The RILM International Center in New York City serves as the organizational hub for the world’s largest music bibliography. One of its strengths is its diverse team of experts, representing various disciplines, languages, and geographic regions. The staff includes music specialists from countries across the globe, many of whom hold doctoral degrees, and are multilingual and are actively involved in a wide range of musical activities.
Bibliographic records are received at the International Center in various formats. Some are entered directly by international committee members into RILM’s custom-built bibliographic database, iBis (Internet Bibliographic Indexing System), or sent in other forms, such as paper, specially tagged digital flat files, or MARC-formatted records downloaded from library catalogs. In some cases, authors can also submit records for their publications via RILM’s online submission forms. RILM also has access to several hundred music journals, either through print copies delivered to the International Center or via online repositories. The journals are reviewed at the office, and relevant materials are accessed into the bibliographic database.
RILM’s editorial staff consists of Assistant Editors and Editors. Assistant Editors are responsible for verifying the accuracy of bibliographic information in records created by RILM committees and submitted by authors. They also enter new records from journals and books sent to the office. Editors focus on bibliographic records that have already been accessed, writing abstracts when necessary, translating abstracts received in other languages, and adding appropriate indexing. Both Assistant Editors and Editors adhere to highly detailed standards, ensuring a thorough verification process for all names, institutions, dates, and concepts included in the records.
RILM staff in 1994.
About one-third of the records are submitted by RILM’s national committees and authors, while two-thirds are produced at the International Center. The largest musicological outputs come from China, the U.S., Germany, and Russia. Chinese and Russian records are especially complex due to the need for bilingual information and varying transliterations of personal and institutional names in non-Roman scripts.
The CUNY Graduate Center in New York City. RILM’s current home.
The poster above was once displayed in RILM’s Berlin office of the German national committee, where it explained RILM’s mission as an international musicological bibliography. It highlighted early foundational partners, such as the International Musicological Society, the International Association of Music Libraries, and the American Council of Learned Societies. More importantly, the poster encouraged authors to submit abstracts for their publications. A prominent line on the poster sternly cautioned, “Authors who do not provide their own abstracts accept the risk of having no influence on the formal and substantive design of their abstracts.”
Beyond its nostalgic value as a piece of RILM’s history, the poster also underscores the global network of national, supranational, and regional committees that play a key role in ensuring that significant music-related writings from their respective regions are included in RILM Abstracts of Music Literature and RILM Abstracts of Music Literature with Full Text. These committees, made up of musicologists and librarians from major universities, national libraries, and research institutes, are responsible for gathering and processing abstracts. Given that the core principle of the RILM project was to encourage authors, journal editors, and publishers worldwide to submit abstracts, it was essential to have committees in major music literature-producing countries to collect and send these abstracts to the international center for inclusion.
Archives and Research Center for Ethnomusicology (ARCE), New Delhi. Image courtesy of AIIS Archives and Research Center for Ethnomusicology Facebook page.
Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris. Image credit: Thierry Rambaud
Today, RILM has committees in countries across the globe, including Japan, Latvia, France, Guatemala, New Zealand, Türkiye, South Africa, and Taiwan, along with regional committees in Hong Kong and supranational committees, such as the one in Africa. In addition, RILM maintains partnerships with a variety of institutions, including the Archives and Research Center for Ethnomusicology (ARCE) in New Delhi, the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, the National College of Arts in Lahore, and The Journal of the Central Conservatory in Beijing. This extensive network of committees and partnerships plays a crucial role in supporting RILM’s mission to document all forms of music-related publications, from anywhere in the world and in any language.
RILM has long been committed to documenting, safeguarding, and preserving the world’s knowledge about all musical traditions, and to making this knowledge accessible to research and performance communities worldwide via digital collections and advanced tools. RILM’s collections aim to include the music scholarship of all countries, in all languages, and across all disciplinary and cultural boundaries, thereby fostering research in the arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences. In recent years, RILM has launched various full-text resources and developed the Egret platform, enhancing its technological capabilities. The recent addition of DEUMM Online to RILM’s suite of resources, as well as the RILM Archive of Popular Music Magazines (RAPMM) in the Summer of 2025, further solidifies its key position in the music research sector.
