Although Selena Quintanilla Pérez, better known as Selena, followed in the footsteps of pioneering Tejana (Texas-Mexican) women solo singers such as Lydia Mendoza, Chelo Silva, Laura Canales, and Patsy Torres—as well as influential duos like Carmen y Laura, Las Hermanas Cantú, and Las Hermanas Gongora—she made the most significant impact in transforming both the sound of Tejano music and popular culture. Selena began singing at the age of 6, after her father, Abraham, recognized her remarkable vocal talent. Although she loved singing, performing did not come naturally to Selena. As she recalled in an interview, “I started singing when I was six and a half and we’d perform for relatives. My father would do this show-off-the-kids type of thing. I was very shy, and I hated it. I used to cry and throw my little tantrums. I didn’t want to sing in front of anybody because I was too shy.”
Selena tribute mural in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico.
A former member of the doo-wop band Los Dinos, Abraham served as the family’s primary musical influence and quickly involved Selena’s older siblings in her musical journey. Her brother, A.B., became the lead guitarist and producer of much of her music, while her sister, Suzette, stood out as the only prominent female drummer in contemporary Tejano music. Originally, the group performed under the name Southern Pearl and was deeply influenced by country music. Selena’s early performances took place in the family’s restaurant, Papagallo’s, where she regularly sang for customers, and one of her first live performances on television was on the local program The Johnny Canales show in Corpus Christi, Texas.
A Selena fan’s jacket.
Although Selena’s performances at local venues launched her career as a vocalist, she faced significant challenges finding audiences in larger venues. As she explained in an interview, “When we started performing . . . we struggled because when you’re a new group, no one’s going go pay money to see you, especially if you’re not with a large recording company, if you don’t have distribution, or publicity, or any promotion. You’re just there. It’s very difficult. Another problem was that I was so young and a girl. And, with a lot of promoters–and it still exists, although not as much as before–there’s the issue of machismo. They would tell my father straight to his face, ‘Not only is she too young, but there’s no way she could draw like a male artist.’ And, with that my father, the more the people shut doors on him, the more determined he becomes to prove them wrong.” By 1994, estimates of Selena’s net worth exceeded $5 million, yet she continued to live in the working class Molina neighborhood of Corpus Christi, next door to her parents.
A 1994 performance in San Antonio, Texas. Photo credit: Yvette Chavez.
Posing with her younger fans.
One of Selena’s greatest accomplishments was the remarkable success she achieved within the Tejano music genre. Not only did she open the door for a new generation of young women to enter the field, but she also expanded the reach of Tejano music to audiences it had never previously reached. While established Tejano groups like La Mafia and Mazz had built followings in northern Mexico and Mexico City, Selena y Los Dinos brought this distinct cultural sound to Puerto Rico, Central America, and across Mexico. At the time of her death, the group had scheduled tours in Chile, Brazil, and Venezuela. Unlike any Tejano artist before her, Selena both transformed the genre and brought its regional identity to a wider international stage.
Selena’s remarkable creative talents also extended into the realms of fashion and design. From a young age, she devoted herself to clothing design, often creating and sewing many of the outfits she wore during her concerts. Early sketches and drawings reveal her ambition to launch her own fashion line, which she initially named Moonchild–a reference to the Greek origin of her name. In 1992, Selena realized that dream by launching her own clothing line and opening the first Selena Etc. Boutique-Salon in Corpus Christi, Texas. She later expanded with a second boutique in San Antonio.
Asian Americans hold distinct positions across various professions, experiencing both significant underrepresentation in some fields and notable overrepresentation in others. The Asian population in the United States has grown substantially–an 88% increase over the last two decades. Despite this growth, disparities persist, with Asian Americans remaining underrepresented in numerous sectors. For instance, they comprise only 2% of teachers in the public school system. Some argue that Asian Americans have overcome racial discrimination by embodying the so-called “model minority” stereotype, often associated with higher levels of affluence and educational attainment compared to other minority groups, such as Black and Hispanic communities.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, a troubling trend emerged, with one in six hate crimes against Asian Americans involving physical violence and another one in six incidents reflecting social exclusion or avoidance. Additionally, more than one in nine cases suggested potential civil rights violations, such as workplace discrimination. Despite these challenges, the role of Asian American educators in advancing social justice remains largely understudied. While multicultural music education has occasionally incorporated their perspectives, comprehensive research on their experiences as minorities is limited. Applying the lens of Asian critical theory (AsianCrit) uncovers some of the distinct obstacles faced by Asian American music teachers and evaluates their impact on educational practices and policies.
In this context, educators of color navigate a dual challenge: resisting stereotypes tied to their heritage while preserving their cultural identities in educational environments that often push conformity to dominant white cultural norms. Building on critical race theory (CRT), S.D. Museus and J.S. Iftikar (2014) developed AsianCrit, a framework that merges CRT with insights from Asian American studies to address the complexities of Asian American experiences. AsianCrit has revealed the model minority myth as a tool of racial subjugation and illustrated how Asian Americans are strategically positioned in political debates, such as those surrounding affirmative action. The AsianCrit framework is deliberately pan-ethnic, recognizing that, despite their diverse backgrounds, Asian Americans experience racialization as a collective group. This shared racialization manifests through common challenges faced across Asian communities in the U.S., including racial isolation in educational settings, hostility, assimilation pressures, and racial silencing. By prioritizing race over ethnicity, AsianCrit facilitates a deeper exploration of how white supremacy and systemic racism shape broader racial dynamics, providing a critical lens for analyzing Asian American experiences.
