# Music and cultures

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-and-cultures/734741>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [October 15, 2015, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-and-cultures/734741 "2015-10-15T18:05:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-and-cultures/734741/1 "2015-10-15T18:05:45Z")

</div>

I was trying to find some sites where they discussed music in various cultures both past and present. I am curious as to the subject matter various cultures actually sang about.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-and-cultures/734741/2 "2015-10-15T18:19:06Z")

</div>

[The Alan Lomax Collection](http://www.loc.gov/folklife/lomax/lomaxiconicsonglist.html) has recordings of songs from the rural south in the 1930s.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2015, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-and-cultures/734741/3 "2015-10-16T09:49:29Z")

</div>

The term of art for what you want is [ethnomusicology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnomusicology). I’d start with the various [external links](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnomusicology#External_links) from the wiki article. Or you can jump straight to the links from the Society of Ethnomusicology’s site for [archives and collections](http://www.ethnomusicology.org/?Links_ArchLibMus).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2015, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-and-cultures/734741/4 "2015-10-16T14:21:12Z")

</div>

> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> [The Alan Lomax Collection](http://www.loc.gov/folklife/lomax/lomaxiconicsonglist.html) has recordings of songs from the rural south in the 1930s.

Alan Lomax traveled the world after his song collecting in the USA (often with his father & his brother). [Here’s a selection](http://research.culturalequity.org/home-audio.jsp).