In 2024, RILM received accreditation from UNESCO to provide advisory services to the Committee of Intangible Cultural Heritage. The following year, it was further recognized as a civil society partner under the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. These distinctions confer upon RILM an expanded responsibility that extends beyond dissemination and documentation, emphasizing its role in safeguarding and preserving all forms of musical knowledge in written form. The UNESCO accreditation also creates new opportunities for the organization, which has already demonstrated its global reach and expertise through participation in the UNESCO World Conference on Culture and Arts Education 2024.
Partnerships with institutions such as the National College of Arts in Lahore, the Institut du monde arabe in Paris, and the Central Conservatory in Beijing underscore RILM’s commitment to inclusivity and diversity. These collaborations ensure that RILM’s collections encompass music scholarship from all countries, in all languages, and across cultural boundaries.
From its beginnings nearly 60 years ago, RILM modeled itself on a United Nations-like structure whereby international committees were established to provide the organization with the information it would need to make its bibliography truly international. This endeavor and the internationalization that has come with it, has been rare in the humanities then and now.
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The greater RILM organization is a global network comprising national, supranational, and regional committees responsible for ensuring that significant writings on music from their respective countries or regions are included in RILM Abstracts of Music Literature and RILM Abstracts of Music Literature with Full Text. These committees, made up of musicologists and librarians affiliated with major universities, national libraries, and research institutes, play a critical role in advancing RILM’s global mission.
From its inception, the core principle of the RILM project was to encourage authors, journal editors, and publishers worldwide to contribute abstracts. RILM’s founder, Barry S. Brook, recognized early on the necessity of having dedicated committees in major music literature-producing countries to gather, process, and forward abstracts to the International Center in New York City. To achieve this, hundreds of letters were sent out to solicit cooperation. Additionally, the project received invaluable advice and support from the International Association of Music Libraries, which helped establish 33 national committees by the time the first issue was published. At that point, however, many of these committees were still small, with some consisting of just a single person.
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A 1967 New York Times article titled Who’s writing about music and where reviewed the inaugural quarterly volume of RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, released in August of that year. The reviewer commended the publication as “the first permanent attempt to describe regularly what is being written about in the world’s significant literature on music,” observing that it “obviously fills a great need in musicological circles”. Even in its earliest stages, the potential of RILM Abstracts to help shape the field of music research was already being recognized.
1967 New York Times article.
In his 1967 inaugural report, RILM’s founder, Barry S. Brook, emphasized the integral role of authors and librarians in submitting abstracts, identifying the author-generated abstract as the “essential first step in the RILM project”. Drawing on its successful use in the sciences, Brook advocated for its adoption within the humanities to foster scholarly communication and documentation.
Prior to the introduction of online submission forms, all citations and abstracts were submitted manually–either handwritten or typed–on standardized forms like the yellow one shown above. These forms were available in multiple languages and color-coded for efficient sorting. Given the limitations of manual typewriters, corrections and diacritics had to be added by hand. Once received, submissions were retyped into the database at the International Center, and non-English titles and abstracts were translated into English.
Over the decades, RILM has benefited from the dedication of countless volunteers, including many prominent scholars in musicology and ethnomusicology, whose contributions have helped shape the richness and reach of the database.
In July 1965, RILM’s founder, Barry S. Brook, was conducting research in Europe when he attended the International Association of Music Libraries (IAML) congress in Dijon. During the congress, he introduced his ambitious idea of creating an international bibliography of music literature, which he had already named “RILM”. Brook emphasized the transformative potential of using computers for music documentation–an innovative concept at the time. According to Brook, even note-taking would become unnecessary as “any page passing . . . on the screen can immediately be reproduced in paper form or be recalled at will later. We may even dare dream of that famous little black box in which the entire contents of the Library of Congress or of the Bibliothèque Nationale, or both, are stored in speedily recallable form.” Brook envisioned a system where scholars engaged in specific research projects could request bibliographic searches from a computer database and receive automatically generated printouts in response. This forward-thinking approach laid the groundwork for what would become a foundational resource in music scholarship worldwide.
Barry S. Brook in Europe, mid-1960s.
Recognizing that RILM was too small an organization to carry out its ambitious goals alone, Brook reached an agreement with Lockheed Research Laboratory in Palo Alto–a division of Lockheed Missiles and Space Company–to assist in data distribution. Through this partnership, RILM’s bibliographic data could be transmitted via telephone lines, a remarkable innovation given that this took place more than 30 years before internet technology became commercially available.
IBM mainframe computer, 1964. Photo courtesy of IBM.
