Traditional and folk music Books

Book SynopsisMerle is an award-winning, bestselling recording artist. This title takes you on a tour through his house of memories, offering a look inside his turbulent and successful life. It reveals stories about his birth and troubled upbringing in a converted railroad boxcar.Trade ReviewMerle is an American original classic legend. He's every singer-songwriter's hero. He's a great singer. I asked George Jones who his favorite singer was, and he said Merle Haggard. God really blessed ol' Merle. He's the real deal! -- Alan Jackson When I started to have to deal with all those things that have to do with real life, that's when Merle's music started to make sense to me." -- Emmylou Harris

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Book SynopsisFolk Voiceworks is an outstanding collection of folk songs in the Voiceworks model, including songs from centuries past alongside pieces by celebrated folk musicians. You''ll find pieces in a range of genres and styles, including shanties, protest songs, songs about the land, lullabies, love songs, and much more - scored flexibly for unison and part-singing. With excellent practical rehearsal notes, simple accompanying instrumental parts, and a CD with performances of all the songs, this is a fabulous and accessible resource for all choirs.Trade ReviewThis volume provides a very rich store of material . . . The fact that folk songs can be a form of oral history makes the volume very useful within a school environment, but they are also very singable and lack the formality that can be associated with the classical 'art song' repertoire, so are particularly helpful for community or 'Can't Sing' situations. As always, there are brilliant suggestions for warming up, learning and performance attached to each song. * Sue Anderson, Singing Winter 2007 *Table of ContentsRoll the Old Chariot Along ; Paddy on the Railway ; Byker Hill ; Rap Her to Bank ; Mow Me Down My Meadow ; The Barley Mow ; Follow the Heron ; John Barleycorn ; Sumer is icumen in ; The Blackleg Miner ; Union Miner ; The Spinner's Wedding ; The Jute Mill Song ; The Troubles of Erin ; The Song of the Weaver ; Migildi, Magildi ; Yr Hen Wr Mywn (My Dear Old Man) ; Unst Boat Song ; Coorie Doon ; Keep you in Peace ; Lowlands ; Wild Mountain Thyme ; Pleasant and Delightful ; Dcaw 'Nghariad (There's My Sweetheart) ; Hunting the Wren ; Hal-an-tow ; The Pace Egging Song ; The Holly and the Ivy ; Sweet Chiming Bells ; Chariots

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewNicholas Bessaraboff Prize, American Musical Instrument Society, 2020 "Anyone with a strong interest in the early history of the banjo or in the broader history of American instrumental music in oral tradition will want a copy of this fine collection. All the work is imaginative, careful, and thoroughly documented. The essays flow smoothly." --Western Folklore"Banjo Roots and Branches is a comprehensively researched and pathbreaking piece of banjo roots scholarship. " --Music in American Life"Inspired by Dena Epstein, this is the first book to use a holistic approach in exploring the history of the banjo; it is an excellent compilation of articles for those interested in the music of Africa and the Americas."--Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje, author of Fiddling in West Africa: Touching the Spirit in Fulbe, Hausa, and Dagbamba Cultures"Winans makes a rich addition to the literature. Recommended." --Choice"As far as I know this book has no real equivalents. Several of the essays are pioneering contributions to the esoteric but intriguing field of banjo research and folklore and ethnomusicology generally."--Robert S. Cantwell, author of Bluegrass Breakdown: The Making of the Old Southern Sound"An excellent book with plenty of material for both specialist and casual readers." --Galpin Society Journal"Roots and Branches collects an extraordinary amount of research into the ongoing discovery of the banjo's Byzantine history. . . .Each essay speaks directly to all others, lending the book an unusual level of cohesion for an edited volume." --The World of Music"A significant contribution to our understanding of the history and current significance of the banjo." --Ethnomusicology

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Book SynopsisThe definitive biography of guitar icon and Grammy Award-winning artist Bill Frisell.FEATURING EXCLUSIVE LISTENING SESSIONS WITH: Paul Simon; Justin Vernon of Bon Iver; Gus Van Sant; Rhiannon Giddens; The Bad Plus; Gavin Bryars; Van Dyke Parks; Sam Amidon; Hal Willner; Jim Woodring; Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill''A beautiful and long overdue portrait of one of America's true living cultural treasures.''JOHN ZORN''The perfect companion-piece to the music of its subject.''MOJO''Outlines the subject's life in a series of scrupulous strokes and intimate interviews that are rare in such undertakings . . . a cool, casual victory.''IRISH TIMESOver a period of forty-five years, Bill Frisell has established himself as one of the most innovative and influential musicians at work today. A quietly revolutionary guitar hero for our genre-blurring times, he connects to a diverse rangeTrade Review''Bill Frisell plays the guitar like Miles Davis played the trumpet.'' - New Yorker''A genius.'' - Marianne Faithful

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Book SynopsisThe guitarists' guitarist and the songwriters' songwriter, the legendary Bert Jansch has influenced diverse stars. Born in Edinburgh in 1943, Jansch became an inspirational and pioneering figure during Britain's 'folk revival' of the 1960s. In 1967, he formed folk/jazz fusion band Pentangle with John Renbourn and enjoyed international success.Trade Review'An excellent biography of one of folk's cult figures ... Harper's narrative is first-rate at putting the man and his influence in perspective. It is especially evocative when describing the folk underground which burgeoned in the UK in the 1960s and early 1970s' Independent on Sunday 'A work of considerable importance ... intuitive and informed' Q Magazine 'The legendary musical outsider described as "a dextrous guitar player, footloose and fancy-free" shines like a rare, uncut diamond in this biography, which captures his rise as a musician in the British folk and blues scene of the 1960s, from the coffee houses of Soho to friendship with The Who's Pete Townshend ... Past glories make Dazzling Stranger a feast for anyone interested in Jansch or the 1960s' Scotsman 'This is a book that needed to be written, and for folk, blues, and beyond enthusiasts, one that's required reading' Glasgow Herald

