Simha Arom

Simha Arom was born in 1930 in Düsseldorf

Simha Arom was born on 16 August 1930 in Düsseldorf. Before turning to ethnomusicology, he won a First Prize for French horn at the Paris Conservatoire.

In the 1960s the Government of Israel sent him to set up a brass band in the Central African Republic. There he became drawn to the local traditional music, especially the vocal polyphony of the Aka Pygmies. He joined the CNRS in 1968 and did field work every year from 1971 to 1991 to record and study this music.

His research covers the timing of music, musical scales, polyphonic techniques and the place of music in society. He used interactive experiments to uncover the musical systems that cultures hold without stating them. He helped found several societies for ethnomusicology and music analysis and taught as a visiting professor at universities in many countries.

He is Research Director Emeritus at the CNRS. His sound archives went to the National Library of France in 2011, and he was the subject of the 2014 documentary SIMHA. His recordings influenced composers such as Luciano Berio, György Ligeti and Steve Reich.