The following people are known for their scholarly contributions to the ethnomusicology of the music of Africa:
- V. Kofi Agawu (born 1956), professor of music and African and African-American studies at Harvard; studied music of the Ewe people of Ghana
- Paul Berliner (born 1946), won ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for his ethnomusicology book on the Zimbabwean mbira
- John Blacking (1928–1990), earned doctorate at University of the Witwatersrand for his work on Venda children's songs
- Akin Euba (born 1935), composer and ethnomusicologist of West African music, founded the theory of African pianism
- Arthur Morris Jones (1889–1980), early 20th century missionary who published two-volume Studies in African Music
- Gerhard Kubik (born 1934), author of books on the theory of African music and on the African roots of American music
- Alan P. Merriam (1923-1980), author of African Music in Perspective
- Joseph Hanson Kwabena Nketia (born 1921)
- Andrew Tracey (born 1936)
- Hugh Tracey (1903–1977), founding director of the International Library of African Music
- Colin Turnbull (1924–1994)
References
- Nketia, J. H. Kwabena (2017). "The scholarly study of African music: A historical review". In Stone, Ruth M. (ed.). The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: Africa. Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. Routledge. ISBN 9781351544351.
- Brodt, Steve (April 20, 2006). "V. Kovi Agawu, musical scholar, appointed professor". Harvard Gazette.
- "12th Annual ASCAP Deems Taylor Award Recipients". ASCAP. Retrieved 2018-11-14.
- Reily, Suza Ann; Lev Weinstock, eds. (March 1998). "John Blacking". Venda Girls' Initiation Schools. Department of Social Anthropology, Queen's University of Belfast. Archived from the original on 21 January 2013. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
- Holohan, Meghan (Winter 2004). "Musical Safari". Pitt Magazine.
- Reviews of Studies in African Music: J. Amer. Folklore, J. Res. Music Ed., MLA Notes, Music Educators J., Music & Letters, Man, Amer. Anthropologist, Africa, J. Int. Folk Music Council, Die Musikforschung, African Music, Musical Quart.
- Avorgbedor, Daniel (1996), "Review of For Gerhard Kubik: Festschrift on the Occasion of His 60th Birthday", Yearbook for Traditional Music, 28: 194, doi:10.2307/767815
- Kauffman, Robert (1985), "African Music in Perspective", Ethnomusicology, 29 (2): 374, doi:10.2307/852158
- Tracey, Hugh (1954). "The International Library of African Music". African Music: Journal of the African Music Society. 1 (1). Rhodes University: 71–73. doi:10.21504/amj.v1i1.232.