Skip to content
RAI FILM
About
About RAI Film
Meet the team
Prices
Film Distribution
Watch on demand
Ethnographic Film Catalogue
Teaching resources
RAI Film Festival
About RAI Film Festival
Film Festival 2025
Film Festival 2025 Group passes
Film Festival prizes and awards
Film Conference 2025
Archive of past editions
Menu
About
About RAI Film
Meet the team
Prices
Film Distribution
Watch on demand
Ethnographic Film Catalogue
Teaching resources
RAI Film Festival
About RAI Film Festival
Film Festival 2025
Film Festival 2025 Group passes
Film Festival prizes and awards
Film Conference 2025
Archive of past editions
RAI FILM
Login
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
About
About RAI Film
Meet the team
Prices
Film Distribution
Watch on demand
Ethnographic Film Catalogue
Teaching resources
RAI Film Festival
About RAI Film Festival
Film Festival 2025
Film Festival 2025 Group passes
Film Festival prizes and awards
Film Conference 2025
Archive of past editions
Menu
About
About RAI Film
Meet the team
Prices
Film Distribution
Watch on demand
Ethnographic Film Catalogue
Teaching resources
RAI Film Festival
About RAI Film Festival
Film Festival 2025
Film Festival 2025 Group passes
Film Festival prizes and awards
Film Conference 2025
Archive of past editions
Login
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
Films
28 Films
Keywords
“Music Ethnomusicology”
and
“MusicEthnomusicology”
x
Series
“0”
x
films with a digital version
18
short films
6
films available on demand
3
Region
Australia
1
British-Irish Isles
1
Central Asia and Far East
1
East Africa
2
Hong Kong
1
Latin America
1
Melanesia
1
Middle and Near East
3
North America
2
South America
2
South Asia
7
South-East Asia
1
Southern Africa
1
West Africa
3
Western Europe
2
Western Mediterranean
1
Country
Afghanistan
5
Angola
1
Australia
1
Brazil
3
Cote d’Ivoire
1
Ghana
2
India
2
Indonesia
1
Italy
2
Japan
1
Nigeria
1
Pakistan
2
Senegal
1
The Netherlands
1
Tibet
1
Uganda
1
United Kingdom
1
United States
2
Vanuatu
1
not set
1
Keywords
Art / Artists / Artisans
2
Children / Young people
2
Collective / Community identity
3
Colonialism / Postcolonialism
1
Dance / Theatre / Performance
5
Education / Knowledge Transmission
4
Education / Knowledge transmission
1
Everyday Life
2
Festivals / Carnival
2
Gender Role and Identity
1
Herding
1
Hunting / Gathering / Fishing
1
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
1
Informant-researcher relationship
1
Intergenerational relations
1
Linguistics / Language
1
Marriage
1
Material Culture
2
Memory
1
Migration
3
Music / Ethnomusicology
28
x
Nomads and Nomadism
1
Personal Narrative
1
Political Activists
1
Popular Culture
1
Possession
1
Race / Racism / Antiracism
1
Refugees / Displaced populations
3
Religion / Belief / Faith
3
Resistance
1
Ritual
3
Rural
1
Social Change
2
Tourism / Travel / Pilgrimage
1
Travellers / Roma
1
War / Conflict / Reconciliation
1
Directors
Assunção, Matthias Röhrig
1
Baily, John
9
Barreiro, Georgina
1
Boonzajer-Flaes, Robert
2
Cao, Umberto
1
Deger, Jennifer
1
Dettmann, Christine
1
Diaz, Juan Diego
1
Esteva, Jordi
1
Francois, Alexandre
1
Fruzzetti, Lina
1
Grootheest, Sjoerd van
1
Hellwig, Jean
1
Hunt, Clare
1
LaPin, Deirdre
1
Longinotto, Kim
1
Ma, Chi-hang
1
MacDougall, David
1
MacDougall, Judith
1
Mansu, Marcia
1
Mura, Andrea
1
Pakleppa, Richard
1
Pereira, Nilton
1
Schillaci, Rossella
1
Speed, Frank
1
Strasse, Cornelia
1
Wittersheim, Eric
1
Wunungmurra, Paul
1
Östör, Ákos
1
Series
not set
28
x
Country of production
Argentina
1
Australia
2
Brazil
3
Côte d’Ivoire
1
France
1
Hong Kong
1
Italy
2
Netherlands
2
Senegal
1
South Africa
1
Spain
1
Switzerland
1
United Kingdom
13
United States
2
not set
1
Year of production
1970
1
1983
1
1984
1
1985
1
1986
2
1988
2
1992
1
2001
1
2003
1
2005
1
2007
1
2008
3
2009
1
2013
2
2014
2
2015
2
2016
1
2017
2
2018
1
2022
1
Film list
Across the Border: Afghan Musicians exiled in Peshawar
2008
54
‘
Directed by
John Baily
.
