Music Alive in the Archive: Legacy and Promise—65 Years of the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive

On 24-25 October 2026, the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive celebrated its 65^th anniversary.  Officially established in 1961, the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive is a world-renowned research archive dedicated to the study of musical traditions from around the globe.  The Archive’s collection of nearly 200,000 audio, video, print, and photographic items documents musical expressions throughout the world and includes unique field recordings as well as rare commercial recordings.  As part of UCLA’s Department of Ethnomusicology, the Archive preserves and makes accessible over 60 years’ worth of audio and video recordings of the department’s famed concerts and lectures by UCLA students and faculty and by legendary scholars and performers, ranging from Mantle Hood to Anthony Seeger to Ravi Shankar to Joseph Shabalala of Ladysmith Black Mambazo.  In addition to preservation and access, the Archive offers a wide range of research, outreach, and educational services.  From international scholars to local community members and UCLA students and faculty, the Archive is recognized locally and internationally as an important center of ethnomusicological research and discovery.

Music Alive in the Archive: Legacy and Promise—65 Years of the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive was a two-day celebration featuring a symposium, workshops, and concerts.  International, national, and local archivists, alumni, faculty, and community members came together to explore the history and evolving role of ethnomusicological archives in preserving and sustaining musical traditions.  The event was also in celebration of the 2026 World Day for Audiovisual Heritage.

Saturday, 24 October

Preserving Our Field Materials in the Ethnomusicology Archive: UCLA PhD Graduates Speak

Chair: Robert Reigle

Will Matczynski (Zoom) “Documenting Sound and Place in Ga-Mashie: Reflections on Fieldwork and Filmmaking in Accra, Ghana”

Tingting Tang (Zoom) “Revisiting, Representing, and Reusing: Curating a Fieldwork Data Collection at the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive”

Robert Reigle “Sacred Music of a New Guinean Village”

Tanya Merchant “Ephemeral Early-morning Events: Documenting Early 21st Century Bride-greeting Rituals in Uzbekistan with Ro'zibi Khodjayeva”

Jessie Vallejo “Cheers to Many More Years: Reflections About and Plans for Continued Engagement with the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive”

(l–r) Robert Reigle, Tanya Merchant, Jessie Vallejo, (on screen, l–r) Will Matczynski and Tingting Tang.  Photo by Helen Rees.

Preserving Our Field Materials in the Ethnomusicology Archive: UCLA Faculty Speak

Chair: Louise Spear

Mark Kligman (Recorded presentation) “The Sonic Realm of American Jewish Music: New Collections in the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive”

Amy Catlin-Jairazbhoy “UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive as Catalyst: How Arnold Bake’s 1938 Documentation Created Chains of Memory and Transmission”

Kathleen Hood “Inside the Racy Archive: Organizing a Lifetime of Arab Music Performance, Scholarship, and Teaching”

Steven Loza “Incorporating Video-taped Ethnographic Interviews as an Essential Part of My Fieldwork”

(l–r) Amy Catlin-Jairazbhoy, Steve Loza, Kathleen Hood.  Photo by Helen Rees.

Audiovisual Archiving: Legacy and Promise

Chairs: Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje and Helen Rees

Robert Garfias “Why Archive?”

Don Niles (Zoom) “A Personal Half Century of Archive Activities, Collaborations, and Challenges: From UCLA to Papua New Guinea”

Anthony Seeger (Zoom) “Happy 65th Birthday UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive! What Happens Next? Challenges Facing Ethnomusicology Research Archives Today”

Ryan Koons (Zoom) “Archival Promise: For Whom?”

Robert Garfias.  Photo by Helen Rees.

Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje.  Photo by Helen Rees.

LA’s 33 Strings Japanese Music Workshop

LA’s 33 Strings (三十三絃の会) is a distinguished Japanese music ensemble based in Southern California, dedicated to the preservation and evolution of Japan’s musical heritage. Featuring instruments such as the koto, bass koto, shamisen, and shakuhachi, the group performs a wide variety of music, ranging from classical pieces and folk songs to contemporary works, including anime and film scores, bringing together members and audiences through a shared appreciation of Japanese music.  The instructors for Saturday’s workshop included: Koto: Kozue Matsumoto and Jeremy Turner; Shamisen: Trevor Newman and Sebastian Melendez; Shakuhachi: Shoshi Watanabe and Cole Sainburg.

(l–r) Cole Sainburg (instructor) with Francis Akotuah, Yuchen Zhang, Juan Del Real, Yixuan Jiang, Helen Rees.  Photo by Vinai Supamongkolthaveesuk.

LA’s 33 Strings Workshop in the Ostin Ensemble Room.  Photo by Vinai Supamongkolthaveesuk.

