Gerhard Kubik and Moya Malamusi Papers
Address:
618 South Michigan
Chicago, Illinois 60605
Phone: (312) 369-7586
Website
Date: 1962-1999
Extent: 1 Linear Feet
Finding Aid
Abstract
Biographical/Historical Note:
Gerhard Kubik (born in 1934) is an ethnomusicologist specializing in the music of Africa and the worldwide African diaspora. He is currently a musicology professor at the University of Vienna. Through fieldwork spanning more than thirty-five years in eighteen countries, Kubik has amassed the largest collection of African traditional music worldwide. His publications include several important books in the field, among them Theory of African Music (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2010) and Africa and the Blues (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1999). Moya Aliya Malamusi and Kubik enjoy a longstanding collaborative relationship. Both scholars are also performers and have appeared with Donald Kachamba's Heritage Jazzband.
Moya Aliya Malamusi (born in 1959) is also an ethnomusicologist and professor at the University of Vienna. In addition to his projects with Kubik, Malamusi has done extensive research into guitar styles and techniques in southern Africa. Malamusi published a selection of his field recordings on a CD titled From Lake Malawi to the Zambezi (Frankfurt, 1999).
Scope and Content Note:
This collection is simply a small sampling of the field research of both Kubik and Malamusi, including photographs, sound recordings, and publications documenting their work. Of particular interest are the videotaped recordings of African dance and music and the small collection of photographs taken primarily in the 1960s in Angola, Cameroon, and Mozambique, among other locations. There is a typescript for an essay titled “African Elements in Jazz,” in addition to other writings. Kubik's donated books and recordings about the music and culture of southern Africa are shelved with the library collections.