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Book SynopsisSonic ethnography makes a compelling argument for taking sound seriously as a crucial component of social life and as an ethnographic form of representation. This volume explores the role of sound-making and listening practices in the formation of local identities in the southern Italian region of Basilicata. With an approach that cuts across sensory anthropology, sound studies and ethnomusicology, Sonic ethnography demonstrates how acoustic tradition is made and disrupted and acoustic communities are brought together in shared temporality and space. Based extensive research, this volume provides an innovative take on soundful cultural performances such as tree rituals, carnivals, pilgrimages and more informal musical performances, with particular attention to the interactions between classic ethnographic scholarship from the past century and the local politics of heritage.Featuring stunning colour photographs and more than an hour of sound recordings, Sonic ethnography uses a unique combination of media to investigate distinctive ways of knowing, beyond more traditional ethnographic forms of representation. Two methodological chapters, respectively on music-making as creative research practice and on photo-ethnography, make the book an essential contribution for those interested in the production of sounds and still images as relational and interactive approaches to fieldwork. The pioneering anthropologist of sound, Steven Feld, collaborated to some of the research and contributed to the book an afterword and a soundscape composition.Trade Review'This multi-layered, long-term ethnographic research was conducted through intimate musical knowledge and participation with the study communities and focuses on the relationship of sound structure to social structure. A unique methodological approach to studying ritual, festival, and symbolic behavior is the introduction of listening as a methodology, which might appear simplistic but is not. Using listening as methodology includes searching for patterns and “mechanisms” of sound; that is, sound recognized as marking ritual space and organizing action. This publication presents valuable alternatives in the use of still photography with text and sound by showing us a variety of design in this text As Craig Campbell stated in his recommendation letter, this makes it a rich, innovative source for teaching Visual Anthropology. This publication effectively combines excellence in the use of still photography integrating the photos beautifully in relationship to sound and text.'Judging panel, John Collier Jr. Award for Still Photography'This is a sublime and exhilarating work. Its multi-faceted, multi-media approach is truly breathtaking; the photography itself conveys sound just as much as the text and sound files do.'Judging panel, 2021 ICTM Book Prize 'The sensory submersion into cultural practice has the effect of bringing the audience in as participants; a truly successful way of imparting knowledge and experience.'Judging panel, 2021 ICTM Book Prize 'Their thoughtful reflections on methodology and theoretical musings provide a wealth of insights on cultural politics, heritage policies, arts practice research, creative interventions, and photography in anthropology.'Judging panel, 2021 ICTM Book Prize -- .Table of ContentsIntroduction1 When the trees resound: towards a sonic ethnography of the Maggio festival in Accettura2 Soundmasks in resounding places: listening to the Campanaccio of San Mauro Forte3 Sonic devotion and sonic control: struggles for power over a festival soundscape4 Sounds and images of nostalgia: the revival of Lucanian wheat festivals5 Voices across the ocean: recorded memories and diasporic identity in the archive of Giuseppe Chiaffitella6 Doing research in sound: music-making as creative intervention7 Photographing as an anthropologist: notes on developing a photo-ethnographic practice in BasilicataAfterword by Steven FeldListening guideAudio tracks:Soundscape composition – Accettura 2005 – Tuesday (17 May) by Steven FeldSound-chapters:1 The saint and the tree2 Rhythms in the dark3 'We came a long way…'4 Dancing with wheat5 Memories from a loyal companion6 A musical journey with my zampognaReferencesIndex

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Book SynopsisThe saz or bağlama, a generic name for long-necked lutes in Turkey, plays an important role in the Turkish musical culture. It forms the core of all folk musical ensembles and orchestras and is a popular instrument in the arabesque, entertainment, and pop music. It is the instrument par excellence in Turkish music education and in the religious rituals of the levi and Bektaşi. The saz or bağlama can also be heard as a solo instrument on international concert stages. Acknowledging the instrument’s unique place in Turkey, The Turkish Long-Necked Lute Saz or Bağlama, an updated and revised edition of the Dutch book Turkse Langhalsluit of bağlama, mainly focusses on its cultural and historical background while briefly discussing various saz or bağlama types and their construction, tuning, and playing techniques.Table of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgements ; General Introduction ; Chapter-1 Historical Background ; Tanbûr, Saz, Bağlama ; Early and Late Antiquity ; The Spike Lute ; The Necked Lute ; The Sâsânian Tunbûr ; The Umayyad and Abbâsid Tanbûrs ; The Rum-Seljuks ; The Anatolian Long-Necked Lutes ; The Ottoman Empire ; Court and City ; The Saz in the Work of European Artists and Travellers ; The Saz in Anatolian Folk Music ; The Saz in the şık, Alevî, and Bektaşî Tradition ; The Diffusion of the Saz ; The Republic of Turkey ; The Saz and the Establishment of a National Musical Culture ; The Development of the Contemporary Bağlama ; Towards a New Generation of Bağlamas ; Trends in Bağlama Performance ; Migration and the Bağlama in Western Europe ; The Bağlama in the 21st Century ; Chapter-2 Variation versus Standardization ; The Bağlama Family ; The Cura ; The Bağlama ; The Tambura ; The Divan Sazı ; The Meydan Sazı ; Variation versus Standardization ; Chapter-3 Construction ; The Choice of Wood ; The Drying of Wood ; Construction Process ; Bowl ; Soundboard ; Frets, Bridge, and Strings ; Ornamentation ; Chapter-4 Tuning ; String Tuning ; Fret Tuning ; Countryside ; City ; Chapter-5 Playing Technique ; Playing Position ; Finger Positions ; Plectrum Techniques ; Finger Techniques ; Execution Melody ; Horizontal Techniques ; Vertical Techniques ; Glossary of Musical Instruments and Terms ; Discography ; Bibliography ; Illustration Credits ; A Note on Turkish ; Index

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Book SynopsisThis collection explores fiddle traditions from different parts of England, some of which have remained unbroken since the late 1700s. The book includes 99 English traditional fiddle tunes, with bowing and chords, mostly in the form of Jigs, Slip Jigs, Hornpipes, Reels, Rants, Polkas, Waltzes and Morris tunes. All tunes were recorded by Pete Cooper and are availablefor download. Suitable for grade 3 and above.Instrumentation:violin

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Book SynopsisChopping Wood is Pete Seeger up close and personal like never before. Derived from years of conversations between Seeger and his close friend and collaborator David Bernz, it takes readers on a uniquely personal journey through this legendary folksinger and songwriter remarkable life and career, in his own words. Listen in as Pete unabashedly shares historical and family stories; tells of learning the banjo, traveling with Woody Guthrie, and finding commercial success with The Weavers; explains how he wrote books and put together songs; delves into controversial subjects like communism and the Peekskill Riots; and highlights those he admired and respected, including Bruce Springsteen, who honoured Pete with his Seeger Sessions album in 2006. Pete and David share the heavy lifting as they tackle subjects such as the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, Pete's relationship to Greenwich Village, and the need for copyright reform. Together, they describe how Pete put his worldview into practice

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Book SynopsisThe classic three volumes of Hebridean Folksongs, reissued simultaneously for the first time since their original publication (1969, 1977, 1981), contain 135 songs connected with the waulking of homespun tweed cloth in the Hebridean isles. Volume 1 is based on waulking songs collected by Donald MacCormick in South Uist in 1893. Volumes 2 and 3 are based on John Lorne Campbell's recordings of songs made between 1938 and 1965 in Barra, South Uist, Eriskay and Benbecula. The translations for all the songs in Volumes 2 and 3 and many of those in Volume 1 are by John Lorne Campbell, who also wrote detailed notes discussing the songs. Multiple versions of the same song are compared with each other and with versions drawn from unpublished manuscript sources. Francis Collinson's meticulous musical transcriptions of the songs, and musicological analyses, are invaluable. The songs are from the repertoires of some well-known singers of their generation, including Miss Annie Johnson, her brother Calum and Miss Mary Morrison, all of Barra, Mrs Neil Campbell of South Uist, and Miss Nan MacKinnon of Vatersay.

