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Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy was an ethnomusicologist with an international reputation as a researcher, teacher, administrator, and an emeritus faculty member of the UCLA Department of Ethnomusicology.

"Jairazbhoy joined the UCLA Department of Music as a full professor in 1975 and in 1988 became the founding chair of the new Department of Ethnomusicology and Systematic Musicology at UCLA.

Professor Jairazbhoy's comprehensive knowledge of India's folk, classical, and popular music traditions was unrivalled among those in the field of ethnomusicology, which combines the study of music with the ethnographic techniques and theories of anthropology. Additionally, his promotion of audio-visual documentation and use of technology to disseminate performing arts traditions; his leadership in advancing the methodological debates of his field; and his efforts to create institutions which advance the study of 'world music' traditions, made a place for him among those whose goal is no less than global human understanding.

Born in England of Indian parents, Jairazbhoy became interested in music as a child watching his mother play the sitar at home. He attended high school in India and England and received and B.A. in Geography from the University of Washington and a Ph.D. in 1971 in Indian Music from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London."

For more information see: https://www.ethnomusic.ucla.edu/nazir-jairazbhoy