UCLA

James Arkatov was born in 1920 in Odessa, Russia and raised in San Francisco, where his father, Alexander Arkatov, owned a photography salon.  In 1938, he was invited by Fritz Feiner to join the Pittsburgh Symphony.  Later, he joined the San Francisco Symphony with Pierre Monteux, and went on to be principal cellist of the

Charlotte Heth has a long and distinguished history at UCLA.  In 1973, she began teaching a survey course on American Indian music.  In 1975 she completed her disseration in Ethnomusicology, "Stomp dance music of the Oklahoma Cherokee: a study of contemporary practice with special reference to the Illinois District Council Ground."  Heth was director of UCLA's

It all began as an assignment for Ethnomusicology 205.  The two archivists (Aaron and Maureen) suggested archival collections to research that might specifically interest each student in the class.  For Marc Bolin, we could think of no better choice than the

Don Ellis (1934-1978) was a jazz trumpeter, composer and bandleader.  Ellis won a Grammy in 1972 for Best Instrumental Arrangement for the Theme From The French Connection.  He is probably best known for his extensive musical experimentation.  Ellis’ rhythmic innovations came as a direct result of his studies in non-Western music

The UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive is thrilled to announce that the first 54 recordings from our collections are now available at California Light and Sound Collection on the Internet Archive. 

As probably everyone knows, Mantle Hood (1918-2005) was the Founder and DIrector of the UCLA Institute of Ethnomusicology.  Hood was on the UCLA Faculty from 1956 to 1975.  As Chris Waterman said to the LA Times in 2005, "Mantle Ho

The Music of Persia Performance Group was founded in 1959-1960, under the direction of Hormoz Farhat (now Emeritus Professor of Music, Trinity College, University of Dublin).  Professor Farhat is perhaps best known for his book, The Dastgah Concept in Persian Music (Cambridge University Press, 2004), now available on Google Boo

D.K. Wilgus and Wayland D. Hand established Folklore studies at UCLA, and together founded the Folklore and Mythology Program in 1965.  Wilgus was the Program’s first chair and served in that position for 17 years.  During his tenure at UCLA, Wilgus built an archive of folksong and folk music of over 8,000 commercial recordings and 3,000 field recordings. These recordings are now part of the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive.

The Music of Japan ensemble began in 1956 as a gagaku group led by then-graduate student Robert Garfias. 

The UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive is pleased to announce that 50 recordings from our collections have been accepted into the California Audiovisual Preservation Project (CAVPP).