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National Identity in Contemporary Australian Opera: Myths Reconsidered (Ashgate Interdisciplinary Studies in Opera)
by Michael HalliwellOpera has been performed in Australia for more than two hundred years, yet none of the operas written before the Second World War have become part of the repertoire. It is only in the late 1970s and early 1980s that there is evidence of the successful systematic production of indigenous opera. The premiere of Voss by Richard Meale and David Malouf in 1986 was a watershed in the staging and reception of new opera, and there has been a diverse series of new works staged in the last thirty years, not only by the national company, but also by thriving regional institutions. The emergence of a thriving operatic tradition in contemporary Australia is inextricably enmeshed in Australian cultural consciousness and issues of national identity. In this study of eighteen representative contemporary operas, Michael Halliwell elucidates the ways in which the operas reflect and engage with the issues facing contemporary Australians. Stylistically these eighteen operas vary greatly. The musical idiom is diverse, ranging from works in a modernist idiom such as The Ghost Wife, Whitsunday, Fly Away Peter, Black River and Bride of Fortune, to Voss, Batavia, Bliss, Lindy, Midnight Son, The Riders, The Summer of the Seventeenth Doll and The Children’s Bach being works which straddle several musical styles. A number of operas draw strongly on musical theatre including The Eighth Wonder, Pecan Summer, The Rabbits and Cloudstreet, and Love in the Age of Therapy is couched in a predominantly jazz idiom. While some of them are overtly political, all, at least tangentially, deal with recent cultural politics in Australia and offer sharply differing perspectives.
National Myth and the First World War in Modern Popular Music
by Peter GrantThis book looks at the role of popular music in constructing the myth of the First World War. Since the late 1950s over 1,500 popular songs from more than forty countries have been recorded that draw inspiration from the War. National Myth and the First World War in Modern Popular Music takes an inter-disciplinary approach that locates popular music within the framework of 'memory studies' and analyses how songwriters are influenced by their country's 'national myths'. How does popular music help form memory and remembrance of such an event? Why do some songwriters stick rigidly to culturally dominant forms of memory whereas others seek an oppositional or transnational perspective? The huge range of musical examples include the great chansonniers Jacques Brel and Georges Brassens; folk maestros including Al Stewart and Eric Bog≤ the socially aware rock of The Kinks and Pink Floyd; metal legends Iron Maiden and Bolt Thrower and female iconoclasts Diamanda Gal#65533;s and PJ Harvey.
The National Party Chairmen and Committees: Factionalism at the Top
by Andrew GoldmanThis study traces the history of the national committee chairmanships of the two major political parties in the United States, emphasizing the national conventions and presidential campaigns - where national factions often reveal themselves. Candidate and ideolological factionalism, as the evidence of this volume demonstrates, has been the principal engine of convention action. Factional conflicts have had consequences not just for the political parties but for the party system itself. The institutional history of the two national committees and their chairmanships reveals a previously unrecorded aspect of United States national party development.
National Schools of Singing: English, French, German and Italian Techniques of Singing Revisited
by Richard MillerA comprehensive update of a 1977 study of historical and current techniques practiced in four major Western European schools of vocalism, investigating which techniques within the national schools are common to them all and which idiosyncratic regional tendencies remain. Contains chapters on breath management techniques, techniques of vowel formation, vibrato and national tendencies, vocal registration and national attitudes, the different types of voices, and international tonal ideals. Also discusses the North American singer and the national schools.
National Traditions in Nineteenth-Century Opera, Volume I: Italy, France, England and the Americas (The Ashgate Library of Essays in Opera Studies #4)
by Steven HuebnerThis volume covers opera in Italy, France, England and the Americas during the long nineteenth century (1789-1914). The book is divided into four sections that are thematically, rather than geographically, conceived: Places-essays centering on contexts for operatic culture; Genres and Styles-studies dealing with the question of how operas in this period were put together; Critical Studies of individual works, exemplifying particular critical trends; and Performance.
National Traditions in Nineteenth-Century Opera, Volume II: Central and Eastern Europe (The Ashgate Library of Essays in Opera Studies)
by Michael C. TusaThis volume offers a cross-section of English-language scholarship on German and Slavonic operatic repertories of the "long nineteenth century," giving particular emphasis to four areas: German opera in the first half of the nineteenth century; the works of Richard Wagner after 1848; Russian opera between Glinka and Rimsky-Korsakov; and the operas of Richard Strauss and Janácek. The essays reflect diverse methods, ranging from stylistic, philological, and historical approaches to those rooted in hermeneutics, critical theory, and post-modernist inquiry.
