Carnival, charivari, mumming plays, peasant festivals, and even early versions of the Santa Claus myth - all of these forms of entertainment influenced and shaped blackface minstrelsy in the first half of the nineteenth century. In his fascinating study Demons of Disorder, musicologist Dale Cockrell studies issues of race and class by analysing their cultural expressions, and investigates the roots of still remembered songs such as 'Jim Crow', 'Zip Coon', and 'Dan Tucker'. Also examined is the character George Washington Dixon, the man most deserving of the title 'father of blackface minstrelsy' and surely one of celebrity's all-time heavyweight eccentrics - a bonafide 'demon of disorder'. The first book on the blackface tradition written by a leading musicologist, Demons of Disorder is an important achievement in music history and culture.

Carnival, charivari, mumming plays, peasant festivals, and even early versions of the Santa Claus myth--all of these forms of entertainment influenced and shaped blackface minstrelsy in the first half of the nineteenth century. In his fascinating study Demons of Disorder, musicologist Dale Cockrell studies issues of race and class by analyzing their cultural expressions, and investigates the roots of still-remembered songs such as "Jim Crow," "Zip Coon," and "Dan Tucker." The first book on the blackface tradition written by a leading musicologist, Demons of Disorder is an important achievement in music history and culture.

David Schiller's study of the Jewish music of Bloch, Schoenberg, and Bernstein reveals how, in the mid-twentieth century, the problem of assimilation was acutely felt as the unfinished business of European Jewry, at a time when American Jewry was creating its own distinctive culture (albeit with European roots). He shows how the business of 'assimilating Jewish music' is as much a process audiences themselves engage in when they listen to Jewish music as it is something critics and musicologists do when they write about it. He reveals how this process of assimilation is performed by the music itself - that Jewish music assimilates into the Western tradition of art music when it appears in the form of concert genres like the oratorio, cantata, and symphony. This incisive study sheds new light on an important aspect of the cultural and aesthetic achievements of these seminal Jewish composers.

Contemporary klezmer music is a rapidly expanding revival of repertories and styles used by old-time professional musical entertainers in Jewish Eastern Europe. Fiddler on the Move, a volume in the American Musicspheres series edited by Mark Slobin, is an attempt to position klezmer within American music studies, cultural studies, and ethnomusicology. Rather than present a chronology or a comprehensive survey, the author suggests how a variety of methods of research and angles of vision can help make sense of the higly diverse activities found under the klezmer umbrella. This book is accompanied by a CD of recorded examples.

David Hanrahan is a well-known and respected exponent of accordion music and he uses his experience to bring you an sagacious and informative guide to playing the accordion. Using a QandA format, and by concentrating on the most frequently asked questions, he gives confidence to a developing beginner. All the fundamental skills are covered in this book, from playing first notes and adding bass notes to the function of the air valve and bellows action. With illustrations, music theory and general tips, The Box is a perfect start for those wanting to learn the accordion and provides a source of early and easy extracts and melodies. Includes a demonstration CD.

You may be the next Hank Williams, Mozart, and Bob Dylan all rolled up into one. But if you don't get the right people to hear the songs you've written, then the best you can hope for is to be an undiscovered genius.

"If You've Got a Dream, I've Got a Plan" is written by one of Country Music's most successful songwriters. In this informative guide, aspiring songwriters will learn: What is a demo? And do I need a demo?What is a single song contract?How do royalty rates work?What is ASCAP? BMI?How much money can I make if my song hits number one on the charts?How do I get the right people to hear my songs?"If You've Got a Dream, I've Got a Plan" will not guarantee that you will become a successful songwriter. But it does arm aspiring songwriters with the information they need to enter a highly competitive world, one that is potentially rewarding both financially and artistically sense. It tells what to do, and maybe more importantly, what not to do.

