Hugo Zemp

Hugo Zemp (born 14 May 1937, Basel, Switzerland and died 3rd January 2026) is a Swiss-French ethnomusicologist. A prolific recorder of ethnic music and a writer on the subject, he has also shot a number of films about music of various regions, including 1988 film Voix de tête, voix de poitrine and 2002 film An African Brass Band filmed by him in Ivory Coast in 2002.

Zemp studied musicology and anthropology at the University of Basel graduating in 1961. He also finished a diploma in percussion at the City of Basel Music Academy in 1960. He attended École pratique des hautes études for his doctorate.

He joined French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) becoming a director of research. He taught ethnomusicology at the Paris Nanterre University In 1982, he became editor the recording series (Collection du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique et du Musée de l'Homme on the Le Chant du Monde record label. In tens of productions by Zemp, it included music from Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Chad, Ivory Coast, Romania, Solomon Islands and various countries in Central Africa. There were also a number of recordings of yodeling from Switzerland.

Select bibliography Musique dan. La musique dans la pensée et la vie sociale d'une société africaine (1971)

Aré'Aré: un peuple mélanésien et sa musique (1978, with Daniel de Coppet). Paris: Editions du Seuil

Select filmography Musique 'Aré'aré (1979)

Le Chant des harmoniques (The Song of Harmonics), 1989 with Trân Quang Hai

Select discography Musique de Guadalcanal: Solomon Islands (1970) – recording

Flutes de pan mélanésiennes 'Are'Are 1 (1971) – recording

Fataleka And Baegu Music - Malaita, Solomon Islands (1973) – recording