Through the AsianCrit lens, racial dynamics reveal that many Asian American music educators struggle with identity and belonging in a system that often renders them invisible. The deeply ingrained perception of Asian Americans as perpetual outsiders challenges their legitimacy as Americans. Establishing affinity networks is not merely beneficial but essential for the empowerment of Asian American communities in educational spaces. These networks serve as more than safe havens–they act as catalysts for resistance and change, fostering solidarity and transforming dialogue into actionable progress and transformative action. Moreover, such networks should be integrated into educational leadership at multiple levels to promote culturally responsive teaching and dismantle monolithic narratives within curricula.
This according to “In/visible voices: Investigating Asian American music teachers’ experiences through the lens of AsianCrit” by Katy Ieong Cheng Ho Weatherly (Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education [spring 2024] 25–46; RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2024-8288).
The rise of the riot grrrl movement can be traced to musicians and zine creators Tobi Vail, Allison Wolfe, Molly Neuman, and Kathleen Hanna–founders of the bands Bratmobile and Bikini Kill, respectively. From its inception, riot grrrl was ideologically rooted in the concept of a girl-led collective and actively resisted the elevation of individual figureheads. Instead, its founders encouraged young women to create their own music, art, writing, and forms of protest. This DIY ethos empowered those who had never played an instrument or written creatively to pick up guitars or pens and express themselves. Women punk enthusiasts crafted fanzines that quickly evolved into interactive platforms for radical political dialogue and genre-defying creative expression by self-identified riot grrrls, fostering a vibrant culture of subversion and solidarity.
Through their music and textual productions, riot grrrls launched a pointed critique of capitalism and consumer culture while foregrounding feminist issues such as rape, assault, and the physical and psychological abuse of women. Riot grrrl zines frequently featured confessional autofiction, satirical graphic art, exchanges between creators and readers, and discussions of gender and emerging queer theory. This loosely connected, nomadic community, typically composed of individuals between the ages of 13 and 25, often experienced marginalization and alienation from the mainstream cultures in which they lived. Zines played a critical mediating role, facilitating consciousness-raising encounters between writers and readers that transcended regional and national boundaries. These exchanges fostered a sense of intimate solidarity–or, in riot grrrl terms, “girl love”–among participants. The movement’s emphasis on revealing lived, personal experience as a marker of authenticity echoes strands of second-wave feminism, particularly those that championed realistic and autobiographical writing as key tools for feminist consciousness-raising.
As Bikini Kill’s Kathleen Hanna explains,
“In writing [zines], I have had to think a lot about how to share information without acting all bossy or being condescending. … Just cuz I’m an addict/alcoholic (what-fuckin-evah) doesn’t mean I think I can speak for everyone in terms of addiction. It seems to me that each addict functions within his/her own context in terms of race, gender, location, class, personality, access, etc. . . . So it would be ridiculous for me to try and write a ‘manifesto’ or a ‘universal account’ of how addiction works.”
Here, Hanna anticipates and pre-empts external critique that she speaks from a privileged, universalist position as a white woman. Crucially, however, this acknowledgement follows her revelation of personal experience—and indeed, her claimed expertise—regarding addiction. The culture of privilege-checking cultivated in riot grrrl zines, while rooted in a desire for accountability and inclusivity, gives rise to what Mimi Thi Nguyen (2012) describes as a “troubling politics”. In this framework, traumatic experience—when reframed as the product of systemic oppression—serves to bolster claims of authentic marginality, effectively translating lived experience into a form of expertise. This dynamic complicates the relationship between personal narrative, political authority, and identity within the riot grrrl movement.
This according to “Killing ourselves is not subversive: Riot grrrl from zine to screen and the commodification of female transgression” by Emily Spiers (Women: A cultural review 26/1-2 [2015] 1–21; RILM Abstracts with Full Text, 2015-83472).
In the video below, zine publishers and artists describe riot grrrl (and zines in particular) as their entry point to different forms of activism and expression in the 1990s–the video was part of the Alien she exhibition at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.
The RILM Archive of Popular Music Magazines (RAPMM) is a continuously expanding digital collection that currently includes over 125 independently published popular music magazines and fanzines from the late 1960s to the present. This internationally scoped archive covers a diverse range of popular music genres, from punk and rock to indie, hip hop, and country, serving as a multilingual and interdisciplinary resource for music research. By preserving rare and historically significant publications, RAPMM safeguards essential elements of cultural heritage.
In line with RILM’s global mission the content of RAPMM spans multiple languages and countries–currently from Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The zines in RAPMM cover a wide range of popular music genres, including punk, rock, indie music, post-punk, grunge, hip hop, women’s music, world music, psychedelia, noise, alternative music, jazz, and country music. There are articles on the history of musical movements and their relation to politics, society and social movements, underground and subcultures, stylistic shifts, and feminism; interviews with widely recognized and unknown artists at different stages of their careers; band profiles; and album reviews and history of record labels.
Watch the RAPMM trailer above.