Kelley Lovelace is an award-winning songwriter who lives in Nashville, Tennessee. He is the co-author with Brad Paisley of the book and the song "He Didn't Have to Be." He is also the songwriter of the hits "Wrapped Around," "Two People Fell in Love," "The Impossible," and "I Just Wanna Be Mad."

Focus: Irish Traditional Music, Second Edition introduces the instrumental and vocal musics of Ireland, its diaspora in North America, and its Celtic neighbors while exploring the essential values underlying these rich musical cultures and placing them in broader historical and social context. With both the undergraduate and graduate student in mind, the text weaves together past and present, bringing together important ideas about Irish music from a variety of sources and presenting them, in three parts, within interdisciplinary lenses of history, film, politics, poetry, and art: I. Irish Music in Place and Time provides an overview of the island's musical history and its relationship to current performance practice. II. Music Traditions Abroad and at Home contrasts the instrumental and vocal musics of the "Celtic Nations" (Scotland, Wales, Brittany, etc.) and the United States with those of Ireland. III. Focusing In: Vocal Music in Irish-Gaelic and English identifies the great songs of Ireland's two main languages and explores the globalization of Irish music. New to this edition are discussions of those contemporary issues reflective of Ireland's dramatic political and cultural shifts in the decade since first publication, issues concerning equity and inclusion, white nationalism, the Irish Traveller community, hip hop and punk, and more. Pedagogical features-such as discussion questions, a glossary, a timeline of key dates, and expanded references, as well as an online soundtrack-ensure that readers of Focus: Irish Traditional Music, Second Edition will be able to grasp Ireland's important social and cultural contexts and apply that understanding to traditional and contemporary vocal and instrumental music today.

This is a full biography of the talented American woman composer Ruth Crawford Seeger. She was a prominent member of the American avant-garde composers in the 1920s, then married Charles Seeger and became very involved in the American folk song movement of the 1930s and 1940s, which also included Seeger's son Peter and John Lomax. The book also discusses the dilemma of a creative woman who was caught in domestic life and thus could never fully realize her musical potential.

Since the 18th century, Western scholars and musicians have been fascinated by the music of India. Whether in the realms of musicological enquiry, or as an exotic flavour on the stage, or in popular songs, Indian music has been part of the West's consciousness for over two hundred years. Indian Music and the West traces the fascinating history of this complex cultural and musical encounter.

Taking Grainger's views as his starting point and heading each chapter with a quotation from Grainger's writings, John Blacking restates and reflects upon observations and attitudes relevant to contemporary problems of ethnomusicology and music education. Professor Blacking discusses these issues in the light of his own research, musical experience and convictions.

During the two centuries before 841, the Japanese Court borrowed a large amount of secular entertainment music from China, chiefly music of the Sui and Tang Courts. This music, known as 'Tang Music' is preserved in manuscripts written between the eighth and thirteenth centuries and to be seen today in the library of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo and in other Japanese libraries. Fourteen items, from the second scroll of pieces belonging to the Ichikotsu-cho mode-key group (Mixolydian on D), are offered in this fourth fascicle of Music from the Tang Court. With the exception of two items, each consisting of Prelude and Broaching, all are single movements. The first piece, in two movements, is overtly linked with Sogdiana, the Central Asian State which exerted so great an influence on the entertainment-music of the Tang Court. That some of the Togaku repertory had its roots in popular music is plainly shown by the title of this piece: 'Sogdians Drinking Wine'.

Canadian siblings Margo, Michael and Peter Timmins and Michael's childhood friend, Alan Anton, first started making music together over thirty years ago. Sixteen studio albums and five live albums later, Cowboy Junkies are still touring the world. Based on interviews with the group themselves, Music is the Drug is the official biography of one of the best-loved folk-rock bands around.

