Music: World Music

Gamelan is the first study of the music of Java and the development of the gamelan to take into account extensive historical sources and contemporary cultural theory and criticism. An ensemble dominated by bronze percussion instruments that dates back to the twelfth century in Java, the gamelan as a musical organization and a genre of performance reflects a cultural heritage that is the product of centuries of interaction between Hindu, Islamic, European, Chinese, and Malay cultural forces. Drawing on sources ranging from a twelfth-century royal poem to the writing of a twentieth-century nationalist, Sumarsam shows how the Indian-inspired contexts and ideology of the Javanese performing arts were first adjusted to the Sufi tradition and later shaped by European performance styles in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. He then turns to accounts of gamelan theory and practice from the colonial and postcolonial periods. Finally, he presents his own theory of gamelan, stressing the relationship between purely vocal melodies and classical gamelan composition.

Music in Central Java is one of several case-study volumes that can be used along with Thinking Musically, the core book in the Global Music Series. Thinking Musically incorporates music from many diverse cultures and establishes the framework for exploring the practice of music around the world. It sets the stage for an array of case-study volumes, each of which focuses on a single area of the world. Each case study uses the contemporary musical situation as a point of departure, covering historical information and traditions as they relate to the present. Visitwww.oup.com/us/globalmusic for a list of case studies in the Global Music Series. The website also includes instructional materials to accompany each study. Music in Central Java offers a vivid introduction to the region's musical and cultural landscape, showing how three themes--flexibility, appropriateness, and interconnectedness--characterize Javanese musical practices and traditions. Drawing on his extensive fieldwork, author Benjamin Brinnertakes an in-depth look at gamelan music--a traditional musical ensemble tradition that typically features metallophones, xylophones, drums, and gongs--providing readers with a sense of what it means to be a musician performing gamelan. Building from fundamental Javanese concepts of time and melody,the book covers gamelan's instruments, musical idioms, and central interactions and also surveys contrasting performance contexts. It examines both the theatrical and musical aspects of the vibrant tradition of shadow-puppet plays (Wayang kulit) and offers a broad survey of other music found in Central Java. In addition, Music in Central Java provides an engaging portrait of a leading Javenese musician, traces musical responses to radical social, political, and cultural changes over the past century, and considers Javanese music in relation to Indonesia and the rest of the world. Enhanced by eyewitness accounts of performances, interviews with key performers, vivid illustrations, and hands-on listening activities, this book is a captivating introduction to the music of Central Java. It is packaged with a 78-minute audio CD containing examples of the music discussed in the book.

Closely following his broader Traditions of Gamelan Music in Java (1991), Sutton focuses here on the most important element in the performance of Javanese gamelan music, namely, variations among the players. Sutton defines variation in gamelan as "an integral principle (or complex of principles) of sound organization in the relation of one performance or one passage to another and in the vertical relationships of parts played and heard simultaneously." Although his study is heavily musicological and thus includes much analysis and transcription (mostly in Javanese cipher notation), his purpose is to offer "a culturally informed explanation of variation processes." Basing his ideas on Judith Becker's idea of iconicity in Javanese music (i.e., the structures and processes of Javanese music parallel structures and processes in Javanese culture generally), Sutton views musical change and variation in the larger context of Javanese culture. His subtitle--"Dynamics of a Steady State"--stems from his view that change and variation are normal within Javanese society (and music), and occur within bounds that maintain tradition. For readers less interested in the details of individual compositions, the book has an excellent introductory chapter and appendixes on gamelan instruments, rhythmic structures, and a glossary. Recommended for graduate students interested in composition and improvisation, as well as for gamelan performers.

n eleven original essays, this collection examines such diverse musics and issues as the blues aesthetic and the African diaspora in jazz performance; different versions of the 1939 song "Mbube," also known as "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"; the globalization of jazz from an insider's perspective; the power of women in the popularwassouloumusic of Mali; themamayarepertory of Guinea in the 1930s and 40s; Yoruba folk opera; traditional Ewe music as taught by the Dagbe Cultural Institute in Ghana; the role of militarism in Haitian vodou music; musical revivals and social movements in contemporary Martinique; and the role of African diaspora in the music and statements of jazz drummer Art Blakey. The contributors in this volume address why music claims such pride of place in the African diasporic population, and to provide particular examples of the interweaving of the local and global in the lives of musicians and their audiences

The volume in hand deals with modes of inquiry and interpretation broadly organised into sections on theory, and historical and creative studies. The section on theoretical issues comprises papers on: the problem of meaning in African music; musicology and African music; the juncture of the social and the musical; integrating objectivity and experience in ethnomusicological studies; the aesthetic dimension in ethnomusicological studies; universal perspectives in ethnomusicology; and contextual strategies of inquiry and systematisation. The section on creative and historical topics covers the following: the history of music in African culture; history and the organization of music in West Africa; historical evidence in Ga religious music; processes of differentiation and interdependency in African music; African musical roots in the Americas; and developing contemporary idioms out of traditional music.