Accessible through RILM’s Egret platform, RAPMM offers advanced browsing, searching, and translation features across desktop, mobile, and tablet devices. Additionally, the platform provides a networked research experience, linking directly to other scholarly resources such as RILM Abstracts of Music Literature and external services like the Virtual International Authority File (VIAF). RAPMM underscores RILM’s broader mission as an NGO accredited to provide advisory service to UNESCO’s Committee of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Speaking on the project’s significance, RILM Executive Director, Dr. Tina Frühauf, states:
“In alignment with UNESCO’s initiatives to protect cultural diversity, RAPMM represents a vital node in an international effort to safeguard and preserve information about the sonic history of our times. It fosters community-centered archiving practices that foreground the lived experiences and material traces of popular music magazines. By bridging the analog and the digital, the local and the global, RAPMM not only preserves endangered media artifacts but also reimagines archives as dynamic spaces of cultural memory, equity, and engagement.”
The launch event, hosted by The Barry S. Brook Center for Music Research and Documentation and RILM, is cosponsored by the American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning. In addition to unveiling RAPMM, the event will also celebrate the release of two groundbreaking publications: Inside the Studio Spaces of Electronic Music Production: Berlin/Cairo by Dr. Matthias Pasdzierny and Gero Cacciatore, and Gear: Cultures of Audio and Music Technologies by Dr. Eliot Bates and Dr. Samantha Bennett.
Held in the William P. Kelly Skylight Room on the 9th floor of the CUNY Graduate Center, the event will feature discussions with key contributors, moderated by Finn Cohen (The Sun). A reception will follow.
Admission is free. Please RSVP to cmrd@gc.cuny.edu. The event will be live-streamed by the CUNY Graduate Center–RSVP to receive the link.
Contact: Michael Lupo (he/him/his), Marketing & Media RILM International Center 365 Fifth Avenue, Suite 3108 • New York, NY 10016-4309 Michael Lupo • Phone 1 212 817 8601 • www.rilm.org
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The global expansion of musicology beyond Europe and North America in the latter half of the 20th century was shaped by several key factors. Alongside the structure of each country’s higher education system, its connection to the so-called West and engagement in Western-oriented modernization played a significant role. The presence of European music within a nation’s cultural landscape, as well as the distinct character and status of its own musical heritage, has further influenced developments. In this context, countries with direct historical ties to European musical and academic traditions–either through colonization or European immigration–generally aligned their approach with the European model of musicology. Conversely, former colonies without large European-descended populations primarily focused on studying their indigenous musical traditions, incorporating European influences only sparingly. This pattern was particularly evident in India and various Muslim-majority countries. In these regions, musicology evolved in response to national independence, secularization, and modernization efforts.
Countries that underwent partial Western colonization but embraced cultural Westernization centered their studies on Western music while also applying musicological methods to analyze their own music traditions. The selection of musical subjects in each region reflects the enduring influence of colonial history. In Western Europe and North America, ethnomusicology continues to engage with musical traditions from across the globe. However, in other regions, research tends to prioritize indigenous musical traditions, with Western music playing a role only when it is explicitly recognized as culturally significant.
In Latin America, the institutional development of musicology has followed diverse paths, with varying degrees of formalization. In its early stages, research primarily focused on indigenous musical traditions, aligning closely with ethnomusicology. It was not until the 1950s that academic musicology began to take root in universities, emerging sporadically as music history and ethnomusicology–first at the Universidad de Chile in 1952 and later at the Universidad Católica Argentina in 1959. This growth accelerated from the 1990s onward. Despite this progress, most universities typically offer only one level of an academic musicology program–either a licentiate (at conservatories) or a master’s degree (at universities). In many cases, musicological studies are embedded within interdisciplinary programs rather than established as standalone departments. Full doctoral programs in musicology remain rare, available at only a handful of institutions, such as Argentina’s Universidad Católica and Mexico’s Universidad Nacional Autónoma and Universidad de Guanajuato.
Studying Indian classical music at Banaras Hindu University.
In India, university arts faculties with dedicated music departments provide opportunities to study both North (Hindustani) and South (Karnatak) Indian music. While theoretical, aesthetic, and academic perspectives complement practical training, they are seldom structured as standalone degree programs, despite India’s rich tradition of music and arts scholarship spanning over two millennia. One notable institution is Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi, which established its musicology institute in 1966. This institute offers a doctoral program in musicology and has produced some of India’s most distinguished musicologists. Beyond universities, several other institutions contribute to music research, including the Sangeet Natak Akademi in New Delhi, founded in 1953, and the independent ITC Sangeet Research Academy in Kolkata. The Sangeet Natak Akademi plays a crucial role not only in promoting musical practice but also in documenting, studying, and funding research on Indian music.
The institutionalization of musicology in the Arab world, Turkey, and Iran remains relatively limited, with formal degree programs appearing only sporadically–primarily within Christian universities. One notable initiative is the Académie Arabe pour la Musique, founded in Amman in 1971 under the auspices of the Arab League. This institution organizes conferences, awards prizes, and actively promotes musical practice. Other music research institutes in the region tend to focus on national and regional musical traditions, serving primarily as centers for collection, documentation, and study.
This according to this month’s free article titled Musicology by Melanie Wald-Fuhrmann in MGG Online.
The image at the beginning of the piece is of students visiting the Gallery of Musical Instruments at Sangeet Natak Akademi in New Delhi, India.