One chanter, three drones, three regulators, thirteen keys, too many near-extinctions to mention and 300 years of heroes: that, with a frisson of fairies on moonlit knolls, is the Irish uilleann ('ill-in') pipes. The Wheels Of The World presents an epic tale of triumph and survival, where the soulful heart of a nation has been kept alive across ages by a slender thread of guardians - blind men, eccentrics, self-aggrandisers, noble heroes, bloody-minded revivalists and at least three people compared to Jimi Hendrix. Uilleann piping is Ireland's equivalent to the story of the blues in America, save that here the trail of legends and lore is richer and deeper by far. It is the sound of 18th-century blues - a microtonal virtuoso machine wielded by misfits and geniuses, often one and the same. This is the story of a continuum, from John McSherry, a 21st-century icon, backwards in time through Paddy Keenan, Liam O'Flynn, Finbar Furey, Seamus Ennis, Willie Clancy, Johnny Doran, Leo Rowsome and Patsy Touhey - at the dawn of recorded sound - and thence to find a litany of unrecorded legends before them. It is also a snapshot of professional Irish traditional musicians, after the gold rush of the late 20th century, keeping calm and carrying on.

A social history of the music of the Jewish community in Palestine from the beginnings of Jewish immigration to Palestine in 1880 to the declaration of the State of Israel in 1948.

Perhaps the most widely recognized figure in folk music and one of the most controversial figures in American political activism, Pete Seeger now belongs among the icons of 20th-century American culture. The road to his current status as activist and respected voice of folk music was long and often rough, starting from the moment he dropped out of Harvard in the late 1930s and picked up a banjo. Editors Cohen and Capaldi trace Seeger's long and storied career, focusing on his work as not only a singer, but as an educator, songwriter, organizer, publisher, and journalist. The son of musicians, Seeger began his musical career before World War II and became well-known in the 1950s as a member of the commercially popular Weavers, only to be blacklisted by much of the mainstream media in the 1960s because of his progressive politics, and to return to the music scene in subsequent decades as a tireless educator and activist. The Pete Seeger Reader gathers writings from numerous sources, mixing Seeger's own work with that of the many people who have, over the years, written about him. Many of the pieces have never before been republished, and cover his entire career. A figure of amazing productivity, influence, and longevity, Seeger is author of a life that has been both cast in heroic terms and vilified. The selections in this book draw from a full range of these perspectives and will inform as they entertain, bringing into focus the life and contributions of one of the most influential figures of the twentieth century.

Christy Moore is in every sense Ireland's folk hero. Mentor to a whole generation of Irish musicians, he holds a unique place in musical history. In l992 he broke all attendance records during 12 packed nights at the Point in Dublin. In the UK he fills concert halls around the country. In l997 he announced that he was taking an extended break from touring and recording. It was headline news in Ireland. So was his comeback which began in l999. Set to be an enormous best-seller, his autobiography marries both songs and memories. Around 250 of his favourite lyrics are accompanied by his memories around the song itself and his life. Each entry is fresh, direct, honest and spontaneous - like the most intimate diary. Through it he charts his life from drunk to sober, bar-room guitar player to international singer-songwriter.

This is an exploration of the region's music - its forms and innovations, musicians, festivals, and dance halls, its fans - and traces its African, Asian and European roots.

During the two centuries before 841, the Japanese Court borrowed a large amount of secular entertainment music from China, chiefly music of the Sui and Tang Courts. This music, known as 'Tang Music' is preserved in manuscripts written between the eighth and thirteenth centuries and to be seen today in the library of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo and in other Japanese libraries. This second fascicle includes two further suites from the Ichikotsu-cho mode-key group, namely Toraden, which probably originated in the early eighth century, and Shunno-den, a ballet-suite believed to have its source in a late seventh-century piece in imitation of Cettia diphone cantans - a bush warbler with a nightingale-like song. In addition, and continuing the study of the first fascicle, a justified, conflated text of O-dai hajin-raku on a single stave will be included. In the light of this, a version for performance can be established.

