Dear Sirs/Madams,
My name is Ryan and I just joined your site a few days ago. I am inquiring about any information you may have about becoming an ethnomusicologist. I have contacted Arts societies as well as state and government institutions, but to no avail. They haven’t helped at all. Growing up in a Pakistan/Yemenite house, I was surrounded by ethnic music and culture. Then three years ago I had the privelgae of returning to my father’s native Pakistan. While there, I heard ghazals, raags, melodies and rhythms I had never heard before. Perhaps the most profound moment came when I heard a street musician say that he doesn’t see a future in indigenous subcontinental music, because his would-be successors were too interested in modern Western popular music. I then made it a point to collect as many pieces of music that I could, and study as much as I could.
Over the years, I have listened to and studied as much Subcontinental music, Eastern and Western African music, indigenous Icelandic and Eastern European music and American work songs, field hollers, Negro spirituals and Delta Blues as possible. As you can see, I am extremely passionate about the study of all ethnic and indigenous musics. I do feel it is my life’s mission to collect, document, study and profess these sacred sounds, and wish to make a life of it. I am wondering if :
1. you can give me any advice as to how to become/where to go to study Ethnomusicology and
2. if a career can be made out of it.
I appreciate any advice and help-Ryan Husain