RILM employees at their computers in 1992.
Following the founding of RILM Abstracts, it quickly became evident that its production depended heavily on computing technology. However, the computing capabilities of the 1960s and 1970s were not fully equipped to handle the complexities of RILM’s multilingual and multicultural mission. Even the powerful IBM System/370 mainframe (pictured in the first image above)–used in RILM’s production from 1970 to 1988–had significant limitations in rendering diverse fonts, writing systems, and diacritical marks. Yet from its inception in 1967, RILM was committed to representing names and terms in their most accurate and original forms, including their native scripts. To meet this standard, RILM editors often relied on a much simpler tool: the IBM Selectric typewriter, which allowed for manual switching between typeballs to produce various fonts and writing systems that the mainframe could not yet support.
The idea for RILM, as its founder Barry S. Brook later reflected, originated in 1964 from the belief that “the alternative to automation was inundation”. The idea was first publicly presented at the American Musicological Society’s meeting on 10 April 1965. During this presentation, a broad yet clear proposal was introduced, suggesting the creation of an abstract journal that would catalog “significant musicological literature published worldwide”, envisioned as a collaborative effort across multiple countries and universities, supporting graduate-level musicology research. The abstracts would be stored in a computer, indexed, published, and made accessible for retrieval in various ways as needed.
A few months later, Brook unveiled a more comprehensive proposal at the Dijon congress of the International Association of Music Libraries. Years afterward, he expressed surprise at the proposal’s remarkably optimistic forecasts. Among its key points, the proposal envisioned RILM producing two main publication series–one focused on current literature and the other dedicated to retrospective material. It outlined a plan to release abstracts and indexes quarterly, with the long-term goal of compiling volumes of retroactive bibliographic records. It also anticipated the use of computer-based automatic indexing, enabling extensive cross-referencing and efficient information retrieval. It described a system in which cumulative indexes would be automatically generated, printed, and published on a regular basis. Additionally, it proposed that researchers could request computer-assisted bibliographic searches and receive printed results tailored to their inquiries. Finally, the proposal suggested that RILM would become financially self-sustaining through publication revenues and fees charged to institutions and individuals seeking specialized information services.
Brook playing an organ.
Brook later acknowledged that the 1965 proposal had been a product of wishful thinking–an idealistic vision of what might be possible. He admitted it was strikingly naïve in terms of the practical means by which RILM and its associated initiatives could be realized. Yet, in hindsight, he also recognized its uncanny prescience: nearly every element outlined in the proposal had, over time, become a reality within the history of RILM.
In 2026, Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale (RILM) proudly marks its 60th anniversary! Established in 1966 by Barry S. Brook, RILM has remained a global leader in documenting, preserving, and disseminating music research, offering scholars, educators, and enthusiasts an unparalleled suite of bibliographic resources.
From its earliest days, RILM has championed the international exchange of musicological knowledge, fostering accessibility and interdisciplinary dialogue across cultures. Over the decades, it has continually evolved, embracing technological innovation to better serve the needs of the music research community and expand its reach.
Join us in celebrating this remarkable milestone by exploring RILM’s rich array of resources and reflecting on the dynamic journey of music scholarship over the past 60 years. Here’s to six decades of harmonizing tradition with innovation–and to many more ahead!
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New York, NY / London, UK – RILM (Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale), a global organization dedicated to documenting and making accessible the world’s musical knowledge across all traditions, is proud to announce that it has acquired the Hofmeister XIX database from Royal Holloway, University of London, and King’s College London. This valuable resource is now hosted at hofmeister.rilm.org, continuing its mission under RILM’s stewardship to support musicological inquiry.
The Hofmeister XIX database provides comprehensive, searchable access to over 330,000 bibliographic records from the Hofmeister Monatsberichte, published between 1829 and 1900. These records represent a vital primary source for the study of music publishing, repertoire, and taste in the 19th century, and include bibliographic records for music scores, music-related books, periodicals, portraits, and other ephemera.
The database was created and developed at Royal Holloway and King’s College London (Department of Digital Humanities) by a team headed by Nicholas Cook (Director) and Liz Robinson (Project Manager), with support from the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council. Since 2007 the project has served music librarians, scholars, and others worldwide through an open-access model. RILM now assumes ownership with a firm commitment to preserving open access to the database, its quality, and its scholarly integrity. RILM will continue to credit the founding institutions prominently on the site and maintain the platform according to the high standards long associated with Hofmeister XIX.