In contemporary Africa, new electronic music can generally be classified into two distinct categories. The first involves artists who adapt mainstream genres like house, techno, or electronica, giving them a local twist. These artists incorporate samples of traditional music into the structural framework of these genres, creating a fusion that resonates with specific social groups and aids in creating cultural identity. This approach often includes elements such as traditional or Afrofuturist stage costumes, further reinforcing the connection to local heritage. The second category stems from technical limitations. These artists, often working without access to live musicians, turn to digital tools to create traditional-sounding music that aligns with the structures of electronic genres. Their goal is not to target global club scenes, but rather to address the need for musical accompaniment in traditional performances. Many of these genres emerged at weddings, where they blended respect for cultural traditions with a desire for innovation, reflecting the celebration of the couple, their families, and the community.
In northern Uganda, the fusion of Acholi music with electronic elements has led to the emergence of a new genre called Acholitronix. The term is a blend of “Acholi” and “electronic,” and it has gained significant traction in global alternative electronic music circles, largely due to two influential albums released by the Kampala-based Nyege Nyege Tapes label: Otim Alpha’sGulu city anthems (2017) and the compilation album Electro Acholi’s kaboom (2019). Another key figure in the Acholitronix movement is Akena P’Layeng Okella, better known as Leo Palayeng (pictured above). Palayeng began playing the inanga harp at the age of six, shortly after his father was killed during the war between the Ugandan government and various armed factions in northern Uganda. His early experiences as a musician shed light on how musical traditions transform in societies affected by trauma and sociopolitical upheavals, both during the colonial era and more recently through the civil war.
As an Acholi musician, Palayeng’s life has mirrored the changing dynamics of his community, as he has been an active participant in its cultural evolution. In the late 1990s, Palayeng joined a theater group where he performed dance routines set to rumba and rap music. During this time, he began recording his first rap songs and became a radio announcer. He also explored music production using early sound software like Fruity Loops 3.45, eventually producing his first Acholi electronic tracks.
Since beginning his career as a producer in the early 2000s, Palayeng has embraced a musician-researcher approach to his work. He actively records and archives the musical traditions of various Acholi instruments, often incorporating them into his own compositions. To document and preserve Acholi musical heritage, Palayeng travels to the outskirts of Ugandan cities to capture the sounds of traditional music and instruments. This archival effort holds deep significance for Palayeng–not only does it instill a sense of pride in his own Luo cultural heritage, but it also serves as a wellspring of inspiration for his future work. His creative process typically begins with acoustic samples, which he then layers with an electronic aesthetic. This aesthetic is defined by the integration of MIDI instruments and additional samples alongside the traditional recordings. One of the defining features of Acholitronix is the use of call-and-response, a central element of Acholi music. Another notable aspect of this genre is the shift in tempo—where traditional rhythms are often sped up, with tracks rarely dipping below 160 beats per minute, marking the transition from acoustic to electronic with a noticeable acceleration.
Cover art for an album by Emiliano Motta and Leo Palayeng.
Cover art for Otim Alpha’s Gulu city anthems album (2017).
Reflecting on this creative adaptation, Palayeng explains, “I decided to blend traditional Acholi rhythms with electronic patterns. The process of creating the first larakaraka loops wasn’t easy—it took a lot of time. I started by recording traditional drums and calabash sounds to create samples for Fruity Loops add-ons, which I then installed onto my computer. I was able to capture the true essence of Acholi sounds with a focus on quality. One night, after a long session in the disco hall, the club closed, and I found myself deep in thought. I decided to create a simple project using a Fruity Loops sequence. I cranked the BPM up to 158, then dropped the calabash samples into the MIDI sequence, making them feel like they were being played live on stage. Boom! That was it. The loops for wedding celebrations and other electronic Acholi tribal patterns I used to play on the inanga came rushing back to me.”
This according to “Leo Palayeng: Bridging the gap from traditional to electronic Acholi music” by Rémy Jadinon (African music: Journal of the International Library of African Music 11/4 [2022] 90–106; RILM Abstracts with Full Text, 2022-22008).
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Following the fall of Sài Gòn (now Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh) on 30 April 1975, the experiences and contributions of South Vietnamese war veterans were largely erased from public memory. In recent years, efforts to address this erasure have included the rediscovery of pre-1975 Vietnamese music, particularly Nhạc vàng (“yellow music”), which refers to popular songs of South Vietnam, many of which were composed before 1975. Capturing the realities of war and the lives of Vietnamese soldiers (người lính), Nhạc vàng offers a valuable historical perspective, shedding light on the struggles and hardships faced by South Vietnamese soldiers. Deeply embedded in the Vietnamese diaspora, its enduring melodies provide a crucial link to their ongoing struggles and memories within today’s geopolitical landscape. Over time, Vietnamese music—ranging from contemporary popular songs to poignant war ballads—has evolved into a powerful tool for preserving the voices of those silenced by history. For many South Vietnamese veterans, music became an emotional refuge, helping them navigate fading nostalgia and the painful memories of the Vietnam War.
Pre-1975 Nhạc vàng album cover art. Courtesy of Saigoneer.com
For many U.S. soldiers, popular music played a crucial role in shaping their experiences of the war. A Kentucky rifleman who spent his tour trekking through the central highlands of Vietnam recalled Nancy Sinatra‘s These boots are made for walkin’ as a defining song. A tunnel rat, who used to blow smoke into Viet Cong tunnels, remembers Jimi Hendrix’s Purple haze. For an African American marine reeling from the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., it was Aretha Franklin’s Chain of fools. And for countless others, songs like Country Joe and the Fish’s I feel like I’m fixin’ to die, Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Who’ll stop the rain, and The Animals’ We gotta get out of this place became anthems of their war experience. Popular music was central to the American experience in Vietnam, bridging the gap between troops and the home front, while providing a soundtrack to the emotional complexity of the war they were thrust into. Music was an often overlooked yet crucial part of the conflict, influencing the experiences and memories of every group of Vietnam veterans.
