The aim of Intercultural Musicology is to provide a forum for discourse that includes the development of a theoretical framework for the nascent field of intercultural musicology.

This field includes the study of (a) one’s own indigenous music culture using techniques applicable to other music cultures (b) music cultures other than one’s indigenous culture (c) music created by combining elements from various cultures, and (d) other forms of intercultural activity, for example, the study of performers who specialise in non-indigenous music idioms.

By this definition, intercultural musicology is a broad based field that includes elements of musicology and ethnomusicology - comparative and historical musicology. Although it is possible to claim that in practice, ethnomusicology embraces Western and non-Western musicological study, and that a plural form of the term - "ethnomusicologies" - probably captures better what it involves. As it is conceptually flawed, one wonders whether the ethnomusicological field is not weighted against "insiders" and others who wish to present alternative perspectives. Secondly, the antecedents and the history of the term preclude its full acceptance as being representative of the activities of the Centre of Intercultural Music Arts. However, it is obvious that some of the techniques and methodologies practised by ethnomusicologists as well as some of ethnomusicological techniques and practices are relevant to intercultural musicology.

Indeed, it can be argued that intercultural musicology needs to take the centre ground in musicological studies, as there is a comparative, intercultural, dimension in much of musicology. This is especially relevant in the twenty-first century in which technological, political and economic factors have exerted a strong influence on musical practice all over the world.

Intercultural musicology does not only embrace studies of traditional musics worldwide; it is also concerned with writings of Asian, African and other non-Western scholars on Western music. It also includes scholarship that allows multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, multiple and divergent perspectives from those who seek to enhance and expand our current thinking about musical endeavours. For example, studies of compositions in which elements of non-Western traditional music are combined with those of Western art music require a scholarly approach which integrates techniques of ethnomusicology with those of historical musicology.

The editor is particularly interested in materials dealing with interculturalism after 1950, and welcomes contributions that generate discourse on the concept of intercultural musicology (e.g. research reports, previews and reviews of performances, notes on the works of composers and performers, biographical data on composers and performers, theoretical concepts bearing upon creative methods in intercultural music, information on new writings and recordings). Diversity of perspectives necessary for an international readership is welcome but the opinions expressed by individual authors may not necessarily reflect that of the editor.

As a peer reviewed journal, Intercultural Musicology will be published on the Internet. Two issues will be published per annum, and subscribers who do not have Internet access can opt for the hard paper version.