Journal of World Popular Music ed. by Simone Krüger (review)

The Journal of World Popular Musicis a new peer-reviewed journal that “publishes research and scholarship on recent issues and debates surrounding international popular musics, also known as World Music, Global Pop, World Beat or, more recently, World Music 2.0.” Available in print and electronically, the journal focuses on world music in all of its forms, with a specific emphasis on contemporary, interdisciplinary, and international perspectives. The Journal of World Popular Musicspans disciplines of popular music, ethnomusicology, anthropology, musicology, communication, media and cultural studies, sociology, geography, and other fields. The editorial board includes active researchers from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, South America, and the United States, and researchers throughout the world are invited to submit manuscripts.

The inaugural issue features an introductory editorial, five full-length articles, and nine reviews. The journal is organized according to common issues and unifying themes, with the first issue featuring “Popular Music in Australia and The Pacific,” “Popular Music in Europe,” “African Popular Music,” and a broader theme of “World Music” that focuses on the commercial genre. While viewing full-length articles requires a subscription (or a fee to view a single article), all reviews are open access. Reviews are quite thorough, ranging from 1,200 to 2,500 words, and cover relevant books, special issues, magazines, CDs, websites, DVDs, online music releases, exhibitions, artwork, radio programs, and world music festivals. The Journal of World Popular Musicalso features alternative means of presenting scholarship through creative and visual means such as photography, poetry, and artwork, as well as audio and video means through an accompanying website. In the future, the journal will include special, guest-edited issues focusing on specific themes or geographical areas.

Subscriptions help a good cause as all royalties earned by the editor, as well as a matching sum from the publisher, will be donated to the Angels Charity (http://www.angels-charity.org/), a UK charity with a special focus on music education. This journal is indexed by RILM Abstracts of Music Literature.