Popular Music Studies and Ethnomusicology in Australasia

A characteristic of the field of popular music studies in Australia and New Zealand (Australasia) is the strong and enduring presence of ethnomusicology and allied ethnographic approaches to popular music research in this region. In Australasia, ethnomusicology offers popular music researchers the opportunity to engage in a meaningful and direct way with a range of musical practices by Indigenous and migrant performers. Meanwhile, popular music studies provides ethnomusicologists with a way of demonstrating that they are interested in more than just traditional or ancestral musical practices. This article will provide a history of the interdisciplinary relationship between ethnomusicology and popular music studies in Australasia, and will examine the role of Indigenous and migrant music research in fostering links between these two disciplinary fields.