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Book SynopsisGaelic Scotland is one of the world's great treasure-houses of song. In this anthology, Anne Lorne Gillies has gathered together music and lyrics from all over the Gaelic-speaking Highlands and Islands - an extraordinary tradition that stretches in an unbroken line from the bardic effusions of ancient times to the Celtic fusions of today's vibrant young Gaelic musicians and poets. They paint vivid pictures of life among ordinary Gaelic-speaking people, their hopes, fears and preoccupations, births, deaths and marriages, and personal reactions to the great changes that blew their lives about. Everything about this book is designed to make the songs accessible to musicians and general readers alike. Anne Lorne Gillies provides a unique and informative introduction to Gaelic tradition, simple yet highly sensitive musical transcriptions, and English translations. She portrays the social and historical background of the songs, offers her own commentary on technical aspects of the music and its performance, and adds carefully researched biographical notes and a full discography in order to bring to life not only the people who composed the songs but also some of the singers and musicians who have continued the tradition into the twenty-first century. Songs of Gaelic Scotland was winner of the 2006 Ruth Michaelis-Jena Ratcliff Prize in Folklore and Folklife.Trade Review'a panoramic view of the world of Gaelic song ... a superb achievement' -- John MacInnes'This book is unique in that it crosses the boundaries between music and literature. Nothing quite like it has ever been done for Gaelic. It is a truly wonderful achievement' * Scots Magazine *'a remarkable book ... both scholarly and entertaining. She walks a fine tightrope between encouraging innovation and respecting tradition, never once falling off' * Am Bratach *'beautiful and full of substance ... I believe that this book will be like a beacon that will last forever and be of untold value to generations still to come' * West Highland Free Press *

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Book SynopsisAcclaimed cultural critic Greil Marcus tells the story of Bob Dylan through the lens of seven penetrating songsTrade Review“The most interesting writer on Dylan over the years has been the cultural critic Greil Marcus. . . . No one alive knows the music that fueled Dylan’s imagination better. Marcus just published Folk Music: A Bob Dylan Biography in Seven Songs. It’s [an] ingenious book of close listening.”—David Remnick, New Yorker“A poignant reminder of everything Trumpism had tried to destroy. His dissections of these songs . . . are thorough and well-referenced.” —Paul Genders, Times Literary Supplement“A book filled with genuine insights. . . . ‘Blowin’ in the Wind,’ the anthem that transformed a little-known folk singer into the conscience of a nation, is exhibit A for Mr. Marcus’s theory of empathy. . . . Mr. Marcus is at his best in exploring this rootedness.”—The Economist“Marcus . . . has written more and better about Dylan than just about anyone, most recently in Folk Music.”—Carl Wilson, Slate“Marcus keeps chasing America’s greatest songwriter down the highway. It’s cultural criticism as a long-running detective story—and a musical love story.”—Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, “Best Music Books of 2022”“The book’s openness restores a sense of existential unity, of a whole in which everything has a place and plays a part.”—Devin McKinney, Critics at Large“A perfect storm of things to love: American history, music history, Dylan’s music and beautiful writing. The style is colloquial, but not informal; informative but not didactic, and downright seductive to follow. . . . His in-depth analysis of the songs themselves is unmatched.”—Anne Margaret Daniel, SpectatorFeatured in Globe and Mail’s “Best Books to Gift This Year”“Marcus tends to a hyperbolic style, producing a slightly febrile mood, appropriate to the events being related. He also uncovers, or produces, hidden connections between apparently disparate things.”—David McCooey, New Daily“Marcus’ profound expertise in the American cultural landscape blasts open new fissures in our understanding of this most mythologised of singer-songwriters. . . . The reader comes away marvelling at what Bob Dylan has done with such a violent cultural inheritance, and also at how enmeshed the beauty of the songs are with the brutality in life.”—Gregory Day, Sydney Morning Herald“In elaborating Dylan’s musical journey Marcus puts on display a vast knowledge of America’s popular culture and a sardonic recognition of the flaws in our national character—flaws such as racial injustice and wealth inequality that folk music tries to address. The book is fast-paced, like a song, and hip. . . . [Marcus] closes on an elegiac note punctuated with love. ‘What will go out of the world with him?’”—Arthur Hoyle, New York Journal of Books“The biography, Marcus seems to reason, must emerge prismatically, if at all, through Dylan’s core achievement: the songs themselves. . . . It might be his most resonant tribute to His Bobness: a primer in how seriously to take major art and how to live alongside it in real time, delivered with an idiosyncrasy and crooked grace worthy of its subject.”—Martin Herbert, Art Review“This is an absorbing overall read and Greil Marcus is arguably the best rock culture writer around.”—Tony Jasper, Methodist Recorder“[A] joyously circumlocutory voyage around the Bard of Hibbing.”—Danny Eccleson, MOJO“Greil Marcus tells this great artist’s story through seven of his most transformative songs—a selection that will inevitably cause much debate amongst Dylanophiles.”—Choice“In Folk Music’s interpretative brilliance, boundless energy and moral rage, Marcus honours his source. The discursive Dylanologist par excellence, the freewheelin’ Greil Marcus.”—Joseph Marlow, The Critic“This is the good stuff: the stuff you can’t usually get in books. Greil Marcus is already the most important chronicler of Dylan. But here he outdoes himself. This book is rich with deep understanding, with caustically funny commentary, and a psychoanalysis, much needed, of Bob Dylan and of America.”—Rachel Kushner“Decade after decade, Greil Marcus has proven himself to be not only a brilliant cultural critic about the music, lives, and stories that have helped shape contemporary American consciousness; he has also done much to articulate why our music has always stood at the axis of sound and politics. This book is not only a valuable addition to the canon, it further elevates Marcus to what he has always been: a supreme artist-critic.”—Hilton Als“Here is Greil Marcus at his most brilliantly insightful, eloquent, persuasive, brimming with information about Bob Dylan and his music, unique in his ability to combine the most candid sort of memoirist prose with truly inspired commentary. As Dylan ‘sees himself’ in his subjects, so Greil Marcus ‘sees himself’ in Dylan, the most original musical genius of our time, the perfect subject for the most original music critic of our time.”—Joyce Carol Oates“Greil Marcus’s writing on Dylan constitutes one of the great living bodies of work by one mold-breaking creative mind interpreting the art and meaning of another. Dylan’s multitudes find their champion in Marcus’s critical exuberance.”—Todd Haynes“Marcus is unsurpassed in showing how Dylan reflected the cultural moment even as he changed it. This moving, personal, compelling book traces Dylan’s complex relationship to American culture through some of Dylan’s most iconic songs, enabling us to understand these songs in fresh ways while also giving us a profound history of how we understand ourselves.”—Dana Spiotta “Greil Marcus’s writing on Bob Dylan is as essential as Dylan himself. Through the prism of Dylan’s visionary genius, Marcus unveils a fascinating history of the soul of modern America.”—Olivier Assayas

