On February 19-21, 2010, the First International Conference on Analytical Approaches to World Music (AAWM) convened on the campus of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. There, scholars from five continents representing the disciplines of music theory, ethnomusicology, musicology, cognitive psychology, computer science, and mathematics, as well as performers from a diverse array of musical cultures and traditions, came together with a common desire to engage in a unique cross-cultural and interdisciplinary dialogue, and in so doing, to promote and further enhance our collective understanding of the vast body of music we in the west commonly refer to as "world" music. What resulted was a compelling discourse that exceeded the expectations of all involved, and forcefully prompted the organizers to make the AAWM conference a biennial event. Indeed, plans are currently underway for the conference's second installment, which will occur at The University of British Columbia in May of 2012.

The creation of the online journal Analytical Approaches to World Music represents an attempt to capture, sustain, and further extend this remarkable dialogue in a written format that is easily accessible to the widest possible audience. Within its pages, we aim to deliver the same broad spectrum of approaches, repertories, and musical issues in the form of articles, book reviews, letters to the editors, critical forums, and the like. In addition, the journal website will also host online discussion boards, with which we seek to provide a valuable forum for more informal discourse that fosters a stimulating exchange of ideas amongst scholars and musicians from across the globe.

We wish to thank the members of our Advisory Panel, Editorial Board, Editorial Staff, and many friends and colleagues who donated their creativity, energy, and time in order to make Analytical Approaches to World Music possible. Finally, we proudly dedicate the pages of this journal to the memory of Fabrizio Pellizzaro Ferreri, a jazz pianist, composer and ethnomusicologist whose innovative analytical approaches and cultural perspectives provided a powerful shaping force in the development of AAWM.

Lawrence Shuster and Rob Schultz, Editors

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