“RILM is honored to take over this invaluable resource,” said Dr. Tina Frühauf, Executive Director of RILM. “As a UNESCO-accredited NGO under the 2003 and 2005 Conventions, we are committed to safeguarding intangible cultural heritage and promoting cultural diversity. Acquiring Hofmeister XIX aligns with this mission by preserving and disseminating a vital record of 19th-century musical life and publishing. We look forward to ensuring its continued accessibility for scholars and the public worldwide.”
Dr. Nicholas Cook, a former professor at Royal Holloway, commented: “At a time when digital resources in academia often struggle to keep up with the pace of technical innovation, RILM’s acquisition of Hofmeister XIX is the best possible guarantee of its long-term survival.”
Royal Holloway’s Director of Research and Innovation, Sue Starbuck, noted: “We are thrilled that Hofmeister XIX will thrive under RILM’s custodianship. Their infrastructure, global reach, and deep commitment to musicology ensure a strong future for this resource.”
Dr. Arianna Ciula, Director of the King’s Digital Lab, commented: “With the support of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities leadership at King’s College London, King’s Digital Lab has made every effort to sustain digital resources of value to the research community. The migration of this important resource to its new home is a great example of what trustworthy collaboration and a holistic archiving and sustainability programme can achieve.”
As of today, the original site can be accessed through the new URL https://hofmeister.rilm.org, marking a seamless transition for the academic community and general public.
For more information, please contact:
RILM Dr. Tina Frühauf Executive Director info@rilm.org
Royal Holloway, University of London Sue Starbuck Director of Research and Innovation Sue.Starbuck@rhul.ac.uk
King’s College London Dr. Arianna Ciula Director, King’s Digital Lab kdl-info@kcl.ac.uk
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In celebration of UNESCO’s International Day of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) on 17 October, RILM presents a selective annotated bibliography from over 1,000 writings highlighting influential scholarly writings on the subject. Spanning topics from cultural politics and policy to preservation strategies and research methodologies, the selection underscores the global impact of ICH practices on musical traditions–particularly through efforts to rescue, preserve, and perform them. ICH has increasingly been used in music studies to describe the nonmaterial aspects of cultural traditions that are passed down through music, dance, oral traditions, and rituals. According to UNESCO, ICH encompasses “the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills–as well as the instruments, objects, artifacts and cultural spaces associated therewith–that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage.” Communities across the globe recognize living heritage as a core part of their cultural identity, continuously recreated in response to their environment and historical context.
Examples of ICH include oral traditions (languages, folklore, storytelling), performing arts (music, dance, theater, puppetry), social practices, and rituals (festivals, religious ceremonies, rites of passage), traditional craftsmanship, and knowledge systems related to nature or cosmology. ICH is not limited to inherited traditions; it also encompasses contemporary cultural expressions in both rural and urban settings. These practices foster a sense of identity and continuity, support social cohesion, and contribute to sustainable development and economic resilience, ensuring their transmission to future generations.
Puppet theater of Slovakia and Czechia. Photo courtesy of UNESCO.
In the field of music studies, ICH underscores the significance of preserving and documenting musical traditions that are transmitted orally or through performance rather than written or recorded forms. These traditions encompass folk music, traditional song structures, and distinctive musical techniques rooted in local cultural contexts. Recognizing its growing relevance, RILM adopted ICH as an indexing headword in 2022, using the term to index the preservation of nonmaterial cultural phenomena, aligning with UNESCO’s definition. RILM now uses ICH to index performing arts traditions across various countries and to document practices related to conservation, restoration, cultural policy, festivals, language, and thematic areas such as collective memory and cultural sustainability.
This selective annotated bibliography reflects the intersection of ICH imperatives within RILM’s mission to document, safeguard, and preserve the world’s knowledge about all musical traditions, and to make this knowledge accessible to research and performance communities worldwide via digital collections and advanced tools. RILM’s collections include the music scholarship of all countries, in all languages, and across all disciplinary and cultural boundaries, thereby fostering research in the arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences.
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Miguel Molina, Blanca de, et al., ed. Music as intangible cultural heritage: Economic, cultural and social identity (Cham: Springer, 2021). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2021-13178]
Abstract: Offers an interdisciplinary perspective and presents various case studies on music as intangible cultural heritage, highlighting the importance and functionality of music to stimulate social innovation and entrepreneurship. To understand the relationship between immaterial and material uses and inherent cultural landscapes, this volume analyzes the symbolic, political, and economic dimensions of music. The case studies highlight the continuity and current functionality of these artistic forms of expression as well as their lively and changing character in continuous transformation.