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"[An] irresistible outing . . [Nelson's] intelligence and wisdom shine through . . . Fans will relish these insights into the singer-songwriter's many avatars: the kid growing up poor with close ties to his church and family; the political activist who wrote “Vote ‘Em Out” for Beto O’Rourke’s 2018 senatorial campaign; and the enigmatic, sui generis artist. This is a treasure." — Publishers Weekly "In a wry narrative shot through with a loopy, stoner spiritualism, the great songwriter and outlaw country artist takes a ramble through his back pages. . . . A lively accompaniment to Nelson's sprawling, genre-crossing, delightful catalog of recordings." — Kirkus Reviews "[Willie Nelson's] songwriting has consistently been indicative of a born storyteller. It’s fun and, at times, illuminating to read about where some of those stories stemmed from. The photos are great too. . . . A sweet and intimate retrospective of a long and prolific career. This book will make readers feel like they’ve sat down with Nelson, who has just regaled them with tales." — Library Journal "Throughout this lovely act of looking back and moving forward, Nelson wears his well-worn heart on his sleeve. . . . Willie Nelson's many admirers cross myriad lines, and they will eagerly pursue this chance to get close to their idol." — Booklist "[R]eflective and thoughtful . . . [Nelson's] commentary is clear, introspective, patient and wise—showing how his 90 years have funneled into a new perspective on his lyricism and canon. The stories read like Willie himself is sitting across the dinner table from you, regaling you of his best stories from years past." — The Tennessean

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Book SynopsisThe definitive biography of country legend Merle Haggard by the New York Times bestselling biographer of Clint Eastwood, Cary Grant, The Eagles, and more.Merle Haggard was one of the most important country music musicians who ever lived. His astonishing musical career stretched across the second half of the 20th Century and into the first two decades of the next, during which he released an extraordinary 63 albums, 38 that made it on to Billboard's Country Top Ten, 13 that went to #1, and 37 #1 hit singles. With his ample songbook, unique singing voice and brilliant phrasing that illuminated his uncompromising commitment to individual freedom, cut with the monkey of personal despair on his back and a chip the size of Monument Valley on his shoulder, Merle's music and his extraordinary charisma helped change the look, the sound, and the fury of American music.The Hag tells, without compromise, the extraordinary life of Merle Haggard, augmented by deep secondary research, sharp detail and ample anecdotal material that biographer Marc Eliot is known for, and enriched and deepened by over 100 new and far-ranging interviews. It explores the uniquely American life of an angry rebellious boy from the wrong side of the tracks bound for a life of crime and a permanent home in a penitentiary, who found redemption through the music of 'the common man.'Merle Haggard's story is a great American saga of a man who lifted himself out of poverty, oppression, loss and wanderlust, to catapult himself into the pantheon of American artists admired around the world. Eliot has interviewed more than 100 people who knew Haggard, worked with him, were influenced by him, loved him or hated him. The book celebrates the accomplishments and explore the singer's infamous dark side: the self-created turmoil that expressed itself through drugs, women, booze, and betrayal. The Hag offers a richly anecdotal narrative that will elevate the life and work of Merle Haggard to where both properly belong, in the pantheon of American music and letters.The Hag is the definitive account of this unique American original, and will speak to readers of country music and rock biographies alike.

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Book SynopsisFrom his earliest recordings in the 1990s, it was clear that Alasdair Roberts was not only a powerful performer, but also a profoundly original songwriter. In the years since then, he has honed his craft across a series of albums that comprise a richly idiosyncratic body of work. Distinctive as they are musically, Alasdair's songs are equally notable for their articulate, poetic and often moving lyrical qualities now starkly symbolic, now allusively ornate. This book aims to showcase those qualities, with a selection of lyrics from across Alasdair's songwriting catalogue. The lyrics are augmented by newly written notes by Alasdair, with original illustrations by Annabel Wright, plus a foreword by the acclaimed poet Robin Robertson, and several entertaining appendices.

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Book SynopsisThe Greek folk songs "Dimotika Tragoudia in Greek" are songs of the Greek countryside, from island towns to mountain villages. They have been passed down from generation to generation in a centuries-long oral tradition, lasting until the present. They are songs of every aspect of old Greek life: from love songs and ballads, to laments for the dead, to songs of travel and brigands. Written down at the start of the nineteenth century, they are the first works of modern Greek poetry, playing a crucial role in forming the country's modern language and literature. Still known and sung today, they are the Homer of modern Greece. This new translation brings the songs to an English readership for the first time in over a century, capturing the lyricism of the Greek in modern English verse. Foreword by A.E. Stallings, American poet and translator.Trade Review"I was visited by a friend of the modern Greeks, who had with him some folk songs of that people, the most beautiful of all known to us from the point of view of lyric, dramatic and epic poetry. Yet these are folk songs!" -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, [letter to his son, 1815]

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Book SynopsisGreek folk tales descend from Aesop and Greek antiquity, as well as medieval storytelling in the pivotal south-east Mediterranean world that linked Christianity, Islam and Byzantium. These tales, told by folk narrators throughout Greek-speaking regions up to our times, are wondrous, whimsical stories about doughty youths and frightful monsters, resourceful maidens and animals gifted with human speech. The tales weave substantive motifs, characters, and forms into a rich tapestry capturing the temperament and ethos of the Greek folk psyche. ?The folk tales included in this volume were collected in the late-nineteenth to mid-twentieth century. They were found in Greek-speaking lands, including Asia Minor and Cyprus. A few have been borrowed from traditions beyond Greece, while some have come down to us from antiquity, including Aesop-like fables with speaking animal characters.