It is the year 2000 and most of Afghanistan is under the control of the Taliban. Hearing that many of Afghanistain’s musicians are now in exile across the border in Pakistan, ethnomusicologist John
South Asia
Refugees / Displaced populations
Music / Ethnomusicology
Religion / Belief / Faith
Amir – An Afghan Refugee Musician’s Life in Peshavar, Pakistan
1985
52
‘
Directed by
John Baily
.
The film investigates and portrays the life of Afghan refugees living in and around the city of Peshawar in northern Pakistan through the experiences of the musician Amir. The aspirations of Afghan
South Asia
Music / Ethnomusicology
Refugees / Displaced populations
Ballad on the Shore
2017
98
‘
Intangible Culture
Directed by
Chi-hang Ma
.
On the small isle of Tap Mun, Hong Kong, veteran fishermen sing ballads with pitches and tones that alternate and repeat themselves as if they were synchronising with the ocean waves. But as fewer
Hong Kong
Hunting / Gathering / Fishing
Music / Ethnomusicology
Body Games – Capoeira and Ancestry
2014
87
‘
Student
Directed by
Richard Pakleppa
Matthias Röhrig Assunção
Christine Dettmann
.
The film follows master Cobra Mansa and his friends in the search for the African roots of the Brazilian martial art Capoeira. A powerful myth links Capoeira to a legendary Angolan game called Engolo
South America
Southern Africa
Dance / Theatre / Performance
Music / Ethnomusicology
Festivals / Carnival
Cine Rabeca
2022
55
‘
Directed by
Marcia Mansu
.
Time dimensions emerge from the relation between the visible and the imagined, between memory and the experience of the present. A unique place emerges through the entanglement of music and archive
Latin America
Music / Ethnomusicology
Art / Artists / Artisans
Dance / Theatre / Performance
Dor, Low is Better
1988
47
‘
Directed by
Robert Boonzajer-Flaes
.
The film offers an experimental approach to the comparative study of cultures: the monks of a Tibetan monastery compare their own flutes with the Swiss alphorn and the Dutch windhorn introduced to
South Asia
Music / Ethnomusicology
Ritual
Ghetto PSA
2016
15
‘
Special Interest
Directed by
Rossella Schillaci
.
Jacob arrived in Italy alone from French Guinea when he was 11 years old. Today he is 27, and hip hop music is his whole world: it is his way to express dreams, hopes and frustrations, and to not
Western Europe
Music / Ethnomusicology
Migration
Education / Knowledge Transmission
The Good Wife of Tokyo
1992
52
‘
Directed by
Kim Longinotto
Clare Hunt
.
Kazuko Hohki goes back to Tokyo with her band, the ‘Frank Chickens’, after living in England for 15 years. This wry and delightful film records her re-experiencing of Japan after a long absence,
Central Asia and Far East
Music / Ethnomusicology
Gender Role and Identity
Marriage
Social Change
Herat Films: The Annual Cycle of Music in Herat
1983
54
‘
Directed by
John Baily
.
These videos were edited from seven hours of Super 8 film shot by John Baily during two years of ethnomusicological fieldwork carried out in the Herat region of western Afghanistan between 1973 and
Middle and Near East
Dance / Theatre / Performance
Music / Ethnomusicology
A Kabul Music Diary
2003
52
‘
Directed by
John Baily
.
Ethnomusicologist John Baily returns to Kabul to see what is happening in the world of music one year after the defeat of the Taliban. The film documents a variety of musical activities, including
Middle and Near East
Music / Ethnomusicology
War / Conflict / Reconciliation
Komian
2015
72
‘
Directed by
Jordi Esteva
.
Four years after the filming of “Return to the Land of Souls”, about the rituals of trance and possession, the narrator travels to Ivory Coast in search of a priestess possessed by the Spirit of
West Africa
Possession
Ritual
Music / Ethnomusicology
Lessons from Gulam
1986
52
‘
Directed by
John Baily
.
A detailed study of musical enculturation within the Asian community of Bradford in northern England. Gulam Musa is the principal character and he is shown as a teacher and as a musician. The film
British-Irish Isles
Music / Ethnomusicology
Education / Knowledge Transmission
Messages by Music – Senegal in Transition
2013
76
‘
Directed by
Cornelia Strasse
.
The traditional musicians in Senegal were in charge of retaining the history of their ethnic group, along with ways of thinking and behaving. Their aim was to conserve the society. Nowadays the
East Africa
Music / Ethnomusicology
Colonialism / Postcolonialism
Social Change
Political Activists
Resistance
Nawi
1970
20
‘
Directed by
David MacDougall
Judith MacDougall
.
This classic ethnographic documentary, by the renowned filmmaking team of David and Judith MacDougall, explores the nomadic life of the Jie of Uganda. During the dry season the Jie leave their
East Africa
Herding
Music / Ethnomusicology
Nomads and Nomadism
Nodas. Launeddas at the time of crisis.
2015
29
‘
Intangible Culture
Directed by
Umberto Cao
Andrea Mura
.