You, Ziying. Folk literati, contested tradition, and heritage in contemporary China: Incense is kept burning (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2020). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2020-59339]
Abstract: Explores the role of folk literati in shaping, preserving, and negotiating local cultural heritage. Building on the concept of the elite literati—a well-documented pre-modern Chinese social class influential in cultural production—the research defines folk literati as individuals proficient in classical Chinese, deeply familiar with local traditions, and capable of articulating them through writing. These figures serve as custodians of cultural continuity, a notion locally expressed through the vernacular phrase, “incense is kept burning.” Centered on several villages in Hongtong county, Shanxi province, the study employs oral interviews, participant observation, and textual analysis to reveal how folk literati sustain traditional practices and perpetuate stigmatized beliefs within their communities. The research highlights the contributions of eight folk literati who have actively reinterpreted and negotiated worship traditions surrounding the ancient sage-kings Yao and Shun, along with Ehuang and Nüying–Yao’s daughters and Shun’s wives. Their complex interpersonal dynamics have influenced the evolution of local myths, legends, and historical narratives, shaping the preservation of tradition in meaningful ways. These practices are examined within the broader framework of Chinese cultural policy and UNESCO’s ICH program, illustrating how global and national discourses intersect with grassroots efforts to maintain and redefine living heritage.
Qi, Yi, ed. Xiaogu chunshe: Jing Jin Ji yinyue lei feiwuzhi wenhua yichan jicheng—Xiongxian juan. Xiaogu chunshe: Jing Jin Ji yinyue lei feiwuzhi wenhua yichan jicheng (Baoding: Hebei Daxue Chubanshe/Hebei University Press; Shijiazhuang: Fangyuan Dianzi Yinxiang Chubanshe, 2020). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2020-68880]
Abstract: The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region boasts a rich array of intangible cultural heritage (ICH), with numerous musical traditions listed on the national ICH registry. Since 2015, a collaborative team of scholars from Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei has undertaken comprehensive ethnomusicological fieldwork, focusing on the documentation of the region’s musical ICH in Xiong county, Hebei province. Their research, grounded in principles of authenticity, thoroughness, and systematic documentation, covers a wide range of traditional musical forms. This includes folk instrumental ensembles like yinyuehui, nanyuehui, shifanhui, chaozihui, and chuidahui; quyi traditions such as Hebei bangzi, pingju, jingju, and local genres like shangsidiao and yunchehui; as well as traditions like xihe dagu and traditional song-and-dance forms including gaoqiao, yangge, wulong, and wushi. Their extensive collection of performance videos, vocal renditions, ritual documentation, interviews, and images of musicians, instruments, scores, and props–alongside written materials–offers a vivid snapshot of traditional music in contemporary folk life. Drawing on this first-hand fieldwork, the scholars have organized their findings into research papers and field notes, supplemented by documentary sources. These materials collectively present a true representation of traditional music, shedding light on its significant artistic and cultural value.
Akagawa, Natsuko and Laurajane Smith. Safeguarding intangible heritage: Practices and politics (Abingdon: Routledge, 2018). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2018-57263]
Abstract: The UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage came into force in 2006 (after the 2003 Convention), framing the international and national practices and policies associated with intangible cultural heritage. These practices and policies are critically examined, providing an accessible account of the different ways in which intangible cultural heritage has been defined and managed in both national and international contexts. The concept and practices of safeguarding are complicated and often contested, and there is a need for international debate about the meaning, nature, and value of heritage and what it means to safeguard it. A significant cross section of ideas and practices is provided by some of the key academics and practitioners working in the area, whose areas of expertise span anthropology, law, heritage studies, linguistics, archaeology, museum studies, folklore, architecture, Indigenous studies, and history. An overarching analysis of international policy and practice critically frames case studies analyzing practices from a range of countries, including Australia, Canada, China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, New Zealand, Taiwan, the U.K., and Zimbabwe.