Nationalists, Cosmopolitans, and Popular Music in Zimbabwe
by Thomas TurinoThe book talks about how cosmopolitanism gave rise to the nationalist movement in Zimbabwe, explaining the combination of "foreign" and indigenous elements that define nationalist art and cultural projects.
A Natural History of the Piano: The Instrument, the Music, the Musicians from Mozart to Modern Jazz and Everything in Between
by Stuart IsacoffA beautifully illustrated, totally engrossing celebration of the piano, and the composers and performers who have made it their own. With honed sensitivity and unquestioned expertise, Stuart Isacoff--pianist, critic, teacher, and author of Temperament: How Music Became a Battleground for the Great Minds of Western Civilization--unfolds the ongoing history and evolution of the piano and all its myriad wonders: how its very sound provides the basis for emotional expression and individual style, and why it has so powerfully entertained generation upon generation of listeners. He illuminates the groundbreaking music of Mozart, Beethoven, Liszt, Schumann, and Debussy. He analyzes the breathtaking techniques of Glenn Gould, Oscar Peterson, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Arthur Rubinstein, and Van Cliburn, and he gives musicians including Alfred Brendel, Murray Perahia, Menahem Pressler, and Vladimir Horowitz the opportunity to discuss their approaches. Isacoff delineates how classical music and jazz influenced each other as the uniquely American art form progressed from ragtime, novelty, stride, boogie, bebop, and beyond, through Scott Joplin, Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Bill Evans, Thelonious Monk, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Cecil Taylor, and Bill Charlap. A Natural History of the Piano distills a lifetime of research and passion into one brilliant narrative. We witness Mozart unveiling his monumental concertos in Vienna's coffeehouses, using a special piano with one keyboard for the hands and another for the feet; European virtuoso Henri Herz entertaining rowdy miners during the California gold rush; Beethoven at his piano, conjuring healing angels to console a grieving mother who had lost her child; Liszt fainting in the arms of a page turner to spark an entire hall into hysterics. Here is the instrument in all its complexity and beauty. We learn of the incredible craftsmanship of a modern Steinway, the peculiarity of specialty pianos built for the Victorian household, the continuing innovation in keyboards including electronic ones. And most of all, we hear the music of the masters, from centuries ago and in our own age, brilliantly evoked and as marvelous as its most recent performance. With this wide-ranging volume, Isacoff gives us a must-have for music lovers, pianists, and the armchair musician.From the Hardcover edition.
The Natural Mystics: Marley, Tosh, and Wailer
by Colin GrantThe definitive group biography of the Wailers--Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Bunny Livingston--chronicling their rise to fame and power. Over one dramatic decade, a trio of Trenchtown R&B crooners swapped their 1960s Brylcreem hairdos and two-tone suits for 1970s battle fatigues and dreadlocks to become the Wailers--one of the most influential groups in popular music. Colin Grant presents a lively history of this remarkable band from their upbringing in the brutal slums of Kingston to their first recordings and then international superstardom. With energetic prose and stunning, original research, Grant argues that these reggae stars offered three models for black men in the second half of the twentieth century: accommodate and succeed (Marley), fight and die (Tosh), or retreat and live (Livingston). Grant meets with Rastafarian elders, Obeah men (witch doctors), and other folk authorities as he attempts to unravel the mysteries of Jamaica's famously impenetrable culture. Much more than a top-flight music biography, The Natural Mystics offers a sophisticated understanding of Jamaican politics, heritage, race, and religion--a portrait of a seminal group during a period of exuberant cultural evolution.
A Natural Woman
by Carole KingThe enhanced ebook includes dozens of exclusive of photos from Carole King's childhood, her own family, and behind-the-scenes images from her performances. It also features a video of the author in the recording studio, and two classic songs embedded within the ebook. A memoir by the iconic singer-songwriter chronicling her story from her beginnings in Brooklyn through her remarkable success as one of the world's most acclaimed musical talents, to her present day as a leading performer and activist. From her marriage to Gerry Goffin, with whom she wrote dozens of songs that hit the charts, to her own achievements, notably with "Tapestry," which remained on the charts for more than six years, to her experiences as a mother, this memoir chronicles one of music's most successful and fascinating stars. The book will include dozens of photos from King's childhood, her own family, and behind-the-scenes images from her performances over the years.
