The international research project, "Data science for the study of calypsorhythm through history" (DaCaRyH), involved a collaboration between ethnomusicologists, computer scientists, and a composer. The primary aim of DaCaRyH was to explore how ethnomusicology could inform data science, and vice versa. Its secondary aim focused on creative applications of the results. This article summarises the results of the project, and more broadly discusses the benefits and challenges in such interdisciplinary research. It concludes with suggestions for reducing the barriers to similar work.