World music courses
Explore music from different cultures, communities, countries and traditions including Folk, Jazz and Popular styles. There are new topics each year across a growing range of music styles and traditions.
To find out more about music history classes and to read our yearlong selection of courses, please see Music history: your guide to our programme which lists classes ordered by term, and by day of the week. You may then click on each title to read the full course outline.
Our staff are professional musicians who teach, write, broadcast, lecture and/or perform widely. In recent years they have worked with BBC Radio 3, Gramophone magazine, Birkbeck, SOAS (University of London), The Open University, Oxford and Cambridge University Press, Early Music, The Wigmore Hall and the Aldeburgh Festival.
Feel free to browse our programme and do email us at music@citylit.ac.uk with any questions.
- Music in context: Cuba
Course start date: Thu 1 May 2025Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Shyam ShahThe Cuban sound has travelled far and wide, from being the foundation of Salsa music in the Americas, to its return home to Africa. But how did this relatively small island in the Caribbean have such a large musical influence, and why was it so readily accepted?Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £139.00 - Music in context: Kenya Course start date: Tue 1 Jul 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Shyam ShahExplore East African circulations in popular music from 1946 onwards. Discover how musicologists study the music of Rumba and Benga. - Great albums: Kind of BlueCourse start date: Tue 8 Jul 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Albi GravenerDiscover everything you have always wanted to know about this extraordinary recording, one of the most critically acclaimed but also commercially successful in the history of jazz.Full fee £29.00 Senior fee £23.00 Concession £20.00 - The saxophone storyCourse start date: Mon 22 Sep 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Albi GravenerHow did a musical joke became arguably one of the most distinctive and expressive of all instruments? We will focus on this strand within the history of jazz but not exclusively. - World music: rhythm driven tunes from Brazil, Cuba, Ghana and SenegalCourse start date: Sun 5 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Sarha MooreCome to play tunes from several traditions and two continents, working with complex rhythms in related and contrasting ways. There is a musical narrative that begins in Africa, travels to the Caribbean and South America, then back to Africa, carrying musical styles and rhythmic patterns. We will explore samples of this rhythmic timeline.
Piano places are limited to two so please check with the department prior to enrolling if you want to play piano on this course.Full fee £149.00 Senior fee £149.00 Concession £104.00 - Big Band: from 1920s Chicago to London 2000sCourse start date: Mon 3 Nov 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Albi GravenerWe will explore the history and evolution of the big band and large ensemble in jazz throughout the 20th century.Full fee £89.00 Senior fee £71.00 Concession £62.00
Can't see a course you want?
Add this category to your waiting list to set up alerts and we will update you when new courses are released online.
Add me to waiting list