Broclain, Elsa, Benoît Haug, and Pénélope Patrix, eds. Transposition: Musique et sciences sociales VIII(2019): Musique: Patrimoine immatériel? [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2019-24678]
French Abstract: La musique occupe une place de choix au sein du Patrimoine Culturel Immatériel (PCI) de l’humanité tel que le répertorie l’UNESCO depuis sa Convention de sauvegarde de 2003. Plus largement, au-delà des Nations-Unies, le « patrimoine immatériel » semble être devenu le paradigme dominant dans les actions de patrimonialisation et de valorisation des pratiques musicales à l’échelle internationale. Devant l’ampleur de ce phénomène, il s’agit d’engager une approche transnationale et comparative des rapports entre musique et « patrimoine immatériel ». En s’intéressant aux façons dont cette notion (et/ou l’appareil patrimonial qui l’accompagne) est mise en oeuvre, reformulée ou contestée sur le terrain, et à ses interactions avec d’autres catégories et modalités d’action en usage, ce numéro de Transposition propose donc de se demander: que fait le PCI à la musique et, inversement, que fait la musique au PCI? La majorité des études réunies ici s’intéressent à des pratiques inscrites sur les listes de l’UNESCO, qui font l’objet de programmes de sauvegarde entamés depuis plusieurs années déjà. Ces situations « post-patrimoniales » y sont examinées dans leur diversité. D’autres articles nous plongent dans le vif du montage d’un dossier d’inscription, et s’interrogent sur les difficultés et les possibles conséquences de la mise en patrimoine d’une pratique musicale. Certaines des pratiques étudiées ne sont pas candidates auprès de l’UNESCO, mais sont inscrites dans des régimes de patrimonialisation locaux qui reprennent les désignations et certains modes d’action et outils afférents au PCI. Enfin, la voix est donnée à des actions de patrimonialisation distinctes ou contestataires. La singularité de la musique au sein du PCI s’esquisse alors sur trois axes principaux: celui de l’« immatérialité » de la musique prise dans ces processus de patrimonialisation ; celui des rapports spécifiques qui s’y articulent entre musique, politique et territoire, notamment au regard de pratiques subalternes ; enfin, celui du caractère performatif des constructions patrimoniales en jeu, saisies comme des fictions opératoires.
English abstract: Music holds a key place in the intangible cultural heritage of humanity as inventoried by UNESCO since its 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the ICH. More broadly, beyond the United Nations, intangible heritage seems to have become the dominant paradigm in processes of heritage making and the recognition of music practices at the international level. Given the vast scope of this phenomenon, the aim here is to initiate a transnational, comparative approach to the relations between music and intangible heritage. Looking at the ways in which this notion–or the heritage apparatus that comes with it–is implemented, reformulated or contested in the field, and at its interactions with other categories and modes of action in use, we are invited to ask: what does ICH do to music and, conversely, what does music do to ICH? Most of the case studies here address the practices inscribed on the UNESCO lists, which are the subject of safeguarding programs already in effect for some years. These “post-heritage” contexts are analyzed in their diversity, while other discussions delve into the complexities of preparing ICH applications, revealing the challenges and implications of formalizing musical traditions as heritage. Some practices, though not UNESCO-listed, engage with local heritage-making systems that adopt ICH terminology and tools. Additionally, the study highlights alternative heritage-making efforts, including those used as forms of protest or resistance. The unique position of music in ICH can be summed up in three recurring themes: the intangibility of music caught up in these heritage-making processes; the specific intersections between music, power dynamics, and territory in this context, particularly regarding subaltern practices; and the performative nature of the heritage constructions at play, conceived as operative fictions.
Meeker, Lauren. Sounding out heritage: Cultural politics and the social practice of quan họ folk song in northern Vietnam. Southeast Asia: Politics, meaning, memory (Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2013). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2013-10998]
Abstract: Explores the cultural politics that have shaped the recent history and evolving practice of quan họ, a distinctive style of folk song originating in Bắc Ninh province, northern Vietnam. Tracing its transformation over the past 60 years–from a village-based tradition to a professionalized performance art–the research offers a richly contextualized ethnographic account of the quan họ soundscape. By weaving together analyses of folk music, cultural nationalism, and heritage discourse, it reveals how quan họ has been redefined through shifting social practices and institutional recognition. Village practitioners–ordinary individuals who sang quan họ for personal and communal enjoyment–have had to navigate growing external attention and their designation as “living treasures”. Meanwhile, professional performers, with distinct styles and representational approaches, have been integrated into the quan họ landscape to promote Bắc Ninh’s cultural identity on a national stage. The study highlights the nuanced politics of rescuing, preserving, and performing folk music, demonstrating how traditions can be consciously reframed as heritage and elevated to national icon status. Quan họ’s inscription on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009 further complicated the dynamic between village and professional expressions, raising critical questions about authority, representation, and authenticity in international heritage discourse. Ultimately, this research illustrates how cultural politics shape the meanings and practices of quan họ, showing that a tradition may carry multiple significances for different communities.
