Supporting Diversity in the Music Experience
This guide provides resources that support diversity within the music experience at St. Olaf.
LibKey Nomad
Research and Instruction Librarian for Music & Fine Arts
Karen Olson
she/her/hers
Recent Publications on African Music
Indigenous African Popular MusicAvailable online.
Rap Music and the Youth in MalawiAvailable online.
The rhythm of Somalia : a collection of songs, stories, and traditionsCall Number: ML350 .H37 2023Available in print.
Transforming VòdúnAvailable online.
Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, and Overviews
We have many more dictionaries and encyclopedias than those listed below. To find more reference sources, search Catalyst for your topic keywords and the phrase (dictionary OR encyclopedia) in parentheses, like this:
Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African MusiciansCall Number: Music Ref: ML105 .S67Available in print.
The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: AfricaCall Number: Music Ref: ML100 .G16 1998Available in print and online.
Score Anthologies
- Let Your Voice Be Heard! Songs from Ghana and ZimbabweCall Number: M1830 .L48 1997Available in print.
Find Research and Repertoire -- Print Resources
We have many more bibliographies than those listed below. Search for them in Catalyst by searching for your keywords and the word bibliography, as shown below.
Be sure to look at the dates of the bibliographies to see how recent they are. You may be able to find more recent sources by consulting our music databases or by looking at the online resources in the next box.
African Music: A Pan-African Annotated BibliographyCall Number: ML120.A35 L4 1991Available in print.- Music of Sub-Saharan Africa: An International Bibliography and Resource GuideCall Number: Carleton Ref ML120.A35 G72 2018Available in print. Since this is a reference book at Carleton, you will need to go over to Carleton to consult it.
Find Repertoire -- Online Resources
- Karen's Giant Spreadsheet of Composer Diversity Websites -- a list of 60+ websites Karen consults when selecting new music by composers from historically underrepresented groups; please email Karen if you have suggestions of new sites to add or if links are broken.
Some of the sites Karen consults frequently from this spreadsheet include:
- Institute for Composer Diversity -- click the "search" button at the top to access their databases for composers, art songs, choral works, band works, orchestral works, and more.
- Diversity in Brass Music from Last Row Music -- lists of repertoire by woman composers and by Black composers
- No Broken Links -- Google spreadsheets for woodwind repertoire by composers from historically underrepresented groups
- Sphinx Catalogs -- music for strings by Latin American composers
- A Seat at the Piano -- piano repertoire by BIPOC and woman composers
- Music By Black Composers -- repertoire lists of music by Black composers, currently strongest in string repertoire; see also their directories of living and historic Black composers
- SongHelix -- originally designed to track art songs by topic, it now also permits searching by composer identities
- Alex Shapiro's Programming Resources -- includes pages on woman composers, LGBTQIA2s Composers, and Black, Latino, Asian, and Indian composers
Useful Links
- Center for Black Music Research (Columbia College Chicago)The Center for Black Music Research (CBMR) highlights the role of black music in world culture with materials originating or representing black music from the United States, the Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa, Europe, and Latin America, in a variety of formats: personal papers, scores, sheet music, audio-visual materials, photographs, oral histories, books, periodicals, and commercial recordings.
- International Library of African Music (Rhodes University in South Africa))ILAM aims to preserve, record, analyse, archive, teach, publish and promote the music of sub-Saharan Africa, with the object of establishing a theory of music making in Africa and assessing the social, cultural, and artistic values of African music.
- Music in Africa PortalWhile Music In Africa is designed primarily for African musicians, concert promoters, fans, and journalists, anyone with an interest in African music is welcome to explore the platform. Topics include opportunities in the music sector presented by digitalization as well as the immense societal and political influence of music in many African countries.