Lecture by Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje, Professor of Ethnomusicology, UCLA

Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje is Professor and former Chair of the UCLA Department of Ethnomusicology as well as former Director of the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive. She has been on the faculty at UCLA since 1979 and teaches theoretical area courses in African and African-American music and was director of an African-American vocal ensemble. Much of DjeDje’s research has focused on performance practices as they relate to the one-string fiddle tradition in West Africa. In recent years her research has extended to the study of fiddling in African-American culture and its inter-connections with Anglo-American music. In addition, she has conducted investigations on African-American religious music. She is particularly interested in how the dynamics of urban life give rise to change and other musical activity. She has conducted fieldwork in several countries in West Africa (Ghana, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, The Gambia, and Senegal), Jamaica, California, and the southern United States (Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, and Louisiana). Professor DjeDje is author and editor of several books and has written numerous articles on African and African-American music. For her publication Fiddling in West Africa, she was awarded, in 2009, the Alan Merriam Prize from the Society for Ethnomusicology for the most distinguished English-language monograph, and in 2010, she received the Kwabena Nketia Book Prize (the inaugural award) from the Society for Ethnomusicology African Music Section for the most significant book published on African music.

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