Dating back 3000 years to the Nuragic civilisation on Sardinia, ‘launeddas’ are wind instruments that testify to contacts from across the Mediterranean. Although they nearly vanished in the 1960s, in
Western Mediterranean
Music / Ethnomusicology
Festivals / Carnival
Intergenerational relations
The Poet’s Salary
2008
59
‘
Directed by
Eric Wittersheim
Alexandre Francois
.
For the first time in many years, on the little island of Motalava in Vanuatu, a new song will be composed in the island’s ancestors’ language, the language of god Quat, and become part of the
Melanesia
Music / Ethnomusicology
Linguistics / Language
Informant-researcher relationship
Polka
1986
50
‘
Directed by
Robert Boonzajer-Flaes
.
The film confronts the accordion music of Chicano immigrants in southern Texas with the traditional music of accordion players in Austria. Without making any final judgements on the ‘roots’ of
North America
Music / Ethnomusicology
Collective / Community identity
Return of the Nightingales
2013
33
‘
Directed by
John Baily
.
In 2010 Afghan musicologist Dr. Ahmad Sarmast opened the Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM), a coeducational vocational music school in Kabul that teaches Afghan, Indian and Western
South Asia
Music / Ethnomusicology
Education / Knowledge Transmission
Children / Young people
Ringtone
2014
30
‘
Directed by
Jennifer Deger
Paul Wunungmurra
.
Yolngu Aboriginal families offer glimpses into their lives and relationships through their choice of ringtones. From ancestral clan songs to 80s hip hop artists and local gospel tunes, these songs
Australia
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Music / Ethnomusicology
Material Culture
Scenes of Afghan Music: London, Kabul, Hamburg, Dublin
2007
97
‘
Directed by
John Baily
.
Scenes of Afghan Music is Part IV of ‘A Quartet of Afghan Music Films’, made in the author’s personal “fieldwork movie” style. It reveals the diversity of music and dance practices in the
Middle and Near East
Music / Ethnomusicology
Migration
Collective / Community identity
Singing Pictures – Women Painters of Naya
2005
45
‘
Directed by
Lina Fruzzetti
Ákos Östör
.
For generations the Patua (Chitrakara) communities of West Bengal have been painters and singers of stories depicted in scrolls. The film follows the daily lives of Muslim Patua women from Naya
South Asia
Material Culture
Art / Artists / Artisans
Music / Ethnomusicology
Sons of the Moon
1984
25
‘
Directed by
Frank Speed
Deirdre LaPin
.
In isolated mountain hamlets in Nigeria’s Jos Plateau the Ngas have traditionally observed the movements of the moon in the night sky. The moon is a key symbol in Ngas cosmology, believed to
West Africa
Religion / Belief / Faith
Music / Ethnomusicology
Everyday Life
Ritual
Sundanese Culture Alive
1988
46
‘
Directed by
Jean Hellwig
.
Jaipongan is a new style of music and dancing which was ‘invented’ about a decade ago on Western Java, Indonesia. Drawing on more classical Javanese music and taking elements from Japanese and
South-East Asia
Music / Ethnomusicology
Dance / Theatre / Performance
Tablas and Drum Machines: Afghan Music in California
2001
58
‘
Directed by
John Baily
.
Ethnomusicologist John Baily visits Fremont, California, the new home of the large community of exiled Afghans. He is joined by Kabuli master-musician, Ustad Asif Mahmoud, who plans to open a small
North America
Music / Ethnomusicology
Education / Knowledge transmission
Refugees / Displaced populations
Tabom in Bahia
2017
52
‘
Directed by
Juan Diego Diaz
Nilton Pereira
.
There is a small community in Ghana who identify as Brazilians. Their name is the Tabom. They are the descendants of former enslaved Africans and creoles who resettled from Bahia to Ghana during the
South America
West Africa
Music / Ethnomusicology
Collective / Community identity
Memory
Migration
Popular Culture
Race / Racism / Antiracism
Tourism / Travel / Pilgrimage
Tara’s footprint
2018
70
‘
Intangible Culture
Directed by
Georgina Barreiro
.
Tara’s Footprint skilfully conjures the atmosphere of Khechuperi, a village in the Himalayas in north eastern India. Eschewing standard exposition the film follows four young siblings as they go
South Asia
Children / Young people
Dance / Theatre / Performance
Everyday Life
Music / Ethnomusicology
Religion / Belief / Faith
Rural
Ustad Rahim
2008
55
‘
Directed by
John Baily
.
Shot in the city of Heart, western Afghanistan 1994, in the period between the fall of the last leftist government and the coming of the Taliban, this is a portrait film of an outstanding musician,
South Asia
Music / Ethnomusicology
Education / Knowledge Transmission
Personal Narrative
Vasile Nedea
2009
43
‘
Directed by
Sjoerd van Grootheest
.
The film tells the story of Vasile Nedea, a Romanian gypsy musician an Amsterdam. Due to his former illegal status there have been times in which he was forced to show his skills whilst busking the
Western Europe
Travellers / Roma
Music / Ethnomusicology