Quan họ folk songs of Bắc Ninh province, Vietnam.
Norton, Barley and Naomi Matsumoto, eds. Music as heritage: Historical and ethnographic perspectives. SOAS musicology (Abingdon: Routledge, 2019). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2019-714]
Abstract: As economic, technological, and cultural change gathers pace across the world, issues of music heritage and sustainability have become ever more pressing. Discourse on intangible cultural heritage has developed in complex ways in recent years, and musical practices have been transformed by safeguarding agendas. Taking stock of these transformations, new ethnographic and historical perspectives are brought together to bear on encounters with music heritage. The cultural politics, ethics, and audiovisual representation of music heritage; the methods and consequences of music transmission across national borders; and the perennial issues of revival, change and innovation are evaluated. UNESCO’s 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage provides an essential reference point for studies of music heritage. However, there are also important spheres of musical activity that lie outside of UNESCO’s reach and the reasons why some repertoires of music are chosen for safeguarding while others are not. Some practices of art music in Europe explored here have received little attention despite being susceptible to endangerment. Developing a comparative framework that cuts across genre distinctions and disciplinary boundaries, the study explores how music cultures are being affected by heritage discourse and the impact of international and national policies on grassroots music practices.
Pätzold, Uwe U. “Turutlah ilmu padi: Semakin berisi semakin merunduk”–Über den “Reifungsprozess” des traditionellen Pencak Silat zum neuem Bestandteil des UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage-Weltkulturerbes”, KITA: Das Magazin der Deutsch-Indonesischen Gesellschaft II/3 (2020) 173–184. [RILM Abstracts of Music of Literature, 2020-67353]
German Abstract: Am 12. Dezember 2019 wurden sowohl die „Traditions of Pencak Silat“ (Tradisi Pencak Silat) Indonesiens als auch das “Silat Malaysia” (Seni Persilatan Melayu) in die „Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity” (ICH)-Programm der UNESCO aufgenommen. Der Bericht zeigt, mit einem Fokus auf den indonesischen Antrag, detailliert auf wie es hierzu kam, welche Erfordernisse, Wünsche, Hoffnungen, Ideen, Initiativen, Reflektionen und Verantwortlichkeiten seitens der Träger in den jeweiligen indonesischen Kulturen mit der schließlichen Anerkennung seitens der UNESCO einhergehen, und welche Bedeutung diese Anerkennung für alle Beteiligten haben kann. Der Autor hat diesen Prozess als passiver Beobachter seit 2014 begleitet.
English Abstract: On 12 December 2019, Indonesia’s traditions of pencak silat and silat were inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. The process leading to this recognition is explored, focusing on Indonesia’s application and the various aspects involved–such as the requirements, hopes, ideas, initiatives, reflections, and responsibilities of the cultural stakeholders. This culminated in UNESCO’s acknowledgment of pencak silat as a vital part of Indonesia’s intangible cultural heritage. The significance of this recognition is highlighted, not only for the communities directly involved but also for the broader cultural landscape of Indonesia.
Indonesian pencak silat practitioners. Photo courtesy of UNESCO.
A short video describing the traditions of pencak silat.
Planke, Terje, Anne Kristin Moe, and Thomas Michael Walle, eds. By og bygd 47 (2018): Immateriell kulturarv på museum. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2018-52212]
Abstract: Explores how Norwegian museums engage with intangible cultural heritage, particularly in traditional music and dance. Historically, museums have been closely tied to the preservation of tangible cultural materials, yet they now play a growing role in safeguarding intangible heritage as well. The impact of the UNESCO 2003 Convention’s introduction of the concept of intangible cultural heritage on museum practices in Norway is discussed. While there are no definitive criteria for determining which cultural expressions should be protected, the notion of heritage increasingly emphasizes intergenerational transmission. The case studies also highlight a linguistic complication: the term “intangible” has been translated into Norwegian as “immaterial”, creating a problematic dichotomy. Cultural expressions, though not always physically fixed, possess form and substance; objects and crafts often embody ideas and knowledge. In this sense, the museum’s evolving role in protecting and educating differs from its previous focus on preserving and conserving. By repositioning practitioners as custodians of cultural competence, the 2003 Convention marks a significant shift in the museum’s authority. It is no longer assumed that expertise resides solely within the institution, even though many museums have long collaborated with skilled culture bearers.