A Natural Woman: A Memoir
by Carole KingA memoir by the iconic singer-songwriter chronicling her story from her beginnings in Brooklyn through her remarkable success as one of the world's most acclaimed musical talents, to her present day as a leading performer and activist. From her marriage to Gerry Goffin, with whom she wrote dozens of songs that hit the charts, to her own achievements, notably with 'Tapestry', which remained on the charts for more than six years, to her experiences as a mother, this memoir chronicles one of music's most successful and fascinating stars. The book includes dozens of photos from King's childhood, her own family, and behind-the-scenes images from her performances over the years.
A Natural Woman
by Carole KingA memoir by the iconic singer-songwriter chronicling her story from her beginnings in Brooklyn through her remarkable success as one of the world's most acclaimed musical talents, to her present day as a leading performer and activist. From her marriage to Gerry Goffin, with whom she wrote dozens of songs that hit the charts, to her own achievements, notably with "Tapestry," which remained on the charts for more than six years, to her experiences as a mother, this memoir chronicles one of music's most successful and fascinating stars. The audiobook will include a pdf of dozens of photos from King's childhood, her own family, and behind-the-scenes images from her performances over the years.
A Natural Woman: A Memoir
by Carole KingRead the New York Times Bestselling memoir that is "revealing, humble, and cool-aunt chatty" about the incredible life that inspired the hit Broadway musical Beautiful (Rolling Stone). Carole King takes us from her early beginnings in Brooklyn, to her remarkable success as one of the world's most acclaimed songwriting and performing talents of all time. A Natural Woman chronicles King's extraordinary life, drawing readers into her musical world, including her phenomenally successful #1 album Tapestry, and into her journey as a performer, mother, wife and present-day activist. Deeply personal, King's long-awaited memoir offers readers a front-row seat to the woman behind the legend. The book will include dozens of photos from King's childhood, her own family, and behind-the-scenes images from her performances.
The Nature of Nordic Music
by Tim HowellThe Nature of Nordic Music explores two distinctive yet complementary understandings of the term ‘nature’: the inherent features, characters and qualities of contemporary Nordic music, and how the elemental forces of nature, the phenomena of the physical world (landscape, climate, environment), inspire and condition creativity here. Within a broader debate about the meaning of ‘Nordicness’, 12 case studies challenge our assumptions about a ‘Nordic tone’ to reveal a creative energy that is diverse and cosmopolitan in outlook. Each of the three parts of the book – ‘Identities’, ‘Images’ and ‘Environments’ – accommodates an eclectic array of musical genres (classical, popular, jazz, folk, electronic). This book will appeal to anyone interested in Nordic music and culture, especially students and researchers.
Naushadnama: The Life and Music of Naushad
by Raju BharatanThe seven letters in Naushad’s name are like the seven notes of Hindustani classical music. After just a few years in films, Naushad (1919-2006) went to rule the Hindi cinema music world for around two decades, beginning with the landmark Rattan (1944). His oeuvre (from 1940 to 2005) consists of an unmatched list of jubilees, many of which are musical milestones such as Andaz (1949), Baiju Bawra (1952), Mother India (1957) and Mughal-e-Azam (1960).No individual stays supreme without putting in tremendous efforts to reach the pinnacle and to stay there as long as possible, as our maestro did. And no composer probably moved so cleverly, behind the scenes, than did Naushad to sustain his hold on the public imagination. Although we continue to marvel at the incredible variety of his mellifluous creations that have withstood the test of time, how little most of us know about Naushad the man. Renowned song historian Raju Bharatan fleshes out the real Naushad – his triumphs and tragedies – bringing into play more than 50 years of personal interaction with the tuneful titan. In the process, the author makes the book more sparking with a string of anecdotal gems. For instance: • How Naushad and his contemporaries despite their professed bonhomie, were fiercely competitive (both musically and monetarily) in their attempts to occupy the ‘top spot’. • How many days of rehearsal were needed for some of the Baiju Bawara masterpieces? • How the immortal compositions of Mughal-e-Azam were recorded in a studio no better than a tin shed.This volume also throws new light on the relations and interactions between Naushad and his singers (especially Suraiya, Mohammed Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle and Shamshad Begum); his songwriters (mainly D.N Madhok, Shakeel Badayuni and Majrooh Sultanpuri); and his ‘unsung’ instrumentalists (some of whom were geniuses in their own right).
