1. About the Database

Contemporary World Music will contain 50,000 tracks that delivers the sounds of all regions from every continent. The database will contain important genres such as reggae, worldbeat, neo-traditional, world fusion, Balkanic jazz, African film, Bollywood, Arab swing and jazz, and other genres such as traditional music - Indian classical, fado, flamenco, klezmer, zydeco, gospel, gagaku, and more. This database is a complementary database to Smithsonian Global Sound for Libraries - it includes a blend of contemporary and traditional world music recordings from many labels throughout the world. The focus is concentrated on contemporary genres, such as fusion and world beat. Users can trace the history of a people's music by comparing the traditional styles with the modern interpretations offered in this database.

The first release includes music from many labels, including: Topic, Playasound, Budamusique, Air Mail Music, Manuiti, Crossing Records, Lyrichord World Music, Navras Records, and INEDIT. Bela Lakatos & The Gypsy Youth Project, Etran Finatawa, Daby Balde, Sukke, Vakoka, Benjamin Escoriza, Nuru Kane, Don Shiva, Setona, Moussa Sissoko, Musafir, Lulendo, Ye Lassina Coulibaly, Yan Kadi Faso are just a few of the artists and ensembles contributing to the collection.

Many of the titles are encyclopedic in their breadth of coverage. For example, The Voice of the People from the Topic label, a 20-volume series of English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh traditional music, is here in its entirety, as will be the Passage to India Series from Navras.

Liner notes to all the albums are included (in PDF format) as well as static URLs to each track and album in the database.

Future additions include music from Blue Flame Records and World Music Network. Content is added on a regular basis, and exciting new materials will be highlighted on the home page, so please check back regularly for updates.

2. Acknowledgements

At Alexander Street Press, the following people have been instrumental in the development of the collection:

• Andrea Eastman-Mullins
• Christina Chamberlain
• David Vaughn
• Greg Knapp
• Joanna Koslowsky
• John Field
• Liz Dutton
• Paul Dixon
• Roger Press
• Stephen Rhind-Tutt
• Tim Lloyd
• W. Gerard Poole
• Xochitl Tafoya
• Young Park