Roda, Jessica. “Des Judéo-espagnols à la machine unesquienne: Enjeux et défis de la patrimonialisation musicale”, Cahiers d’ethnomusicologie XXIV (2011) 123–141. [RILM Abstracts of Music of Literature, 2011-25833]
French abstract: À travers l’expérience d’une « participation observante » au sein de la section du Patrimoine culturel immatériel (PCI) au siège de l’Unesco à Paris, cet article vise à saisir les enjeux éthiques de cette nouvelle machine patrimoniale institutionnelle qui fait tant couler d’encre. Les débats et les discussions qui animent le processus autour de la liste représentative de la Convention de 2003 pour la sauvegarde du PCI sont mis en exergue, en prenant à témoin la première réunion de l’Organe subsidiaire qui a eu lieu en mai 2009. Plusieurs tensions et paradoxes de l’entreprise patrimoniale émergent, notamment les controverses autour de la notion de patrimoine, l’utilitarisme de la culture, et l’évidente modification du statut des pratiques culturelles qui acquièrent le label UNESCO.
English abstract: Draws on participant observation within the intangible cultural heritage sector at UNESCO headquarters in Paris to examine the ethical complexities of an increasingly prominent institutional patrimonial framework. Anchored in the deliberations surrounding the Representative List established by the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, the research focuses particularly on the inaugural meeting of the subsidiary committee held in May 2009. Through this vantage point, the study reveals the tensions and contradictions embedded in the patrimonialization process–highlighting debates over the definition of heritage, the instrumentalization of culture, and the transformative impact of UNESCO recognition on the status and meaning of cultural practices.
Howard, Keith D. ed. Music as intangible cultural heritage: Policy, ideology, and practice in the preservation of East Asian traditions. SOAS musicology series (Farnham: Ashgate, 2012). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2012-6417]
Abstract: Examines the policy frameworks, ideological underpinnings, and practical approaches to the preservation and promotion of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) in East Asia. For the first time, Japan, Korea, China, and Taiwan—pioneering states in legislating and institutionalizing Indigenous traditions—are analyzed collectively. The growing urgency to safeguard ICH, amplified by increasing UNESCO involvement, reflects a regional response to the perceived erosion of cultural diversity driven by globalization, modernization, urbanization, and mass media proliferation. The research offers a foundational overview of state-level policies and practices related to musical ICH in each country, complemented by a series of ethnographically grounded case studies. These include traditions ranging from Confucian ritual and Kam big song to the Okinawan sanshin, illustrating how policy implementation has shaped musical heritage. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, the case studies present both insider and outsider perspectives, critically engaging with the intersections of policy, ideology, and practice.
Hafstein, Valdimar Tr. Making intangible heritage: El condor pasa and other stories from UNESCO (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2018). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2018-54282]
Abstract: Recounts the development of UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) Convention through the lived experiences of a folklorist and official delegate, offering an ethnographic perspective that moves beyond formal narratives. It reveals the institutional dynamics of UNESCO, the evolving concept of ICH, and their global implications. In addition to accounts of compromise and solidarity, the research exposes the behind-the-scenes diplomacy—alliances forged and dissolved, moments of confrontation and resistance—that shaped both the 2003 Convention and the conceptual framework of intangible heritage. The study explores the internal narratives circulating within UNESCO about the origins of ICH, examining how these stories construct coherence, highlight contrasts, and serve as guiding frameworks for action at both international and local levels. By viewing UNESCO through an ethnographic lens, the research demonstrates how folklore concepts migrate beyond academia, influencing global policy and reshaping how communities understand and enact their cultural practices. Case studies range from the Jemaa el-Fna marketplace in Marrakech to the Ise shrine in Japan, illustrating the multifaceted outcomes of safeguarding intangible heritage. These include the creation of heritage lists, the revitalization of festivals, the emergence of new community identities, and the orchestration of cultural difference in contemporary societies. The study critically engages with both the positive and problematic outcomes of heritage-making, offering a nuanced account of how global frameworks intersect with local societies.
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