From the Tibetan Buddhist and Native American influences in the music of Pauline Oliveros to the arresting blend of Jamaican dancehall, rap, and bhangra of Apache Indian, this groundbreaking work examines the rise of 'world music' and 'world beat.' Musicologist Timothy Taylor draws on a wide variety of sources, from popular culture, interviews, liner notes, the Internet and the music itself, charting a path through the issues surrounding contemporary world music. Included in this volume are detailed discussions of such musicians as the Kronos Quartet, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Youssou N'Dour, Peter Gabriel, Johnny Clegg, Angelique Kidjo, Sheila Chandra, Apache Indian, Zap Mama and a host of others.
Exloring the dynamics behind such collaborations as Paul Simon and Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Taylor addresses the effects that these collaborations have on the music itself with particular emphasis on musical authenticity and the expectations around it. In addition to looking at the ways western pop/rock appropriates music from other cultures, he also demonstrates how cross-cultural collaborations bring music and musicians from other cultures to a much wider audience. Global Pop offers a fascinating and timely survey of popular music and its impact on contemporary culture along with our ways of looking at and living in the world.

The Steelband Movement examines the dramatic transformation of pan from a Carnival street music into a national art and symbol in Trinidad and Tobago. By focusing on pan as a cultural process, Stephen Stuempfle demonstrates how the struggles and achievements of the steelband movement parallel the problems and successes of building a nation. Stuempfle explores the history of the steelband from its emergence around 1940 as an assemblage of diverse metal containers to today's immense orchestra of high-precision instruments with bell-like tones. Drawing on interviews with different generations of pan musicians (including the earliest), a wide array of archival material, and field observations, the author traces the growth of the movement in the context of the grass-roots uprisings of the 1930s and 1940s, the American presence in Trinidad in World War II, the nationalist movement of the postwar period, the aftermath of independence from Britain in 1962, the Black Power protests and the oil boom of the 1970s, and the recession of recent years. The Steelband Movement suggests that the history of pan has involved a series of negotiations between different ethnic groups, socioeconomic classes, and social organizations, all of which have attempted to define and use the music according to their own values and interests. This drama provides a window into the ways in which Trinidadians have constructed various visions of a national identity.

Flamenco is renowned for its passion and flamboyance. Yet because it generates such visceral responses, it is often overlooked as a site for subtler discourses.
This absorbing book articulates powerful and convincing arguments on such key subjects as ethnicity, irony, authenticity, the body and resistance. Franco's 'politics of original sin' had left its mark on every aspect of Spanish life between 1936 and 1975, and flamenco music was no exception. Although widely portrayed as an apolitical, even frivolous form of entertainment, flamenco is shown here to have played a role in both the strategies of Franco's supporters and of those who opposed him. The author explores how the meaning of flamenco shifts according to the social, cultural and historical contexts within which it appears. In so doing, he demonstrates that flamenco is an ideal subject for analyzing the construction and appropriation of popular culture, given the way in which it was developed for middle-class audiences, converted into grand spectacle, and conscripted to serve political ends.

Flamenco is renowned for its passion and flamboyance. Yet because it generates such visceral responses, it is often overlooked as a site for subtler discourses.This absorbing book articulates powerful and convincing arguments on such key subjects as ethnicity, irony, authenticity, the body and resistance. Franco's 'politics of original sin' had left its mark on every aspect of Spanish life between 1936 and 1975, and flamenco music was no exception. Although widely portrayed as an apolitical, even frivolous form of entertainment, flamenco is shown here to have played a role in both the strategies of Franco's supporters and of those who opposed him. The author explores how the meaning of flamenco shifts according to the social, cultural and historical contexts within which it appears. In so doing, he demonstrates that flamenco is an ideal subject for analyzing the construction and appropriation of popular culture, given the way in which it was developed for middle-class audiences, converted into grand spectacle, and conscripted to serve political ends.

This new translation of the original texts of over 750 songs allows the reader to follow, line by line, the English directly opposite the German. "Will no doubt become the standard lieder-resource for the English-speaking world..." - Choice