarly integrity, and continuing to recognize the contributions of the founding institutions while upholding the high standards associated with Hofmeister XIX.
RILM staff periodically contribute writings to EBSCOpost, a lively blog run by our partners that publishes pieces pertinent to librarianship, higher education, and beyond. Over time, some of these posts are removed, and even those that remain generally recede from view, following the ephemeral nature of much digital content. With 60 years of preserving the world’s writings on music and music-related topics behind us, we are now adding a small rescue project: bringing these blog posts back into circulation. However modest, they help document our history as an organization, and we hope they will continue to resonate with our international readership as well as with any music enthusiast who happens upon them.
The series continues with another short piece by retired RILM editor Jim Cowdery. It relays a little-known (and perhaps surprising) meeting between two very different individuals who shared an interest in music’s ability to evoke powerful emotional responses.
Thakur and Mussolini
Near the end of his visit to Rome in 1933, the Hindustānī vocalist Omkarnath Thakur (1887–1968) received an invitation to dine with Mussolini; Il Duce had caught wind of Thakur’s theories and experiments regarding the inducement of emotional states by rāga performances, and he wanted a demonstration.
After a specially prepared vegetarian dinner, Thakur began with hindolam, which depicts valor. “When I was soaring in the high notes of the rāga,” he later recalled, “Mussolini suddenly said ‘Stop!’ I opened my eyes and found that he was sweating heavily. His face was pink and his eyes looked like burning coals. A few minutes later his visage gained normalcy and he said ‘A good experiment.’”
After Thakur brought him to tears with rāga chayanat, which is meant to depict pathos, Mussolini said, after taking some time to recover, “Very valuable and enlightening demonstration about the power of Indian music.”
Il Duce then returned the favor: Producing his violin, he treated Thakur to works by Paganini and Mozart. Again, both agreed on the music’s power to evoke emotion.
“I could not sleep at all the entire night,” the vocalist recalled, “wondering whether the meeting had really taken place; I thought it was a part of a dream.” The next day, two letters from Mussolini arrived—one thanking him and one appointing him as director of a newly formed university department to study the effect of music on the mind (an appointment that he was unable to accept).
This according to “Omkarnath Thakur & Benito Mussolini” by B.K.V. Sastry (Sruti 163 [April 1998] pp. 19–21; RILM Abstracts 1999-26342).
Although the exact date of this meeting is not recorded, we know that it took place in May 1933—80 years ago this month! Below, Thakur performs rāga bhairavi.
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With the development of Egret, RILM expanded its role to become a comprehensive service provider in music research and publishing. Egret serves as RILM’s advanced platform for hosting, editing, and distributing full-text music reference works, offering a range of innovative tools designed to improve accessibility and usability for researchers worldwide. Among its key features is a bilingual English and German interface, along with integrated Google Translate functionality that enables instant translation into more than 100 languages. The platform also includes visual search capabilities, such as the MGG Online Timeline, helping users explore content in an intuitive and interactive way.
Egret also enhances the research experience through traceable browsing history, allowing users to quickly revisit previously viewed material, as well as sortable works lists, bibliographies, discographies, and related reference data. Users can seamlessly switch between original and updated content, ensuring transparency and scholarly accuracy. Additionally, the platform offers extensive cross-referencing tools that connect related material across Egret products, including RILM Music Encyclopedias, DEUMM Online, and the RILM Archive of Popular Music Magazines, and provides direct links to relevant resources in RILM Abstracts of Music Literature and other databases. Designed for modern accessibility, Egret is fully compatible with mobile and tablet devices and supports sophisticated XML-based data editing and tagging, making it a powerful and flexible environment for digital music scholarship.
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Afrobeat, hip hop, and Nigerian activism
Nigerian music genres, particularly Afrobeat, have historically sparked social consciousness, with Fela Anikulapo Kuti as a prominent figure. His energetic performances aimed to confront oppressive regimes in Nigeria and beyond, addressing neocolonial influences from Western powers. Despite facing assaults and imprisonment, Fela remained dedicated to his enduring belief that an artist’s role extends beyond entertainment; it includes provoking public thought and raising awareness about social issues. His commitment to these ideals has left a lasting impact on the cultural and political landscape of Nigeria.
Fela remained a steadfast opponent of Nigerian military rulers until his death in 1997. While some musicians have attempted to carry the torch of his activist legacy, few have been able to mobilize a significant following or resonate with the public as he did. Other genres, like Nigerian hip hop, have often faced criticism for promoting misogyny, materialism, and hedonism. In contrast, Fela’s counterculture has evolved into a broader global movement, gaining traction alongside the rising international popularity of Nigerian hip hop, now widely recognized as “Afrobeats.”
One musician who has taken up this challenge is Falz, whose real name is Folarin Falana, is a dynamic Nigerian artist who combines humor with bold social commentary in his music. Like Fela, he uses his art to spotlight societal issues and foster awareness aimed at inspiring positive change. The son of renowned human rights lawyer Femi Falana and his wife, Funmi Falana, a lawyer and advocate in her own right, Falz initially trained as a lawyer before pursuing music, reminiscent of Fela’s own journey. Gaining fame through humorous social media skits that critique everyday Nigerian life, Falz’s music has evolved to address pressing social problems, urging ordinary Nigerians to recognize their role in perpetuating state repression and to advocate for change.
Falz initially garnered attention as a humorist on social media, creating skits that satirize everyday Nigerian life. As his music career progressed, his performances became more impactful, drawing inspiration from Fela both musically and politically. In his songs, Falz tackles pressing social issues in Nigeria and encourages listeners to actively resist and advocate for change. Notably, Falz emphasizes the collective responsibility of ordinary Nigerians, highlighting how the broader populace contributes to the state repression faced by citizens.
This according to “Re-imagining Afrobeat(s): Juxtaposing Fela and Falz’s social commentary and lyrical activism”, by Paul Ayodele Onanuga (African identities 23/3 [2025] 584–603; RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2025-1229).
Below are two Falz music videos.
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Filed under Africa, Performers, Politics, Popular music
Tagged as Africa, Afrobeat, Hip hop, Hip hop music, Humor, Nigeria, Politics, Rap music, social commentary