How was Africa seen by the West during the colonial period? How do Europeans and Americans conceive of Africa in today's postcolonial era? Such questions have preoccupied anthropologists, historians, and literary scholars for years. But few have asked the reverse: how did--and do--Africans see Europe and the United States? Fewer still have wondered how Western images of Africa and African representations of the West might mirror one another. In a detailed study spanning from the late nineteenth century to the present, renowned anthropologist and ethnomusicologist Veit Erlmann examines the very creation of a global imagination for black South Africans, Europeans, and African Americans. To this end, he explores two striking episodes in the history of black South African music. The first is a pair of tours made by two black South African choirs in England and America in the early 1890s; the second is a series of engagements with the international music industry as experienced by the premier choral group Ladysmith Black Mambazo after the release of Paul Simon's celebratedGracelandalbum in 1986. Readers will find the cast of characters involved in these intertwined and international dramas at once telling and impressive. Among the many players are African National Congress co-founder Saul Msane, Queen Victoria, African-American musician and impresario Orpheus McAdoo, Xhosa Christian prophet Ntsikana, W. E. B. Du Bois, Michael Jackson, and Spike Lee.Music, Modernity, and the Global Imaginationtells the story of how these artists, activists, and agents effectively invented each other in travel diaries, religious hymns, concert performances, music videos, Broadway plays, and autobiographies. Erlmann also argues that the resultant mixture of myths and fictions--as distinctly imagined by these diverse historical actors--entangled South Africa and the West in ways that often obscured the newly emergent global imbalances of power, or else blurred the polarities of the colonial and postcolonial world. Ultimately, this book reports on a transatlantic dialogue that carries direct and profound implications for the world's arts and cultures. It is the black diasporic discussion between South Africa and the West, and it is a conversation--about society, music, and Utopia--that is still in progress.

This is a comprehensive guide that details not only the history and development of Carnatic Music, but also its ragas, its instruments, composers, leading practitioners and schools. It is written in an approachable style which clarifies fairly difficult matters in a simplified, but not simple, manner. It contains a detailed "discography" of recordings and bibliography, and biographical notes on musicians and composers. It will benefit the learned connoisseur, interested amateur, as well as the student.

At the start of the twenty-first century, China is poised to become a major global power. Understanding its culture is more important than ever before for western audiences, but for many, China remains a mysterious and exotic country. This Companion explains key aspects of modern Chinese culture without assuming prior knowledge of China or the Chinese language. The volume acknowledges the interconnected nature of the different cultural forms, from 'high culture' such as literature, religion and philosophy to more popular issues such as sport, cinema, performance and the internet. Each chapter is written by a world expert in the field. Invaluable for students of Chinese studies, this book includes a glossary of key terms, a chronology and a guide to further reading. For the interested reader or traveler, it reveals a dynamic, diverse and fascinating culture, many aspects of which are now elucidated in English for the first time.

The history of Chinese music is as vast and diverse as the history of China itself. This book illustrates the development of Chinese music from its early beginnings to the formation of Chinese folk orchestras in the 20th century, and is an essential guide for anyone interested in the development and unique character of Chinese traditional music.

Music in China is one of many case-study volumes that can be used along with Thinking Musically, the core book in the Global Music Series. Thinking Musically incorporates music from many diverse cultures and establishes the framework for exploring the practice of music around the world. It sets the stage for an array of case-study volumes, each of which focuses on a single area of the world. Each case study uses the contemporary musical situation as a point of departure, covering historical information and traditions as they relate to the present. Visit www.oup.com/us/globalmusic fora list of case studies in the Global Music Series. The website also includes instructional materials to accompany each study. Music in China offers a unique exploration of the rich, dynamic, and multifaceted Chinese musical landscape. In contrast with previous scholarship--which focused almost exclusively on the role of music in elite culture--this volume takes a balanced look at a variety of traditional and modern genres, including those performed among local and regional folk musicians, in academia, in the media, and on concert stages both inside and outside of China. Using the interrelated themes of identity, modernization, and ideology as a narrative framework, author Frederick Lau discusses the musical features of the selected genres, the processes through which they came into existence, and related socio-political issues. Lau draws on his own extensive fieldwork and performance experience in both mainland China and its diasporic communities to show how the ever-changing Chinese musical tradition takes on particular meanings in China, in overseas Chinese communities, and in diverse international settings. Enhanced by eyewitness accounts of local performances, interviews with key performers, vivid illustrations, and hands-on listening activities, Music in China provides an accessible and engaging introduction to Chinese music. It is packaged with an 80-minute audio CD containing examples of the music discussed in the book.

This is the first book to cover in detail all genres of Japanese music including court music, Buddhist chant, theatre music, chamber ensemble music and folk music, as well as contemporary music and the connections between music and society in various periods. The book is a collaborative effort, involving both Japanese and English speaking authors, and was conceived by the editors to form a balanced approach that comprehensively treats Japanese the full range of Japanese musical culture.

Enka, a sentimental ballad genre, epitomizes for many the nihonjin no kokoro (heart/soul of Japanese). To older members of the Japanese public, who constitute enka's primary audience, this music--of parted lovers, long unseen rural hometowns, and self-sacrificing mothers--evokes a direct connection to the traditional roots of "Japaneseness." Overlooked in this emotional invocation of the past, however, are the powerful commercial forces that, since the 1970s, have shaped the consumption of enka and its version of national identity. Informed by theories of nostalgia, collective memory, cultural nationalism, and gender, this book draws on the author's extensive fieldwork in probing the practice of identity-making and the processes at work when Japan becomes "Japan."

Clark has masterfully collected thirteen essays that discuss the various aspects of Tex Mex, Central American and Latin American music. Major personalities from these musical cultures that are discussed in detail range from Selena to Carmen Miranda. Vast in scope, the contributors engage with divergent musical styles such as Latin dance and the national rock of Argentina.

Music in Latin American Culture: Regional Traditions presents chapters that focus on specific musical cultures including: Mexico, Central American, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Peru and more. Each chapter is written by an expert in the field and includes specific examples from the contributor's fieldwork.

For Brazilians, samba symbolizes the racial and cultural mixture that now defines their national identity. As the story behind Brazils nationalization of samba, this book offers a unique approach to the countrys ongoing conversation on race, popular culture, and national identity.