Critical Themes In World Music

Critical Themes in World Music is a reader of nine short essays by the authors of the successful Excursions in World Music, Eighth Edition, edited by Timothy Rommen and Bruno Nettl. The essays introduce key and contemporary themes in ethnomusicology—gender and sexuality, coloniality and race, technology and media, sound and space, and more—creating a counterpoint to the area studies approach of the textbook, a longstanding model for thinking about the musics of the world. Instructors can use this flexible resource as a primary or secondary path through the materials, on its own, or in concert with Excursions in World Music, allowing for a more complete understanding that highlights the many continuities and connections that exist between musical communities, regardless of region. Critical Themes in World Music presents a critically-minded, thematic study of ethnomusicology, one that serves to counterbalance, complicate, and ultimately complement the companion textbook.

Excursions in World Music is a comprehensive introductory textbook to the musics of the world, creating a panoramic experience for students by engaging the many cultures around the globe, and highlighting the sheer diversity to be experienced in the world of music. At the same time, the text illustrates the often profound ways through which a deeper exploration of these many different communities can reveal overlaps, shared horizons, and common concerns in spite of, and because of, this very diversity. The new eighth edition features six brand new chapters, including chapters on Japan, Sub-Saharan Africa, China and Taiwan, Europe, Maritime Southeast Asia, and Indigenous Peoples. General updates have been made to other chapters, replacing visuals and updating charts/statistics. Another major addition to the eighth edition is the publication of a companion Reader, entitled Critical Issues in World Music. Each chapter in the Reader is designed to introduce students to a theoretical concept or thematic area within ethnomusicology and illustrate its possibilities by pointing to case studies drawn from at least three chapters in Excursions in World Music. Chapters include the following topics: Music, Gender, and Sexuality; Music and Ritual; Coloniality and "World Music"; Music and Space; Music and Diaspora; Communication, Technology, Media; Musical Labor, Musical Value; and Music and Memory. Instructors can use this resource as a primary or secondary path through the materials, either assigning chapters from the textbook and then digging deeper by exploring a chapter from the Reader, or starting with a Reader chapter and then moving into the musical specifics offered in the textbook chapters. Having available both an area studies and a thematic approach to the materials offers important flexibility to instructors and also provides students with additional means of engaging with the musics of the world. A companion website with a new test bank and fully updated instructor’s manual is available for instructors. Numerous resources are posted for students, including streamed audio listening, additional resources (such as links to YouTube videos or websites), a musical fundamentals essay (introducing concepts such as meter, melody, harmony, form, etc.), interactive quizzes, and flashcards.

Excursions in World Music is a comprehensive introductory textbook to the musics of the world, creating a panoramic experience for students by engaging the many cultures around the globe, and highlighting the sheer diversity to be experienced in the world of music. At the same time, the text illustrates the often profound ways through which a deeper exploration of these many different communities can reveal overlaps, shared horizons, and common concerns in spite of, and because of, this very diversity. The new eighth edition features six brand new chapters, including chapters on Japan, Sub-Saharan Africa, China and Taiwan, Europe, Maritime Southeast Asia, and Indigenous Peoples. General updates have been made to other chapters, replacing visuals and updating charts/statistics. Another major addition to the eighth edition is the publication of a companion Reader, entitled Critical Issues in World Music. Each chapter in the Reader is designed to introduce students to a theoretical concept or thematic area within ethnomusicology and illustrate its possibilities by pointing to case studies drawn from at least three chapters in Excursions in World Music. Chapters include the following topics: Music, Gender, and Sexuality; Music and Ritual; Coloniality and "World Music"; Music and Space; Music and Diaspora; Communication, Technology, Media; Musical Labor, Musical Value; and Music and Memory. Instructors can use this resource as a primary or secondary path through the materials, either assigning chapters from the textbook and then digging deeper by exploring a chapter from the Reader, or starting with a Reader chapter and then moving into the musical specifics offered in the textbook chapters. Having available both an area studies and a thematic approach to the materials offers important flexibility to instructors and also provides students with additional means of engaging with the musics of the world. A companion website with a new test bank and fully updated instructor’s manual is available for instructors. Numerous resources are posted for students, including streamed audio listening, additional resources (such as links to YouTube videos or websites), a musical fundamentals essay (introducing concepts such as meter, melody, harmony, form, etc.), interactive quizzes, and flashcards.

Explore the relationship between music and society around the world This comprehensive introductory text creates a panoramic experience for beginner students by exposing them to the many musical cultures around the globe. Each chapter opens with a musical encounter in which the author introduces a key musical culture. Through these experiences, students are introduced to key musical styles, musical instruments, and performance practices. Students are taught how to actively listen to key musical examples through detailed listening guides. The role of music in society is emphasized through chapters that focus on key world cultural groups.

This dynamic introductory book takes readers on a vivid exploration into the major musical cultures of the world by first presenting a lively vignette of a musical occasion, and then placing that occasion in the context of a general description of the society and musical culture. KEY TOPICS The book divides the world into ten major culture areas-- and devotes a chapter to each, exploring the musical cultures of such fascinating lands as India, the Middle East, Indonesia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America. The presentation features a synthetic treatment of musical life and ideas about music, musical style, music history, and musical instruments; briefly describes additional musical genres or contexts; and considers recent developments. For individuals interested in the music of the world.

This book traces the trajectories of modern globalization since the late nineteenth century, and considers hegemonic cultural beliefs and practices during the various phases of the history of capitalism. It offers a way to study world popular music from the perspective of critical social theory. Moving chronologically, the book adopts the three phases in the history of capitalist hegemony since the nineteenth century--liberal, organized, and neoliberal capitalism--to consider world popular music in each of these cultural contexts. While capitalism is now everywhere, its history has been one borne out of racism and masculine hegemony. Early Europeanization and globalization have had a major impact upon western race/gender/sexuality/capitalist hegemony, while nascent technologies of capital have led to a renewed reification and exploitation of racialized, sexualized, and classed populations. This book offers a critique of the relationship between emergent capitalist formations and culture over the past hundred years. It explores the way that world popular music mediates economic, cultural, and ideological conditions, through which capitalism has been created in multiple and heterogeneous ways, understanding world popular music as the production of meaning through language and representation. The various dimensions considered in the book are the work of critical social science--a critique of capitalism's impact upon popular music in historical and world perspective. This book provides a powerful contemporary framework for contemporary popular music studies with a distinctive global and interdisciplinary awareness, covering empirical research from across the world in addition to well-established and newer theory from the music disciplines, social sciences, and humanities. It offers fresh conceptualizations about world popular music seen within the context of globalization, capitalism, and identity.

This book explores a provocative area of inquiry for critical theory and research into world politics and popular culture: music. Not just because political science barely engages with anything musical, but also because it is clear that many opportunities for critical scholarship and reflection on global politics and economics are present in the spaces and relationships created by organized sound. It is easy to focus on the textual elements of music, but there is more at stake than just the words. Critical reflection on the intersections between music and politics also need to take into account the visceral and non-verbal elements such as counterpoint and harmony, polyphony and dissonance, noise, rhymes, rhythms, performance and the visual/aural dimensions to music-making.