Music also played a crucial role in shaping public perception of the Vietnam War in the United States, as songs reflected both support and opposition to the conflict. Unlike the professionally produced music of World War II, Vietnam-era songs were embraced by the public and became central to cultural gatherings such as folk festivals, college dorm sing-alongs, and peace rallies. The war exposed deep societal divisions, with music serving as an emotional outlet for discontent, anger, and the desire for peace–contrasting sharply with the patriotic themes of previous conflicts. Both anti-war and pro-war movements used music to express their sentiments, with supporters of the war favoring country music while opponents turned to folk and rock to amplify their voices. The powerful emotions embedded in these songs made the Vietnam War distinct in its musical and cultural impact.
Furthermore, activist musicians like Phil Ochs (pictured above) provided a more nuanced and critical perspective on the war than what was typically found in mainstream media. His songs often addressed controversial aspects of the Vietnam War that were otherwise overlooked or suppressed. Ochs’ music was raw and uncompromising, standing out among his contemporaries. Despite being a key figure in the 1960s anti-war movement and a prolific writer of topical songs, Ochs remained less commercially recognized than other folk icons like Bob Dylan or Joan Baez. His most productive years coincided with the peak of U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia, a time when his popular music served as a powerful critique of the war.
This according to “Échos rescapés: Redocumenter la musique vietnamienne d’avant 1975–Pistes sonores historiques et mémorielles [Rescued echoes: Redocumenting Vietnamese music from before 1975–Historical and memorial soundtracks]” by Kathy Nguyen, Lieux de mémoire sonore: Des sons pour survivre, des sons pour tuer, ed. by Luis Velasco-Pufleau and Laëtitia Atlani-Duault (Paris: Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, 2021, 137–172; RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2021-107659), and We gotta get out of this place: The soundtrack of the Vietnam War by Doug Bradley (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2015; RILM Abstracts of Music Literature 2015-18652).
The 50th anniversary of the fall of Sài Gòn, marking the end of the Vietnam War, was celebrated on 30 April 2025.
The track below exemplifies the sound of pre-1975 Nhạc vàng.
Below is a link to Phil Ochs performing on Canadian television on 27 September 1965.
The library of the Institut du Monde Arabe (Arab World Institute) in Paris is home to an extensive collection of writings on music from the Arab world, a region stretching from the Atlas Mountains to the Indian Ocean. This series of blog posts highlights selections from this collection, along with abstracts written by RILM staff members contained inRILM Abstracts of Music Literature, the comprehensive bibliography of writings about music and music-related subjects. In 2026, the Institut du Monde Arabe will host an exhibition on wedding cultures in the Arab world, and the institute’s library will hold an on-site exhibition of its book collection covering this topic.
In the Arab world, weddings unfold through a series of ceremonies where daily preparations and references to the sacred intertwine to initiate and bless the union of two families. From the first promises of the engagement ceremony to the morning after the wedding night, each step is guided by social norms and enveloped in society’s ideals of generosity, community, and gender roles. Whether it takes place in a single day or over the traditional seven days, each step of the wedding is intentionally marked by specific melodies, rhythms, and sounds. Prior to the actual wedding ceremony, during the night of ḥinnaẗ,natural dye is applied to the bride’s hands and feet as women praise the her beauty and recount love’s woes in song. Then, joyous zaġārīd (trills) through the air to declare the news to all, near and far, as the cantillation of the Qur’an or other sacred prayers proclaims the couple’s union in front of God. As upbeat drums of the zaffaẗ announce and accompanythe procession of the newlyweds, a subtler percussion chimes from the ẖilẖāl, the bride’s anklet, gifted from the groom to the bride to honor her femininity. These sounds intertwine with the most refined cultural expressions–skillfully crafted jewelry, intricately embroidered adornments, fragrances, and the finest cuisine, all blended together in celebration.
Even as the rush of modern life permeates every aspect of society in the Arab world, weddings continue to preserve many of the age-old customs. The related ceremonies create a momentary pause in the relentless flow of life to mark new social bonds and a transformation from singularity to family. The writings and research related to this lifecycle event covered in the annotated bibliography below explore the enduring customs across various regions of the Arab world: from the Tuareg tribes of the Sahara Desert and the Nubian tribes of the Nile Valley to urban dwellers in Cairo and Mosul. They document lyrics, transcribe melodies, describe instruments, and detail the roles of men and women in musical performances–all in an ongoing effort to understand and preserve this rich heritage of wedding customs and music.
Annotated bibliography
ʿAlī, Muḥammad Šiḥātaẗ. أغاني النساء في صعيد مصر: الأعراس، البكائيات، التحنين [Women’s songs in Upper Egypt: Wedding, lament, and pilgrimage songs] (al-Qāhiraẗ: al-Hayʾaẗ al-Miṣriyyaẗ al-ʿĀmmaẗ li-l-Kitāb, 2015). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2015-92222; IMA catalogue reference].
