The ethnomusicological research of Lutheran music in the Twin Cities came about as a response to the results of two surveys we conducted in the fall of 2000. One was directed at people who have never been to Minnesota, the other at people who live here. We wanted to find out what kind of images people have of Minnesota and Minnesotans. The results of these surveys were rather fascinating and amusing (you can read the summary on this site or take the survey online). It clearly stood out that the majority of people who participated in the survey saw Minnesotans as white, Scandinavian, and Lutheran (also boring and not very well educated). So we decided to research music in the Lutheran church and see what we could come up with. We worked with Oromo, Hmong, Cambodian, Laotian, Tanzanian, Sudanese, and South Indian Lutherans, among others. A fascinating world enfolded in front of us and we would like to share with you what we found and what we learned in the process of doing this research.

Lutheran Missionary Background

Christ Lutheran Church

Hmong Evangelical Lutheran Church

Laos Evangelical Lutheran Church

Oromo Lutheran Music

Swahili Lutheran Music