Guides: Black, Indigenous, people of colour (BIPOC) musicians: Find background information

Description

This section contains a selected list of resources available through the Library about BIPOC musicians and musical traditions. Discover a selection of bibliographies, discographies, encyclopedias and dictionaries, handbooks, collections of essays, and journals.

Bibliographies

Bibliography of Black Music by Dominique-Rene de Lerma
Comprehensive bibliography of resources, including literature, discographies, iconographies, periodicals, dissertations and theses, and directories and organizations.
Blacks in Classical Music II by John Gray
A long-awaited sequel to John Gray's acclaimed Blacks in Classical Music, it draws on more than three decades of research to survey the vast amount of print, digital and archival material that has emerged since the late 1980s. Fully annotated and cross-referenced it offers a comprehensive overview of all scholarly writings on the subject as well as a more selective representation of reportage from the mainstream and Black press.
North American Indian Music: a Guide to Published Sources and Selected Recordings by Richard Keeling
First published in 1997, the present volume contains references and descriptive annotations for 1,497 sources on North American Indian and Inuit music. This book encompasses works on dance, ritual, and other aspects of religion or culture related to music, and selected "classic" recordings have also been included. The coverage is equally broad in other respects, including writings in several different languages and spanning a chronological period from 1535 to 1995.
Piano Music by Black Women Composers by Helen Walker-Hill
Proceeding from a desire to use music of black women composers in her piano performance and teaching, Helen Walker-Hill has dedicated herself to uncovering this material. The result is the most comprehensive catalog of music composed by African American women to date.
Spirituals by Kathleen A. Abromeit
Spirituals have made an immense impact on music, culture, and society. Using a multidisciplinary perspective, this annotated bibliography documents articles, books, and dissertations published since 1902.
String Music of Black Composers by Aaron Horne
Composers from Africa as well as the diaspora are covered. Organized in alphabetical order by composer, each entry provides information on the composer's life and career, and details all works that include strings as well as information about commission, premiere, and composer bibliography and discography.

Discographies

Encyclopedias and dictionaries

Floyd, Samuel A. Jr., ed.  International Dictionary of Black Composers. Center for Black Music Research. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1999.
Price, Emmett George, Tammy L Kernodle, and Horace Joseph Maxile, eds. Encyclopedia of African American Music. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2011.
- Showcases all facets of African American music including folk, religious, concert and popular styles
- More than 500 in-depth entries on a vast range of topics - genres, styles, individuals, groups, major record labels, institutions of higher learning, and cultural venues
- Includes historical topics such as the music of the Harlem Renaissance, the Black Arts Movement, and the Civil Rights Movement
- Provides a selected bibliography of the most important works on African American music
Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World
- Comprehensive reference work on popular music of the world
- Read articles by leading popular music scholars
- Includes extensive bibliographies, discographies, sheet music listings, and filmographies
- Certain volumes available online:
  - Volume 1: Media, Industry, Society
  - Volume 2: Performance and Production
Encyclopedia of Music in Canada
- Includes entries on prominent musicians of all genres as well as entries by ethnic group, city, and region.
The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music
- Comprehensive resource with photographs, maps, musical and audio examples devoted to research about the music of Africa (V.1), South America, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean (V.2), the United States and Canada (V.3), Southeast Asia (V.4), South Asia (V.5), the Middle East (V.6), East Asia (V.7), Europe (V.8), and Australia and Pacific Islands (V.9)
- The 10th volume includes a glossary, a bibliography of literature and recordings by region, and personal essays by prominent ethnomusicologists on their careers and research practices.
- Nine accompanying CDs are available from the 4th-floor desk
Grove Music Online
- Foremost English-language scholarly encyclopedia of music and musicians
- Extensive articles and bibliographies written by subject experts
- Includes detailed works lists for certain composers: useful for confirming the identity of pieces and for finding individual pieces within composers' complete works sets held by the Library
- Includes access to New Grove Dictionary of Opera and New Grove Dictionary of Jazz (2nd edition)
MGG Online (Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart)
- Comprehensive German-language encyclopedia
- Provides in-depth articles on many aspects of music and related areas
- Features all content from the 2nd edition plus current updates and additions
- Integrated translation available
- View a tutorial on using MGG Online (4:00)

