Anthony Seeger

About the Author

Anthony Seeger is a distinguished anthropologist and ethnomusicologist whose work has profoundly shaped the understanding of indigenous cultures in the Amazon. With decades of fieldwork among the Suyá people of Mato Grosso, Brazil, Seeger blends rigorous scholarship with a deep appreciation for oral traditions and performative arts. His seminal book, Why Suyá Sing: A Musical Anthropology of an Amazonian People, explores how music serves as a vital thread in social cohesion, ritual, and identity formation within this community. As a former director of the Smithsonian Institution's Folkways Records, Seeger has also championed the preservation and dissemination of global musical heritage through recordings and archives. His interdisciplinary approach continues to influence studies in anthropology, musicology, and cultural preservation, bridging academic inquiry with the living voices of remote societies.