Review: The Global Jukebox

Abstract

The Global Jukebox . Anna L. Wood, Creative Director and Anthropologist; Gideon D'Arcangelo, Consulting Executive Producer; Victor Grauer, Codeveloper and Cantometrics Project Advisor; Forrestine Paulay, Codeveloper and Choreometrics Director; et al. URL: https://theglobaljukebox.org/ The Global Jukebox has a venerable history and significant aims. Its central principle is what founder Alan Lomax named “cultural equity,” “the right of all people to practice, maintain and pass down their languages, customs and traditions with equal respect and with harm to no one.”1 The safeguarding of the world's plethora of perspectives and experiences is growing ever more urgent as many confront displacement as a result of political upheavals and climate change, and the promise of the Internet to be a tool for equality threatens to dissolve under the hegemony of mass-produced culture. In the face of these issues, the Global Jukebox is more than just an online museum of sound: the remit is expansive and ambitious. It is intended as a resource for teachers, students, and scholars, enabling them to discover a rich, global tapestry of ethnomusicological content and to explore patterns of connection between the sounds and movements of various cultures. But as well as being a tool for pedagogy and data science, the site also aims to connect people with their cultural heritage. It is for migrants and refugees, separated from their birthplace, “who miss the sounds and body language of home”; it is also for indigenous peoples, “desiring to hear the thrilling voices of their grandparents and great grandparents, and to see the dances which had been for them the most …