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Book Synopsis''Leonard Cohen taught us that even in the midst of darkness there is light, in the midst of hatred there is love, with our dying breath we can still sing Hallelujah.'' - The late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks''Among the finest volumes on Cohen's life and lyrics ... An exploration which would have intrigued and engaged Leonard himself.'' - John McKenna, writer and friend of Leonard CohenHarry Freedman uncovers the spiritual traditions that lie behind Leonard Cohen''s profound and unmistakable lyrics.The singer and poet Leonard Cohen was deeply learned in Judaism and Christianity, the spiritual traditions that underpinned his self-identity and the way he made sense of the world. In this book Harry Freedman, a leading author of cultural and religious history, explores the mystical and spiritual sources Cohen drew upon, discusses their original context and the stories and ideas behind them.Cohen's music is studded with allusions to Jewis

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Book SynopsisCountry Music: A Very Short Introduction presents a compelling overview of the music and its impact on American culture. Country music has long been a marker of American identity; from our popular culture to our politics, it has provided a soundtrack to our national life. While traditionally associated with the working class, country''s appeal is far broader than any other popular music style. While this music rose from the people, it is also a product of the popular music industry, and the way the music has been marketed to its audience is a key part of its story. Key artists, songs, and musical styles are highlighted that are either touchstones for a particular social event (such as Tammy Wynette''s Stand By Your Man, which produced both a positive and negative backlash as a marker of women''s roles in society at the beginning of the liberation movement) or that encompass broader trends in the industry (for example, Jimmie Rodgers'' T for Texas was an early example of the appropriation of black musical forms by white artists to market them to a mainstream audience). While pursuing a basically chronological outline, the book is structured around certain recurring themes (such as rural vs. urban; tradition vs. innovation; male vs. female; white vs. black) that have been documented through the work of country artists from the minstrel era to today. Truly the voice of the people, country music expresses both deep patriotism as well as a healthy skepticism towards the powers that dominate American society. Country Music: A Very Short Introduction illuminates this rich tradition and assesses its legacy in American popular music culture.Trade ReviewA nice pocket sized book, you don't have to be an academic to read it. It takes you right up to the start of country music and brings you just about bang up to date. Very readable. * Paul Braithwaite, BBC Radio Cumbria & BBC Tees *Table of ContentsList of illustrations Introduction 1 Behind the "big bang": The roots of country music 2 "Wildwood flowers": Country music goes mainstream: 1923-1930 3 "Back in the saddle again": The birth of the singing cowboy, 1930s-1945 4 "Honky-tonkin'": Postwar country music: 1945-1959 5 "Make the world go away": Nashville and countrypolitan sounds, 1957-1980 6 "Mama tried": Country alternatives, from Bakersfield to Austin, 1965-1980 7 "Friends in low places": Retro-country and country-pop since 1980 Coda: Country music in a new millennium Further Reading Index

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Book SynopsisAn anthology of items selected from the massive New Oxford Book of Carols, which was immediately acclaimed on publication as the ultimate source-book for carol lovers and scholars.Trade ReviewJust right for the ordinary carol singer in school, home, church, and/or community, i.e., for those who experience afresh each Christmas the dance-like exuberance of singing carols together * The Hymn (USA) *if you'd like to explore some new territory for your Lessons and Carols service, then SNOBC should be high on your Christmas shopping list!' * Music Teacher *Table of ContentsPART 1: COMPOSED CAROLS; THE MIDDLE AGES; ENGLISH CAROLS 1400-1700; EUROPEAN CAROLS 1550-1700; EUROPE AND AMERICA 1700-1830; THE LATER NINETEENTH CENTURY; THE TWENTIETH CENTURY; PART TWO: TRADITIONAL CAROLS; ENGLISH TRADITIONAL; LUCK-VISIT SONGS; IRISH TRADITIONAL; WELSH TRADITIONAL; AMERICAN TRADITIONAL; TRINIDADIAN TRADITIONAL; GERMAN TRADITIONAL; CZECH TRADITIONAL; POLISH TRADITIONAL; PROVENCAL TRADITIONAL; BASQUE TRADITIONAL; SPANISH TRADITIONAL; NEOPOLITAN TRADITIONAL

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Book SynopsisA series of little books of short carefully graded folk tunes beginning with the simplest passages and progressing to more difficult leaps, rhythms, chromatics, and modulations. The later books introduce two-part sight singing.

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Book SynopsisThis stimulating Very Short Introduction throws open the doors on a remarkably diverse musical genre, with a world-wide reach that goes far beyond America's shores to discuss folk music of every possible kind and in every corner of the globe.Trade Review"A masterful survey of the many manifestations of folk music in the cultures of the world, by one of America's most eminent and most widely experienced ethnomusicologists. Contemplating the varied sounds of folk music, Slobin explains how it has been perceived, distributed, researched, and exploited, in the world's nations and by scholars past and present."--Bruno Nettl, author of Nettl's Elephant: On the History of Ethnomusicology "Professor Mark Slobin is one of the leading experts in the world on different aspects of folk music. In this short introduction he presents the world of folk music from a number of expected and unexpected angles. This book is very informative but also provides exciting food for thought."--Krister Malm, past president, International Council for Traditional MusicTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface 1. Overview: Sound and Setting 2. Close-up: Songs, Strums, and Ceremonies 3. Intellectual Intervention: Scholars and Bureaucrats 4. Collecting and Circulating: Recording and Distributing 5. Internal Upsurge: Movements and Stars 6. Folk Music Today and Tomorrow References Further reading Index

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Book Synopsis''The Poetic Genius of my Country...bade me sing the loves, the joys, the rural scenes and rural pleasures of my natal Soil, in my native tongue.'' Many of the poems and songs of Robert Burns (1759-96) are familiar to readers the world over: lyrical, acerbic, comic, bawdy, democratic. They include ''To a Mouse'', ''John Anderson my Jo'', ''A red red Rose'', ''Auld lang syne'', ''Tam o ''Shanter'' and many more, whose vernacular energy and simple beauty have ensured lasting popularity. This generous new selection offers Burns''s work as it was first encountered by contemporary readers, presenting the texts in the contexts in which they were originally published. It reproduces the whole of Poems, chiefly in the Scottish Dialect published at Kilmarnock in 1786, the volume which made Burns famous; and it reunites a generous selection of songs from The Scots Musical Museum and A Select Collection of Scottish Airs with their full scores. Comprehensive notes describe the circumstances in which other poems and songs found their way into print, both before and after the poet''s death. The edition also includes some important letters, and a full glossary to explain Scots words. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Table of ContentsIntroduction ; Chronology ; Poems, chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (Kilmarnock 1786) ; from Poems, chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (Edinburgh 1787) ; Songs from The Scots Musical Museum ; Song from A Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs, for the Voice (1798-9) ; Other poems and songs published in Burns's lifetime ; Other poems and songs published posthumously ; Maps ; Appendix 1: from the Letters ; Appendix 2: contemporary reviews of the Kilmarnock Poems ; Notes ; Further Reading ; Index of Titles and First Lines