NAUSHADNAMA The Life and Music of Naushad: The Life And Music Of Naushad
by Raju BharatanNaushad is by popular consent the greatest among our film music composers, having been active for 65 years! For twenty years during that period, he ruled the field: from Rattan in 1944, he was the standard against whom every other composer tried to match himself! He didn't have much to show by way of originality after Mughal e Azam (1961), though his music never became base : it was only that the stars for whom he composed declined, the public taste changed, he became trapped in his own image as the custodian of the classical mould in film sangeet. It is a measure of the great man that he steadily refused to succumb to the market pressure. His composing abilities were never in question, but he could not give 'hits" or tunes that would appeal.When he tried to adjust, he was pathetic. Raju Bharatan is such an authority on Naushad and our film music, with so much first hand knowledge and information, a book from him on Naushad is likely to be the last word as an account of his professional life. But this book covers so much more: what the cine music filed was like from inside, how the composers were competing , how they were bad-mouthing Naushad in private, in spite of the show of public bonhomie, what devious games were played to corner awards and limelight, etc. The point is not the filmi world was so dirty; the point is that the composers created great music even in such atmosphere.
Navigating Stylistic Boundaries in the Music History Classroom: Crossover, Exchange, Appropriation (Modern Musicology and the College Classroom)
by Esther M. Morgan-EllisAt a time of transformation in the music history classroom and amid increasing calls to teach a global music history, Navigating Stylistic Boundaries in the Music History Classroom adds nuance to the teaching of varied musical traditions by examining the places where they intersect and the issues of musical exchange and appropriation that these intersections raise. Troubling traditional boundaries of genre and style, this collection of essays helps instructors to denaturalize the framework of Western art music and invite students to engage with other traditions—vernacular, popular, and non-Western—on their own terms.The book draws together contributions by a wide range of active scholars and educators to investigate the teaching of music history around cases of stylistic borders, exploring the places where different practices of music and values intersect. Each chapter in this collection considers a specific case in which an artist or community engages in what might be termed musical crossover, exchange, or appropriation and delves deeper into these concepts to explore questions of how musical meaning changes in moving across worlds of practice. Addressing works that are already widely taught but presenting new ways to understand and interpret them, this volume enables instructors to enrich the perspectives on music history that they present and to take on the challenge of teaching a more global music history without flattening the differences between traditions.
The Neapolitan Creative Economy: The Growth of the Music Market and Creative Sector in Naples, 17th–19th Centuries (Palgrave Studies in Economic History)
by Rossella Del PreteThis book analyses the emergence and growth of the creative sector in Naples between the early modern and modern eras, focusing particularly on the development of music markets in the city. From the seventeenth century, Naples became one of the most culturally enriched regions in the Italian peninsula, with internationally known music schools, theatres and opera venues attracting visitors from across Europe in a burgeoning tourist market. This book sheds light on the driving economic factors and political contexts behind this key case study for the early growth of the opera and music sector in Europe. Starting with a discussion of the value of economic history to understanding cultural industries, the chapters approach this analysis through multiple lenses: the formation of human capital as the result of Naples’ institutional urban welfare system; the role of cultural consumption as it evolved from a primarily religious activity to growing popular demand; and the rolethat central city authorities played in encouraging cultural activity through private investment and public policy. The book also draws on fascinating archival research to examine the contribution of Naples’ music conservatories in the local creative economy. This book is a valuable resource to a broad range of readers, including those working in economic history, tourism history, the history of music and theatre, Italian social history and more.
The Needle and the Lens: Pop Goes to the Movies from Rock 'n' Roll to Synthwave
by Nate PatrinHow the creative use of pop music in film—think Saturday Night Fever or Apocalypse Now—has shaped and shifted music history since the 1960s Quick: What movie do you think of when you hear &“The Sounds of Silence&”? Better yet, what song comes to mind when you think of The Graduate? The link between film and song endures as more than a memory, Nate Patrin suggests with this wide-ranging and energetic book. It is, in fact, a sort of cultural symbiosis that has mutually influenced movies and pop music, a phenomenon Patrin tracks through the past fifty years, revealing the power of music in movies to move the needle in popular culture. Rock &’n&’ roll, reggae, R&B, jazz, techno, and hip-hop: each had its moment—or many—as music deployed in movies emerged as a form of interpretive commentary, making way for the legitimization of pop and rock music as art forms worthy of serious consideration. These commentaries run the gamut from comedic irony to cheap-thrills excitement to deeply felt drama, all of which Patrin examines in pairings such as American Graffiti and &“Do You Want to Dance?&”; Saturday Night Fever and &“Disco Inferno&”; Apocalypse Now and &“The End&”; Wayne&’s World and &“Bohemian Rhapsody&”; and Jackie Brown and &“Didn't I Blow Your Mind This Time?&”. What gives power to these individual moments, and how have they shaped and shifted music history, recasting source material or even stirring wider interest in previously niche pop genres? As Patrin surveys the scene—musical and cinematic—across the decades, expanding into the deeper origins, wider connections, and echoed histories that come into play, The Needle and the Lens offers a new way of seeing, and hearing, these iconic soundtrack moments.
