This article sets out the results of research into effort in Dhrupad, a genre of Hindustani music. I examine gestural interactions with imaginary objects that vocalists outline when engaging with melodies. The study takes an embodied cognition stance and applies thematic analysis and inductive coding to original interviews with Dhrupad musicians in India, the UK, and the Netherlands. My findings demonstrate that from the singers’ cognitive perspectives, their hand movements are deeply connected to their voices. I also offer insights on the relationships between bodily movement, sound, and imagery that are used to inform the development of effort inference models.

Trommeslåtter (drum tunes) have played a vital role in Norwegian traditional music for several hundred years. This article examines the development and performance of drum tunes in Norway, with a special focus on the work of Johannes Sundvor in transcribing drum music. We present several examples and analyse tunes from Sundvor’s collection. We also demonstrate how this Norwegian drum tradition is related to a tradition of European military drumming. The article concludes with a discussion of aspects of interpretation and an outline of the status of drum tunes today.

Before colonialism, Gbe women enjoyed a social status on par with men. However, there has been a shift in the postcolonial social structure of Gbe societies. Modern capitalism, which accompanied colonial structures, privileged men, eroding many woman-empowering practices. This article examines Ogu women’s marginality through an ethnographic study of gangbe (a musical genre exclusive to married Ogu women). I argue that the sources of Ogu women’s marginality are interlocking, involving oppression stemming from colonial structures and the values of contiguous Yorùbá people. I propose a collaborative intervention that upends typical power structures that privilege Western and Yorùbá ideation over Indigenous Ogu knowledge, values, and practices.

This article reflects on the knowledge and experience of North Korean music and dance among North Koreans who now reside in Britain. In particular, we explore their memories from before they escaped the isolated so-called socialist paradise. North Koreans mostly arrived in Britain between 2004 and 2008; they arrived as refugees and applied for asylum. Although the last four decades has seen much ethnomusicological research on music and migration, we remain mindful of Reyes Schramm’s argument about the importance of studying refugee music to better understand music traditions. As with other parts of the world, though, today there are a multitude of online and published materials on North Korea, including on music and dance, most emanating from the country. Given that there are few if any opportunities to conduct fieldwork inside the country, researchers typically use the available materials to construct accounts. But to what extent do the memories of North Koreans who are resident in Britain contrast and challenge the online and published materials?