Music Distinct Countries revealed by Computers

Dec.21 , 2017. London More info.

Computational study of world music outliers reveals countries with distinct recordings

Botswana is the country with the most distinct musical recordings around the world while China has the most distinct recordings in relation to its neighbours, according to research by Queen Mary University of London.

The study, published in PLOS ONE, demonstrates the first time computational tools have been used to compare world music cultures at a large scale. In particular, the researchers aimed to identify recordings that have outstanding musical characteristics – referred to as ‘outliers’.

The researchers also explored geographical patterns of music outliers for different sets of features and found that Benin has the most outlier recordings with respect to rhythm and harmony, French Guiana with respect to timbre, and Zimbabwe with respect to melody.

Lead author Maria Panteli, from Queen Mary’s School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, said: “This is the first study to investigate outliers in world music with such a large scale and tracing the geographic origin of these recordings could help identify areas of the world that have developed a unique musical character.”