The Encyclopedia of Native Music by Brian Wright-McLeod
Brian Wright-McLeod has gathered the musicians and their music into this comprehensive reference, an authoritative source for biographies and discographies of hundreds of Native artists. This encyclopedia recognizes the multifaceted contributions made by Native recording artists by tracing the history of their commercially released music and provides an overview of the surprising abundance of recorded Native music while underlining its historical value. This encyclopedia has almost 1,800 entries spanning more than 100 years.

Books, handbooks, and collections of essays

Aboriginal Music in Contemporary Canada by Anna Hoefnagels and Beverley Diamond (Editors)
Comprised of essays, interviews, and personal reflections by Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal musicians and scholars alike, the collection highlights themes of innovation, teaching and transmission, and cultural interaction.
Black Music in the Harlem Renaissance by Samuel A. Floyd (Editor)
The book features essays on a variety of subjects regarding the music of African Americans: vocal concert music, musical theater, Duke Ellington, and the relationship of the music to literature and art. An extensive music bibliography lists works composed during the period.
The Garland Handbook of Latin American Music by Dale A. Olsen and Daniel E. Sheehy (Editors)
This handbook comprises essays from The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: Volume 2 (South America, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean). Revised and updated, the essays offer detailed, regional studies of the different musical cultures of Latin America and examine the ways in which music helps to define the identity of this particular area.
Hungry Listening by Dylan Robinson
Reimagining how we understand and write about the Indigenous listening experience, Hungry Listening is the first book to consider listening from both Indigenous and settler colonial perspectives. A critical response to what has been called the "whiteness of sound studies," Dylan Robinson evaluates how decolonial practices of listening emerge from increasing awareness of our listening positionality.
I Got Something to Say by Matthew Oware
What do millennial rappers in the United States say in their music? This timely and compelling book answers this question by decoding the lyrics of over 700 songs from contemporary rap artists. Using innovative research techniques, Matthew Oware reveals how emcees perpetuate and challenge gendered and racialized constructions of masculinity, femininity, and sexuality.
Marginalized Voices in Music Education by Brent C. Talbot (Editor)
Explores the American culture of music teachers by looking at marginalization and privilege in music education as a means to critique prevailing assumptions and paradigms. In fifteen contributed essays, authors set out to expand notions of who we believe we are as music educators -- and who we want to become.
Music of the First Nations by Tara Browner (Editor)
This unique anthology presents a wide variety of approaches to an ethnomusicology of Inuit and Native North American musical expression. Contributors include Native and non-Native scholars who provide erudite and illuminating perspectives on aboriginal culture, incorporating both traditional practices and contemporary musical influences.
Reframing the Musical by Sarah Whitfield (Editor)
This critical and inclusive edited collection offers an overview of the musical in relation to issues of race, culture and identity. Bringing together contributions from Cultural, American and Theatre Studies for the first time, the chapters offer fresh perspectives on musical theatre history, calling for a radical and inclusive new approach.
Rethinking Difference in Music Scholarship by Olivia Bloechl, Melanie Lowe, Jeffrey Kallberg (Editors)
Two decades after the publication of several landmark scholarly collections on music and difference, musicology has largely accepted difference-based scholarship. This collection of essays by distinguished contributors is a major contribution to this field, covering the key issues and offering an array of individual case studies and methodologies.
So You Want to Sing World Music: A Guide for Performers by Matthew Hoch (Editor)
Explores vocal music from around the globe. World music styles have been making increasing inroads into Western popular music, music theater, choral concerts, and even concert hall performances. This book serves as a compendium of these genres and offers technical approaches to singing non-Western styles.