In 2008, the Loeb Music Library’s Archive of World Music received a collection of fieldwork from ethnomusicologist Lowell Lybarger, now titled the Lowell H. Lybarger Collection of Pakistani Music Materials.
Dr. Lowell Lybarger (courtesy LinkedIn)
Supported by a Fulbright program, Dr. Lybarger lived and conducted ethnomusicology research in Pakistan between the years of 1994-1996, while working on his Masters in Ethnomusicology from the University of Washington. During this time, he studied with the renowned tabla master Ustad Shaukat Hussain Khan.
After completing his Master’s degree, Dr. Lybarger returned to Pakistan numerous times between the years of 1999-2007 to continue his research. In 2003, Dr. Lybarger received his PhD in Musicology from the University of Toronto.
The Lowell H. Lybarger Collection of Pakistani Music Materials represents the extensive fieldwork conducted by him in Pakistan, India, the United States and Canada from 1994-2007. The bulk of the collection consists of field recordings of Pakistani music made on various analog and digital video formats (Hi-8mm, VHS, mini-DV, etc.). Many of the recordings and fieldwork in this collection were used as the basis for Dr. Lybarger’s 2003 PhD dissertation, The Tabla Solo Repertoire of Pakistani Panjab: An Ethnomusicological Perspective (abstract (PDF)).