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"The authors and editors whose contributions are part of Mongolian Sound Worlds have produced an admirable work that balances depth and breadth, rigor and accessibility, fascinating detail and wider thematic arcs, while also greatly enhancing the representation of Central Asian music and culture within ethnomusicological literature." --Journal of Folklore Research ReviewsTable of ContentsAcknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viiTransliteration, Naming, and Place Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ixCompanion Website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xiiiIntroduction: Mongolian Sound Worlds: Opening SnapshotsSUNMIN YOON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1PART ONE: LANDSCAPES AND SOUNDSCAPESInterlude: Song about the SteppeK. OKTYABR AND JENNIFER C. POST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .171. Sound, Music, Pastoralism, and Nature in Mongolian Sound WorldsJENNIFER C. POST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21PART TWO: ETHNICITY AND DIVERSITYInterlude: Musical Journeys in Inner Mongolia and BeyondTAMIR HARGANA AND CHARLOTTE D’EVELYN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .532. Music and Ethnic Identity in Inner MongoliaCHARLOTTE D’EVELYN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613. The Politics of Regional and Ethnic Identities in Contemporary Mongolian Urtyn DuuSUNMIN YOON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 854. Gendered Musicality in the Altai MountainsREBEKAH PLUECKHAHN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111PART THREE: MATERIAL AND SOCIAL HISTORYInterlude: Consistency, Patience, and Perseverance: Maintaining the Fiddle-Making TraditionBAYARSAIKHAN BADAMSÜREN AND PETER K. MARSH . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1295. The Horsehead Fiddle: A Biographical HistoryPETER K. MARSH AND CHARLOTTE D’EVELYN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1356. The Tovshuur and Oirad Identity in Mongolia’s Western ProvincesOTGONBAYAR CHULUUNBAATAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1557. Social Lives of the Dombyra and Its Makers in Western MongoliaJENNIFER C. POST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170PART FOUR: HERITAGE AND GLOBALIZATIONInterlude: Everything Has Two Sides: An InterviewANDREW COLWELL AND D. TSERENDAVAA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1978. Chandman’ and Beyond: Heritage-making of Mongolian Khöömii in Past and PresentJOHANNI CURTET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2039. Mongolian Music, Globalization, and NomadismANDREW COLWELL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22710. “We Were Born with Global Ambition”: Continuity, Innovation, and a New Chapter in the Development of Mongolian Popular MusicPETER K. MARSH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .281

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Book SynopsisAn illuminating history of the banjo, revealing its origins at the crossroads of slavery, religion and musicTrade Review"For the very first time, a reader’s version of a few of the earliest written observations of the instrument are on full display in the thoughtful and masterful writing of this book. This book is not only made for the banjo enthusiast but it opens a new window into 17th, 18th and 19th century world history on the ground level by those who lived it and observed the strange new cultural connections brought by a brutal plantation system.[...] Kristina Gaddy’s observations lead the reader back into the 21st century to contend and reanalyze the crooked road of America’s musical past." -- Dom Flemons, the American songster and Grammy Award–winning musician"Beguiling… [Gaddy] weaves her story together from sources including paintings, diaries and letters, and tells it chronologically. In a less daring writer’s hands, this might have become a slog, but Ms. Gaddy successfully blends archival skills with imagination." -- The Economist

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsLion’s Mane; Bird Stealing Bread; Faded from the Winter; Promising Light; The Rooster Moans; Upward Over the Mountain; Southern Anthem; An Angry Blade; Weary Memory; Promise What You Will; Muddy Hymnal; Beneath the Balcony; The Sea & the Rhythm; The Night Descending; Jesus the Mexican Boy; Someday the Waves; On Your Wings; Naked as We Came; Cinder and Smoke; Sunset Soon Forgotten; Teeth in the Grass; Love and Some Verses; Radio Wars; Each Coming Night; Free Until They Cut Me Down; Fever Dream; Sodom, South Georgia; Passing Afternoon; Woman King; Jezebel; Gray Stables; Freedom Hangs Like Heaven; My Lady’s House; Evening on the Ground (Lilith’s Song); He Lays in the Reins; Prison on Route 41; History of Lovers; Red Dust; 16, Maybe Less; Burn That Broken Bed; Dead Man’s Will; Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car; White Tooth Man; Lovesong of the Buzzard; Carousel; House by the Sea; Innocent Bones; Wolves (Song of the Shepherd’s Dog); Resurrection Fern; Boy with a Coin; The Devil Never Sleeps; Peace Beneath the City; Flightless Bird, American Mouth; Dearest Forsaken; Morning; Loud as Hope; Peng! 33; Sacred Vision; Friends They Are Jewels; Hickory; Waitin’ for a Superman; Swans and the Swimming; Call Your Boys; Such Great Heights; Communion Cups and Someone’s Coat; Belated Promise Ring; God Made The Automobile; Homeward, These Shoes; Love Vigilantes; Sinning Hands; No Moon; Serpent Charmer; Carried Home; Kingdom of the Animals; Arms of a Thief; The Trapeze Swinger; Die (from Dark Was The Night compilation); Walking Far from Home; Me and Lazarus; Tree by the River; Monkeys Uptown; Half Moon; Rabbit Will Run; Godless Brother in Love; Big Burned Hand; Glad Man Singing; Your Fake Name Is Good Enough for Me; Summer in Savannah; Biting Your Tail; Caught in the Briars; The Desert Babbler; Joy; Low Light Buddy of Mine; Grace for Saints and Ramblers; Grass Widows; Singers and the Endless Song; Sundown (Back in the Briars); Winter Prayers; New Mexico’s No Breeze; Lovers’ Revolution; Baby Center Stage; My Side of the Road; Rattling Bone; Slow Black River; The Wind Is Low; Eden; Two Hungry Blackbirds; Freckled Girl; Judgement; Sing Song Bird; Beyond the Fence; Quarters in a Pocket; Loretta; Everyone’s Summer of ’95; Minor Piano Keys; Your Sly Smile; Halfway to Richmond; Wade Across the Water; Postcard; Claim Your Ghost; Thomas County Law; Bitter Truth; Song in Stone; Summer Clouds; Call It Dreaming; About a Bruise; Last Night; Right for Sky; The Truest Stars We Know; Our Light Miles; Stranger Lay Beside Me; Miss Bottom of the Hill; What Hurts Worse; Waves of Galveston; Last of Your Rock ’n’ Roll Heroes; Milkweed; Autumn Town Leaves; Talking to Fog

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Book SynopsisIt remains one of the most penetrating and illuminating books on the island's elusive, alluring culture. National GeographicA House in Bali tells the fascinating story of renowned writer and composer Colin McPhee's obsession with Balinese gamelan music, and of his journey to Bali to experience it first-hand. In 1929, the young Canadian-born musician chanced upon rare gramophone recordings which were to change his life forever. From that moment, he lived for the day when he could set foot on the island where this music originated. He realized his dream and spent almost a decade there in the 1930s. Music and dance are second nature to the Balinese, and McPhee's writings and compositions proved seminal in popularizing gamelan music in the West. In this lovingly-told memoir, McPhee unfolds a beguiling picture of a society like no other in the worldstaggeringly poor in material terms, but rich beyond belief in spiritual values and joy. The young composer writes about his growing understTrade Review"It remains one of the most penetrating and illuminating books on the island's elusive, alluring culture." --National Geographic

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Book SynopsisDisaster Songs as Intangible Memorials in Atlantic Canada draws on a collection of over 600 songs relating to Atlantic Canadian disasters from 1891 up until the present and describes the characteristics that define them as intangible memorials. The book demonstrates the relationship between vernacular memorials â informal memorials collectively and spontaneously created from a variety of objects by the general public â and disaster songs. The author identifies the features that define vernacular memorials and applies them to disaster songs: spontaneity, ephemerality, importance of place, motivations and meaning-making, content, as well as the role of media in inspiring and disseminating memorials and songs. Visit the companion website: www.disastersongs.ca.