Transcribing orally transmitted songs in Upper Egypt is crucial, especially as many of them are at risk of being forgotten due to the passing of older women who have memorized them. Song texts were collected as the result of ethnographic research in villages in the al-Badārī province of the Asyut governorate. The three main categories of the transcribed repertoire are songs related to rites of passage, such as weddings and their associated ceremonies, funeral and lament songs known as bukāʾiyyāt, and songs known as taḥnīn, performed in preparation for the pilgrimage. An appendix with photos capturing women’s activities in various aspects of life, including domestic chores, agricultural work, food preparation, and market activities is included.
ʿArnīṭaẗ, Yusrá Ǧawhariyyaẗ. الفنون الشعبية في فلسطين [Popular arts in Palestine] (Rāmallāh: Dār al-Šurūq li-l-Našr wa-al-Tawzīʿ, 2013). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2013-54151; IMA catalogue reference]
The tangible and intangible forms of folklore–encompassing popular musical expressions, embroidery customs, and ceremonial practices associated with marriage and celebrations–serve as testimony to the enduring heritage and cultural continuity of the Palestinian people. The present effort to document select aspects of Palestinian folklore servesseveral purposes: first, to safeguard these manifestations of popular culture and ensure their continuity; second, to forge a robust connection between the present and history; third, to uncover the creative dimensions inherent in Palestinian folklore; and ultimately, to inspire fellow researchers in music and the arts to undertake similar endeavors in documenting Palestinian folklore. Folk songs should be approached with the same urgency to study and preserve such as other Palestinian traditions. Popular songs’ characteristics are detailed, including the characteristics of colloquial dialects, the melodic content, maqam structure, ornaments, and more. Transcriptions of the melodies of 66 songs, along with their transcribed lyrics, are included and are chosen as hailing from different cities. The songs are grouped by topic or occasion, as follows: children’s songs and lullabies, songs of religious holidays and celebrations; love and wedding songs; songs of war and encouragement; work songs; drinking, satirical, and political songs; dance songs; funeral chants and laments; songs of stories and tales. Popular song is a reflection of the Palestinian peoples’ ways of life and social customs and is a spontaneous expression of collective feelings and aspirations.
al-ʿĀṣimī, Ğamīlaẗ. أغاني نساء مراكش: اللعابات، الطقيطقات، الهواري، التهضيرة [Women’s songs in Marrākuš: The laʿābāt, the ṭaqīṭaqāt, the hawārī, and the tahḍīraẗ] (Marrākuš: Muʾassassaẗ Āfāq li-l-Dirāsāt wa-al-Našr wa-al-Ittiṣāl, 2012). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2012-50441; IMA catalogue reference].
Women’s songs in Marrākuš are transmitted orally from one woman to another, they are unauthored and composed collectively. Based on fieldwork with professional women performers, song forms and texts are transcribed alongside documentation on the accompanying percussion instruments and the names of the women’s groups performing each piece. Twenty-four song texts from the laʿābāt, a women’s ensemble that performs during weddings and related ceremonies, are included. Additionally, 20 song texts of the ṭaqīṭaqāt, a song form that is also performed by the laʿābāt groups on festive occasions and features articulate lyrics and steady rhythms, are transcribed. Twenty-nine song texts from two types of the hawārī song form are included, and 11 song texts of the tahḍīraẗ form, performed by groups of women during weddings, promenades, or private gatherings, are presented. An appendix contains 12 transcriptions of short excerpts from songs and the notation for each percussion section of the two hawārī song forms.
al-Asyūṭī, Darwīš.أفراح الصعيد الشعبية: من طقوس ونصوص احتفاليات الزواج والحمل والولادة والختان [The weddings of Upper Egypt: Rituals, texts, and ceremonies of marriage, pregnancy, and circumcision] (al-Qāhiraẗ: al-Hayʾaẗ al-Miṣriyyaẗ al-ʿĀmmaẗ li-l-Kitāb, 2012). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2012-52032; IMA catalogue reference].
Describes the rituals and customs associated with engagement and marriage preparation in Asyut, Upper Egypt. It covers various traditions, including the dowry presentation, the shopping process for establishing a new bridal household, the ḥinnaẗ night for the bride, and the ritual shower for the groom, among other related ceremonies. It also includes transcriptions of song lyrics collected from narrators in Asyut, as well as others memorized by the author.
Bayrūk, ʿAzzaẗ. الغناء الحساني بين التنظيم والتلقائية [Hassanian singing between structure and spontaneity] (al-Rabāṭ: Markaz al-Dirāsāt al-Ṣaḥrāwiyyaẗ/Centre des Études Sahariennes, 2015). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2015-92229; IMA catalogue reference].
The singing of the Ḥassānī tribes can be categorized into two branches: structured singing, also known as the hūl, which has been shaped by the influences of Arab, African, and Berber traditions and developed during the Ḥassānī rule in the Western Sahara during the 15th and 16th centuries; and a second branch that is unstructured and spontaneous, encompassing prophetic praise, wedding songs, rain songs, work songs, and lullabies, among others. The analysis includes a selection of song texts and their social contexts.
al-Daywahǧī, Saʿīd. تقاليد الزواج في الموصل [Marriage traditions in Mosul] (al-Mawṣil: Muʾassasaẗ Dār al-Kutub, 1975). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 1975-28979; IMA catalogue reference].
