Klaus Wachsmann

Who was Klaus Wachsmann?

Klaus Philipp Wachsmann was a British ethnomusicologist of German birth. Born in 1907 in Berlin, he is considered a pioneer in the study of the traditional musics of Africa. He lived in Uganda from 1937 to 1957 and compiled an extensive collection of field recordings there between 1949 and 1952. The full collection was originally deposited at the British Library where they form part of the World and Traditional Music collection.

Wachsmann moved to California in 1963 and served as Professor of Music at the University of California, Los Angeles from 1963 to 1968. He died in 1984 in England.