Exhibition in the Ethnomusicology Archive

The exhibition highlighted the Japanese print collections held by the Ethnomusicology Archive, including the Robert Garfias collection of Japanese manuscripts.

(l–r) Tanya Merchant and Jessie Vallejo.  Photo by Helen Rees.

Kinnara Gagaku in Concert

Kinnara was formed in 1969 by Rev. Masao Kodani and several members of Senshin Buddhist Temple.  It includes a gagaku group of 15–20 musicians and dancers and a taiko group.  Kinnara had the rare opportunity to study gagaku under the guidance of Professor Suenobu Togi, emeritus professor of the Department of Ethnomusicology at UCLA and musician in the Imperial Household Department of Court Music in Japan.  He taught the group from 1969 to 2010. 

Welcome and Introduction by Dean Michael Beckerman.  Photo by Vinai Supamongkolthaveesuk.

“Gagaku: Continuity and Change” by Robert Garfias.  Photo by Vinai Supamongkolthaveesuk.

Kinnara Gagaku in concert.  Photo by Vinai Supamongkolthaveesuk.

Kinnara Gagaku in concert.  Photo by Vinai Supamongkolthaveesuk.

Sunday, 25 October

Ethnomusicological Archives: Perspectives from Around the World

Chair: Aparna Sharma

Samuel Araujo (Zoom) “Ethnomusicological Archives and the Quest for a Polyphonic World: A Critical Overview of the Laboratory of Ethnomusicology Archives (1942–) at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro”

Shubha Chaudhuri (Zoom) “An Ethnomusicology Archive in India: Collaborations, Changes, and Challenges”

Treasa Harkin (Zoom) “‘They Brought Their Songs and Music to Ease Their Lonely Hearts’: The Music, Song, and Dance of Irish-America”

Aparna Sharma.  Photo by Helen Rees.

Audiovisual Materials: Access, Preservation, and Digitization

Chair: Maureen Russell

Jeff Janeczko (Zoom) “Is Data Aggregation the New Frontier in Jewish Music Research?”

Yasmin Dessem “Playback: Preserving Audiovisual Material at the UCLA Library”

Guadalupe Martinez “Preservation Partnerships for Public Access”

(l–r) Maureen Russell, Yasmin Dessem, Guadalupe Martinez.  Photo by Mei-Chen Chen.

All in This Together: Audiovisual Heritage and Academic Archives

Kevin Miller

Kevin Miller.  Photo by Maureen Russell.

Masanga Marimba Workshop

Masanga Marimba performs traditional and popular music from Africa and Latin America.  The instruments used in this ensemble consist of seven Zimbabwean marimbas of various sizes along with vocals, drums, and percussion.  The word “Masanga” comes from a Shona word that means the coming together of rivers or roads, representing the meeting of African and Latin musical traditions in this group.  Masanga Marimba formed in the year 2000 and is led by Dr. Ric Alviso (UCLA Ethnomusicology PhD, 2002), Professor of World Music at California State University, Northridge. 

Masanga Marimba Workshop.  Photo by Vinai Supamongkolthaveesuk.

Masanga Marimba in Concert

Masanga Marimba: Ric Alviso, Monica Bowser, Wyatt Garrett, Steve Hernandez, Risa Isogawa, Joel Mankey, Nick Schutz, Alex Smith, and Stefani Thomas. With Special Guests: Michael Fandetti, Mark Trejo, Yuri Batres, and Ron Aggabao.

Masanga Marimba in concert.  Photo by Vinai Supamongkolthaveesuk.

Masanga Marimba in concert.  With a little help from UCLA faculty and students who attended the afternoon workshop.  Photo by Vinai Supamongkolthaveesuk.

Thanks to everyone who participated and attended for making this such a memorable event.  Counting in-person, Zoom, and Livestream participation, we had over 200 participants each day.  Here’s to 65 more years for the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive!

Thanks to all our wonderful co-sponsors!

The Center for Latino Arts, The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music

The Dean’s Office, The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music

The Department of Ethnomusicology, The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music

The Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance, UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture

The Ethnomusicology Archive, The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music

The Hiroshi Wagatsuma Memorial Faculty Grant from the Asia Pacific Center, UCLA International Institute

The Lowell Milken Center for Music of American Jewish Experience, The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music

The Mickey Katz Endowed Chair in Jewish Music, The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music

The Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies, UCLA International Institute

The symposium, workshops, and concerts were recorded and will be made available online, open access, on the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive channel on the Internet Archive.

Kinnara Gagaku in concert, Lani Hall, Schoenberg Music Building, UCLA.  

Photos courtesy of the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive.  Photos by Vinai Supamongkolthaveesuk © Regents of the University of California, All Right Reserved.  Other photos as noted.