Explores the social customs associated with marriage in Mosul, from the etiquette of selecting a bride or groom to the week-long wedding celebrations and the social norms governing interactions between the families of the bride and groom. Transcriptions of the lyrics of 32 wedding songs are included. Thematically, these songs celebrate the bride and groom, describe their virtues and beauty, express the families’ emotions as they bid farewell to their daughters and sons, and highlight societal expectations of marriage, among other topics.
El Mallah, Issam. The role of women in Omani musical life/Die Rolle der Frau im Musikleben Omans (Tutzing: Hans Schneider, 1997). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 1997-11646; IMA catalogue reference].
The role of women in the transmission and preservation of Omani traditional music is significant, as is their influence. Women take on roles as singers, drummers, dancers, instrumentalists, and leaders in organizing dance and singing groups. The participation of women in musical arts can be grouped into two categories: arts exclusively practiced by women and those practiced alongside men. The ones involving men and women include collective dance, collective drumming, and work songs. The art forms exclusively practiced by women include women’s drumming circles, women’s work songs, Bedouin dances, wedding songs and dances, traditional healing ceremonies, and arts involving young girls. A description of the setting and context of each art form is included.
Ibn Ḥarbān, Ǧāsim Muḥammad. الزواج في المجتمع البحريني عاداته، تقاليده، فنونه [Marriage in Bahraini society: Customs, traditions, and arts] (Bayrūt: al-Muʾassasaẗ al-ʿArabiyyaẗ li-l-Dirāsāt wa-al-Našr, 2000). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2000-84970; IMA catalogue reference].
Weddings in Bahrain involve a wealth of cultural expressions. The process of marriage includes various customs such as dowry arrangements and the elaborate preparation of both the groom and the bride. There are specific dress codes for men and women, along with jewelry, embellishments, and perfumes designated for each. The food prepared for weddings is also central to the ceremony. Women musician ensembles known as the ʿiddaẗ typically perform at these events. The song forms and accompanying dances, including the dizzaẗ and the zaffaẗ, are described, along with the rhythms and percussion instruments used. Related arts and customs are also discussed, such as the practice of naḍir–a ritual where individuals offer physical or symbolic gifts in hopes of fulfilling a wish or prayer; the ʿāšūrī which involves women performing drums and dance ceremonies; the ẖammārī, a women’s dance where participants are covered with a body cloth; and the naǧdī mawwāl, a song form sung by women, among other events. Transcriptions of some song texts and rhythms are included.
Mahfoufi, Mehenna. Chants de femmes en Kabylie: Fêtes et rites au village–Étude d’ethnomusicologie [Women’s songs in Minṭaqaẗ al-Qabāʾil: Celebrations and rites in the village–An ethnomusicological study]. (Paris: Ibis Press, 2005). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2005-16247; IMA catalogue reference].
A study of village song in Minṭaqaẗ al-Qabāʾil, focusing on the songs of women that accompany various festivals and the rhythm of daily life: birth, marriage, the expression of love, lullabies, bouncing (a game that consists of bouncing babies on one’s lap), death, and religious song. The songs are transcribed and translated, and their musical form is described and analyzed. The accompanying CD features wedding songs in tracks 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13.
Mécheri-Saada, Nadia. Musique touarègue de l’Ahaggar (sud algérien) [Tuareg music of the Ahaggar in southern Algeria] (Paris: Awal; Paris: L’Harmattan, 1994). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 1995-9971; IMA catalogue reference].
The Ahaggar in southern Algeria is the homeland of Tuareg culture. Tuareg music is linked to the context of its performance, notably village festivals. Principal Tuareg instruments include the imzad (one-string fiddle), the tazamar (end-blown flute), and drums. Five musical genres are differentiated, including women’s marriage songs (āléwen) and the chanted poetry accompanied by drums, the tindé. The music’s texts, their themes, their social significance, and their poetics are analyzed.
Kamāl, Ṣafwat. “أفراح النوبة” [The weddings of the Nubia], al-Funūn al-šaʿbiyyaẗ 100 (yanāyir-dīsambir, 2015) 51–75. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2015-92886;IMA catalog reference].
In Nubia, marriage involves customs and rituals ranging from the engagement period to the ḥinnaẗ night in preparation for the wedding, the offering of a dowry, a feast on the wedding day, and the exchange of gifts, among others. The celebrations typically last for seven days. Transcriptions of selected songs that accompany these rituals were collected before the displacement of the Nubian peoples following the building of the Aswan Dam in the 1960s and thus highlight traditional Nubian social values and religious beliefs.
Puig, Nicolas. Farah: Musiciens de noces et scènes urbaines au Caire (Arles: Actes Sud, 2010). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2010-54197; IMA catalogue reference].
Faraḥ, which literally means joy or happiness, refers to the wedding ceremonies and street festivities in Egypt. Vibrant wedding nights, featuring musical ensembles, dancers, and many forms of socialization reflect social class and status. Musicians’ and singers’ negotiation of social norms and perceptions is approached as social performance. A proper understanding of marriage festivities in urban spaces is situated within the evolving attitudes towards public urban areas in Cairo, and in relation to other local festivities such as festivals and the celebration of saints’ mawlid. Since the mid-19th century, the modernizing reforms of public urban spaces have significantly influenced the venues for public music-making in Cairo, leading to changes in musical forms, the introduction of new instruments, and the adoption of new technologies. These changes have, in turn, affected the form and delivery of music during street weddings. A closer examination of the lives and work of four wedding musicians illustrates the numerous economic and social factors that shape their careers, their aspirations, and the challenges they encounter as wedding musicians in Cairo.
