Profile of the Center for World Music

Ethnomusicology today

Music is not mere entertainment or high art. It is an emotional force. It can promote understanding, but it can also divide. Music is profoundly social. What role do music and sounds play in society? This is the question that ethnomusicology addresses. The Center for World Music pursues the task of making ethnomusicological knowledge applicable to society - entirely in the sense of an engaged ethnomusicology. The close integration of theory and practice, the regional, international and interdisciplinary partners and the four working areas of archive, research, teaching and community service create synergetic effects that characterise the work at the Center for World Music in Hildesheim.

Our aims

The Center for World Music is a centre for ethnomusicological research and teaching. It is dedicated to the global diversity of musical traditions - as a centre of excellence in ethnomusicology with an international orientation, regional commitment and local location. It preserves significant traces and legacies of worldwide musical creation and makes them accessible to academia, the broader public and source communities. The close cooperation with the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media and with the Foundation of Lower Saxony forms the basis for the successful work. The activities of the Center for World Music are located at the interface between academia and the public: In addition to the development and enrichment of the collections, the increased internationalisation of research activities and the expansion of the teaching programme, the CWM is also intensively expanding the area of community service. The CWM makes an important contribution to integration and education. It promotes cultural and musical diversity in the region. With this range of tasks, the Center for World Music has a unique profile in Europe.


The Center for World Music is an archive and laboratory, a place of research and study, a meeting place for musicians and a basis for international encounters and understanding.

 


The Center for World Music is in close cooperation with the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media and the Foundation of Lower Saxony.