Lecture by Aaron M. Bittel
Archivist, UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive

“21st Century Archives for a 21st Century Ethnomusicology”

Abstract: Archives have been a vital part of ethnomusicology since its earliest days. They have even been credited with enabling its birth. As the discipline has evolved, so have its archives. Scholars, archivists, and communities are discovering innovative ways to use recordings not only for research, teaching, and publication, but also as tools for advocacy, public policy reform, and cultural revitalization. Archives no longer represent a final resting place for the collateral materials of fieldwork. Instead, archives function as one part of a cultural life-cycle that likewise involves researchers, their collaborators in the field, and the communities they represent. This cycle comprises the documentation, preservation, rediscovery, and reinterpretation of musical practice, and it can be more than a career vehicle for ethnomusicologists and archivists.

Bio: Aaron M. Bittel (MA Ethnomusicology, MS Library and Information Science) is Archivist-Librarian and Head of Digital Projects for the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive. He plays with Los Angeles-based Balkan brass band Free Range Orkestar and serves as co-chair the Education and Training Committee of the Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) and chairs the Music Library Association's World Music Roundtable. His principal areas of research and professional practice are digital archives and archival education, and helping to develop curricula, standards, workshops and programs in audiovisual archiving.

Open to the public and free of charge
Parking in Lot 2 — $11 (Hilgard and Westholme)
Information: (310) 825-8381

The Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy Colloquium Series presents a variety of lectures focusing on research and other issues important in the field of ethnomusicology.