The main task of the JMRC is to study the musical cultures of Jewish communities of the past and present. Research encompasses ethnographies of extant oral traditions as well as historically-oriented research focusing on the interpretation of Jewish musical cultures in their widest possible social, cultural and historical context because a full appreciation of the Jewish musical traditions must refer to the musical cultures of the non-Jewish societies with whom the Jews were in close contact for the past two millennia. Thus many projects are carried on in conjunction with colleagues and institutions from around the world, expanding the vistas to co-territorial musical cultures.