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Book SynopsisThis is Martha Wainwright’s heartfelt memoir about growing up in a bohemian musical family and her experiences with love, loss, motherhood, divorce, the music industry and more. Born into music royalty, the daughter of folk legends Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III and sister to the highly-acclaimed singer Rufus Wainwright, Martha grew up in a world filled with such incomparable folk legends as Leonard Cohen, Anna McGarrigle, Richard and Linda Thompson, Pete Townsend and Emmylou Harris. It was within this loud, boisterous, musical milieu that Martha came of age, struggling to find her voice until she exploded onto the music scene with her 2005 debut and critically acclaimed album, Martha Wainwright, which contained the blistering hit, ‘Bloody Mother F*cking Asshole’, which the Sunday Times called one of the best songs of that year. Her successful debut album and the ones that followed such asTrade Review'First class family drama… Tales of rivalry, love, drugs and difficult births litter the singer-songwriters gripping account of life in a dysfunctional music dynasty… very little feels off-limits in this slim but jam-packed book, full of very good times in the circus that is a performer’s life as well as very bad times... This is a memoir full of talented, headstrong people recycling their pain as songcraft; of ambitions pursued or curtailed, and of love frequently tinged with other things – rivalry, frustration, not measuring up. For all the epigenetic baggage, though, it is above all the story of Wainwright’s gutsy, instinctual pursuit of her own muse.' * Observer *'A hilariously candid memoir … the revered singer-songwriter’s autobiography shows her to be one of a kind… Acerbic, often hilarious and more candid that it should be… her transparency is the book’s golden ticket… In short, she has had a life worth documenting. At the end of 244 remarkable pages, she signs off with a typical self-effacing line: “Perhaps I am someone whose luck gets better halfway though. That would be good.” It would be good, and she would deserve it.' * Guardian *'Witty and honest… Like her music, Wainwright’s searingly honest and entirely charming memoir, aptly titled Stories I Might Regret Telling You, dissects these familial bonds and her bohemian childhood… Wainwright, a mother of two, writes movingly about relationships, divorce, the termination of pregnancy and the trials, tribulations and rewards of having children.' * Press Association *‘With disarming candour and courage, Martha tells us of finding her own voice and peace as a working artist and mother. Her story is made more unique because of the remarkably gifted musical family she was born into.’ -- Emmylou Harris'It’s like reading extremely private diary entries through your laced fingers. From page one, chapter one, Wainwright pulls no punches (her father, singer Loudon Wainwright III, informed his daughter when she was a teenager that “he didn’t want me at first and pressured my mother to have an abortion”). It continues with equal measures of directness and poignancy … . Neither the industry in which she works nor her family gets off lightly, and that includes Wainwright herself, who is to candid self-reflection as a moth is to a flame. The family ties, however, are the most vicariously gratifying to read … Confessional and contemplative to the nth degree, you won’t regret reading it, either.' * Irish Times *‘I have been listening to Martha Wainwright for at least twenty years, admiring her from afar. Her new memoir, Stories I Might Regret Telling You, made me feel like I was sitting in a corner of one of her New York apartments, reading her private diaries under a blanket with a flashlight . . . I was sucked in from the first page, though occasionally I winced because it was all so relatable . . . I turned the last page and felt like I had made a new friend, the kind you wish you were cool enough to have but never had the courage to pursue. My only disappointment? Her memoir wasn’t long enough. I can’t wait for volume two.’ -- Jann Arden, singer, songwriter, TV star and bestselling author‘What a wonderful gift this book is! Martha Wainwright has opened the door to let us into the fabled, glamorous family that is the McGarrigle-Wainwrights and reveals what it is like to be the black sheep of the bunch, the earnest, glorious underachiever who has always been the most loveable of them all. Her warm, rich writing displays the sweetness her songwriting possesses and, at the same time, is filled with the humor, panache and gutsy feminism of her live performances. Wainwright shows us how a big, dysfunctional brood can also be a blessing, filled with gifts that make the heart grow bigger. A surprising and brilliantly relatable book.’ -- Heather O'Neill, bestselling author of The Lonely Hearts Hotel‘A beautiful and clear-eyed memoir, full of music, friendship, love, and heartache. Somehow at once sizzling and wise, as undeniable as the singer who wrote it.’ -- Sean Michaels, Scotiabank Giller Prize–winning novelist and founder of Said the Gramophone

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Book SynopsisMatthew Frye Jacobson teaches American Studies and African American Studies at Yale University, and is the co-founder of the Public Humanities program there. He has written extensively on a range of cultural forms, including film, television, literature, the arts, sports, music, and comedy. In addition to his five books on aspects of race in US culture, he has conducted several documentary, curatorial, and artistic projects, including The Historian's Eye, a web-based documentary project, and his forthcoming film, A Long Way from Home: The Untold Story of Baseball's Desegregation.Trade Review[Odetta’s One Grain of Sand] is part of the estimable 33 1/3 series of short books about individual albums ... [It] expands the context of Odetta’s songs, setting her alongside figures like Zora Neale Hurston, W.E.B. Du Bois and many others. * The New York Times *It is quite something to present a cohesive history of black America, a life story of an amazing human, and a review of a very important album all into 120 pages. But Jacobson has done so ... I highly recommend you get both of them [this book and One Grain of Sand] in your eyes and ears as soon as is humanly possible. * Bookmunch *Both informative and fascinating ... This is a very enjoyable read and a book that’s hard to put down once you start into it ... If you have an interest in social history and the importance of folk music as a chronicler of the times, then this is a book that will greatly appeal to you. * Americana UK *Table of ContentsIntroduction: One Grain of Sand Midnight Special: The Archivist Cool Water: The Coffeehouse Moses, Moses: Spiritual Geographies Cotton Fields: Social Geographies Conclusion: Ain’t No Grave Acknowledgments Notes