Written and compiled by Farah Zahra, Associate Editor, RILM
When the congregation of the Catholic Heilig-Geist-Kirche in the historic Hanseatic town of Lemgo, North Rhine-Westphalia, embarked on a renovation project from 2021 to 2023, they sought to replace their aging electronic organ with a proper pipe organ but were constrained by budget limitations. An opportunity arose to acquire a nearly century-old Wurlitzer Style D theater organ, built by the Wurlitzer factory in North Tonawanda, New York (near Niagara Falls), in 1924. The organ was first acquired in the late 1940s by Dr. Howard C. Stocker for his personal use in Los Angeles. By 1955, Stocker had moved the organ to San Bernardino (just east of Los Angeles), installing it in a custom-built home specially adapted to accommodate the instrument’s size and requirements. The house soon became a popular venue for concerts. In 1987, tragedy struck when a fire destroyed the entire house–but remarkably, the organ survived. Despite the unfortunate event, Stocker was quite relieved because he believed a house could be rebuilt, but the Style D organ was irreplaceable.
After Stocker’s death in 1993, the organ was temporarily stored in Kansas before being transported to Celle, Lower Saxony, Germany. There, cinema organ enthusiast Friedhelm Fleiter–who had long sought a Wurlitzer Style D–discovered it. For many years, Fleiter preserved and maintained the instrument as a personal passion project. To ensure its functionality, several components were carefully restored and modified for use in the church; however, preserving the original organ’s design and architectural integrity remained the top priority.
When the organ was relocated to the church, preserving the original Wurlitzer Style D façade proved impossible. Instead, a new organ case was designed to complement the church’s architectural style. The organ’s structure consists of two vertically stacked, roughly cube-shaped sections, along with a freestanding console. The upper section houses the pipework and features swell doors on two sides, which remain closed when the organ is not in use to ensure the enclosed pipes stay in tune. Although the new organ cannot fully replicate the musical fidelity of the original, it serves its purpose well in worship settings, particularly for accompanying congregational singing.
This according to “100 Jahre und kein bisschen leise: Eine Wurlitzer-Orgel (1924) für Lemgo” [100 years old and not a bit quiet: A Wurlitzer organ (1924) for Lemgo] by Ralf-Thomas Lindner (Organ: Journal für die Orgel 27/4 [2024] 26–30; RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2024-20513).
Listen to Singing in the rain performed on a Wurlitzer Style D organ below. The second video features a different model Wurlitzer organ.
The RILM Archive of Popular Music Magazines (RAPMM) is a continuously expanding digital collection that currently includes over 125 independently published popular music magazines and fanzines from the late 1960s to the present. This internationally scoped archive covers a diverse range of popular music genres, from punk and rock to indie, hip hop, and country, serving as a multilingual and interdisciplinary resource for music research. By preserving rare and historically significant publications, RAPMM safeguards essential elements of cultural heritage.
In line with RILM’s global mission the content of RAPMM spans multiple languages and countries–currently from Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The zines in RAPMM cover a wide range of popular music genres, including punk, rock, indie music, post-punk, grunge, hip hop, women’s music, world music, psychedelia, noise, alternative music, jazz, and country music. There are articles on the history of musical movements and their relation to politics, society and social movements, underground and subcultures, stylistic shifts, and feminism; interviews with widely recognized and unknown artists at different stages of their careers; band profiles; and album reviews and history of record labels.
Accessible through RILM’s Egret platform, RAPMM offers advanced browsing, searching, and translation features across desktop, mobile, and tablet devices. Additionally, the platform provides a networked research experience, linking directly to other scholarly resources such as RILM Abstracts of Music Literature and external services like the Virtual International Authority File (VIAF). RAPMM underscores RILM’s broader mission as an NGO accredited to provide advisory service to UNESCO’s Committee of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Speaking on the project’s significance, RILM Executive Director, Dr. Tina Frühauf, states:
“In alignment with UNESCO’s initiatives to protect cultural diversity, RAPMM represents a vital node in an international effort to safeguard and preserve information about the sonic history of our times. It fosters community-centered archiving practices that foreground the lived experiences and material traces of popular music magazines. By bridging the analog and the digital, the local and the global, RAPMM not only preserves endangered media artifacts but also reimagines archives as dynamic spaces of cultural memory, equity, and engagement.”
The launch event, hosted by The Barry S. Brook Center for Music Research and Documentation and RILM, is cosponsored by the American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning. In addition to unveiling RAPMM, the event will also celebrate the release of two groundbreaking publications: Inside the Studio Spaces of Electronic Music Production: Berlin/Cairo by Dr. Matthias Pasdzierny and Gero Cacciatore, and Gear: Cultures of Audio and Music Technologies by Dr. Eliot Bates and Dr. Samantha Bennett.
Held in the William P. Kelly Skylight Room on the 9th floor of the CUNY Graduate Center, the event will feature discussions with key contributors, moderated by Finn Cohen (The Sun). A reception will follow.
Admission is free. Please RSVP to cmrd@gc.cuny.edu. The event will be live-streamed by the CUNY Graduate Center.
Contact: Michael Lupo (he/him/his), Marketing & Media RILM International Center 365 Fifth Avenue, Suite 3108 • New York, NY 10016-4309 Michael Lupo • Phone 1 212 817 8601 • www.rilm.org
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