Simha Arom

Simha Arom (August 16, 1930, Düsseldorf, Germany) is an Israeli and French ethnomusicologist. After studying the french horn with Jean Devémy at the Paris Conservatoire (1951–4), Arom was first horn in the Israel Broadcasting Authority SO in Jerusalem (1958-63). In 1963 he founded the Musée National Boganda at Bangui (Central African Republic), and was its director until 1967. Returning to Paris, Arom undertook musicological studies with Chailley at the Sorbonne (1968-73), then entered the CNRS in 1968 and his subsequent career has been with that institution. In 1993, Arom was appointed lecturer at the Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales in Paris, and was an associate professor at Tel-Aviv University (1979-83) and also music director at Israel Broadcasting Authority (1980-82). Simha Arom has devoted himself chiefly to the systematic study of oral traditional music, particularly the polyphonic and polyrhythmic music of Central Africa.