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Book SynopsisPipers takes the reader inside the world of the performer community of Scottish piping, introducing the instrument itself and the various different repertories. It also discusses piping techniques as well as information on some of the great piping dynasties and individual pipers. Dr Willie Donaldson shows how ‘traditional music’, often assumed to be the anonymous product of a dim and distant past, is the creation of gifted individuals operating in a sophisticated and vigorously ongoing enterprise. Since pipers have often been skilled also on the fiddle, keyboards and small-pipes, or as singers or dancers, their story offers fascinating insights into the whole traditional music and song repertoire of Scotland. Pipers is a well-informed and highly readable account by a prize-winning author who is a piper and composer of pipe music as well as an internationally recognised historian of Scottish tradition.Trade Review'From the history of the pipes themselves to their place in the modern day, this book is a comprehensive guide' * Scots Magazine *

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Book SynopsisThis ground-breaking book is the first-ever study of the role played in musical history by song collectors. This is the first-ever book about song collectors, music's unsung heroes. They include the Armenian priest who sacrificed his life to preserve the folk music which the Turks were trying to erase in the 1915 Genocide; the prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp who secretly noted down the songs of doomed Jewish inmates; the British singer who went veiled into Afghanistan to learn, record and perform the music the Taliban wanted to silence. Some collectors have been fired by political idealism - Bartok championing Hungarian peasant music, the Lomaxes bringing the blues out of Mississippi penitentiaries, and transmitting them to the world. Many collectors have been priests - French Jesuits noting down labyrinthine forms in eighteenth-century Beijing, English vicars tracking songs in nineteenth-century Somerset. Others have been wonderfully colourful oddballs. Today's collectors are striving heroically to preserve endangered musics, whether rare forms of Balinese gamelan, the wind-band music of Chinese villages, or the sophisticated polyphony of Central African Pygmies. With globalisation, urbanisation and Westernisation causing an irreversible erosion of the world's musical diversity, Michael Church suggests we may be seeing folk music's 'end of history'. Old forms are dying as the conditions for their survival - or replacement - disappear; the death of villages means the death of village musical culture. This ground-breaking book is the sequel to the author's award-winning The Other Classical Musics, and it concludes with an inventory of the musics now under threat, or already lost for ever.Trade ReviewMusics Lost and Found is a valuable introduction to the pioneering figures who have been brave enough to depart from the flow to recognize, gather and preserve traditional musics around the world before it disappeared. -- Simon Broughton * Songlines Magazine *Critic Michael Church's new book highlights those who have worked to save a music tradition from extinction. -- Michael White * Camden New Journal *Musics Lost and Found makes an engaging diachronic introduction to fieldworkers, and the musics they documented, in societies around the world.... More digestible than the New Grove and Garland encyclopedias, sections in the two New Grove Ethnomusicology volumes, or even The Rough Guide to World Music, this book leads audiences to a wealth of traditions.... [C]overs an impressive amount of ground. -- Stephen Jones, ethnomusicologistAn important new study. -- Fiona Maddocks * The Observer *[A] fascinating and moving study of folk-song collectors from the 18th century to the present day, from all around the world.... One of the virtues of Church's book is that he doesn't confine himself to accredited ethnographers or academic collectors working for grand institutions. He gives equal weight to enterprising record companies...as well as amateur enthusiasts like [Paul] Bowles. -- Ivan Hewett * The Daily Telegraph *[An] appealing account of folk song collectors around the world.... Church is a convincing and passionate advocate both for folk song and its enthusiasts, and the breadth of this colourful and absorbing book is commendable. Three stars. -- Kate Wakeling * BBC Music Magazine *There is a cinematic sweep to Church's history of the world's song collectors...but there is also an urgent message, as traditional folk music faces the threat of an erosion of musical diversity. -- Richard Fairman * The Financial Times *Engrossing... its chapters range beguilingly across the globe and the centuries -- Jim Gilchrist * The Scotsman *Church's volume proves compulsively readable. It is in no way limited to musically conversant readers, thanks to its mixture of informed yet approachable prose and, most of all, a cavalcade of extraordinary characters.... If the book errs in any way, it is simply that it leaves you wanting more. -- Jessica Duchen * i-paper *Michael Church's important book is a fitting and timely tribute to those who have toiled to preserve folk music, and a wake-up call to us to continue to preserve it. -- Ronald Corp * The Church Times *A uniquely ambitious book. -- Tom Service * BBC Radio 3, Music Matters *Highly recommended. * THE INDEPENDENT *Journalist Michael Church, an esteemed British music critic, makes a serious effort to investigate and help preserve surviving folk music in many parts of the world. [A] carefully researched study.... His coverage encompasses Western European, Eastern European, Asian, Native American, African, and Middle Eastern musicians.... Church's engaging writing style makes this work accessible to a broad audience. -- D. Arnold * CHOICE *In a world of globalization, industrialization, and Westernization, this book is a reminder about how precious are the sound recordings of past performances that will never be heard in person again. * American Record Guide *Church's great strength is on the role of small specialist record labels in recirculating and popularizing folk musics, and is similarly appreciative of the role of folk-life festivals. -- Paul Cowdell * Folklore *Table of ContentsIntroduction Why it all began 1 From broadsides to Child ballads: Songs of the British people 2 Orientalists from France: Jesuit priests in Beijing, Salvador-Daniel in Algiers 3 Going native in Constantinople: Dimitrie Cantemir, the happy hostage The birth of ethnomusicology 4 The Song of Approach, the Pipes of Friendship: Alice Fletcher and the Omaha Indians 5 'I am now a true Eskimo': Franz Boas and first principles 6 Voice of Armenia: The tragedy of Komitas 7 Britain's folk-song revivals, and the contentious Cecil Sharp 8 'I in seventh heaven - Perks': The ineffable Percy Grainger Carrying the torch: Collectors in Northern and Eastern Europe 9 'And what does the gentleman want': Béla Bartók as song detective 10 Girdling the globe: The empire of the Lomaxes 11 'I am a white-skinned Aranda man': Theodore Strehlow's divided self 12 The stirring of a thousand bells: Jaap Kunst, Colin McPhee, and gamelan 13 Hot mint tea and a few pipes of kif: Paul Bowles in Morocco 14 A voice for Greece: Domna Samiou's crusade 15 Things that are made to cry: John Blacking and the Venda 16 Record companies as collectors: Folkways, Smithsonian, Nonesuch, IMA, Ocora, World Circuit, Topic, Pan, Muziekpublique Musical snapshots: The importance of sound archives 17 Magic in two strings: Central Asia awakes 18 Red badge of courage: Musicians in Afghanistan 19 Out of the womb of Russia: Riches awaiting rediscovery 20 Three-in-one: The Georgian way 21 Small is beautiful: Pygmy polyphony 22 It's a physical thing: A Persian musician relocates the radif 23 Plucking the winds: Chinese village music today 24 Voice, handkerchief, fan: New life for Korea's p'ansori 25 'My whole body was singing': Kodo and the taiko drum 26 'Intangible cultural heritage': UNESCO's lengthening list 27 Going, going...: disappearing musics Sources and further reading Bibliography Index

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