Negatives: A Photographic Archive of Emo (1996-2006)
by Amy Fleisher MaddenA gorgeous hardcover time capsule of the emo music scene as it was from 1996 to 2006, featuring never-before-seen photographs and never-before-told stories from key emo musicians, photographers, and icons.While the term emo has become a familiar label, there was a time when that wasn’t the case. Many bands of the mid-to-late '90s would never have classified themselves as such. With the advent of the 2000s, the previously underground emo scene was put on the map, and the term and sound of the genre morphed into something new. Today, the musical and cultural impact of this movement is alive and well, responsible for some of the biggest and most influential acts of the 21st century, from Jimmy Eat World to My Chemical Romance, and the emo label has been reclaimed by those who can’t imagine life without it. Through rare and never-before-seen photographs Amy Fleisher Madden, founder of Fiddler Records (Dashboard Confessional, New Found Glory, Recover, and more), thoughtfully and lovingly put together this moving archive of the second and third waves of emo. With a foreword by Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional and revealing essays from Frank Iero, Geoff Rickly, Norman Brannon, and Matt Pryor, as well as insights and bite-sized narratives from photographers and other musicians of the era, this heartwarming time capsule expounds an extraordinary moment in music history—a scene that gave life to not only numerous big names but also to a powerful sound and even more powerful friendships. Featuring more than eighty bands, including:Jimmy Eat WorldDashboard ConfessionalMy Chemical RomanceTexas Is the ReasonTaking Back SundayThe Get Up KidsThursdayFall Out BoyAmerican FootballJawbreakerFrom basements and VFW halls to dive bars and holes-in-the-wall, during long overnight drives through the middle of nowhere and stolen moments of sleep in carbon-copy motels, Negatives captures the heart of what made up this tight-knit community, an official archive of life as it was, taking you on stage, behind the curtain, and on the road.A UNIQUE LOVE LETTER FROM EXPERT AUTHOR: The first of its kind, Negatives is not a critic's take—rather a touching and heartfelt time capsule and photographic archive of the scene as told by those who lived it.RARE AND NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN MATERIAL: Founder of Fiddler Records Amy Fleisher Madden compiles hundreds of high-quality photos of more than eighty bands, as well as essays and bite-sized narratives from photographers and key musicians of the era. STAR CONTRIBUTORS: Foreword by Chris Carrabba (Dashboard Confessional) with essays by Frank Iero (My Chemical Romance), Geoff Rickly (Thursday), Norman Brannon (Texas Is the Reason), Matt Pryor (The Get Up Kids), Jesse Johnson (Motion City Soundtrack), Bob Nanna (Braid, Hey Mercedes), and Andrew McMahon (Something Corporate). A MUSIC GIFT FOR EVERY EMO FAN: Focusing on the second and third waves (1996–2006), Negatives includes hundreds of high-quality images of bands including Jimmy Eat World, Dashboard Confessional, My Chemical Romance, Texas Is the Reason, Taking Back Sunday, The Get Up Kids, Thursday, The Promise Ring, American Football, Saosin, and more.Perfect for:Emo fans of all kinds and all wavesFans of second-wave bands like Sunny Day Real Estate, third-wave bands like My Chemical Romance, and indie emo bands like Death Cab for CutieMusic history fansMusicians and aspiring musicians Photography enthusiastsMusic lover's gift idea for birthday, graduation, holiday, or any special occasion
Negotiated Moments: Improvisation, Sound, and Subjectivity
by Gillian Siddall Ellen WatermanThe contributors to Negotiated Moments explore how subjectivity is formed and expressed through musical improvisation, tracing the ways the transmission and reception of sound occur within and between bodies in real and virtual time and across memory, history, and space. They place the gendered, sexed, raced, classed, disabled, and technologized body at the center of critical improvisation studies and move beyond the field's tendency toward celebrating improvisation's utopian and democratic ideals by highlighting the improvisation of marginalized subjects. Rejecting a singular theory of improvisational agency, the contributors show how improvisation helps people gain hard-won and highly contingent agency. Essays include analyses of the role of the body and technology in performance, improvisation's ability to disrupt power relations, Pauline Oliveros's ideas about listening, flautist Nicole Mitchell's compositions based on Octavia Butler's science fiction, and an interview with Judith Butler about the relationship between her work and improvisation. The contributors' close attention to improvisation provides a touchstone for examining subjectivities and offers ways to hear the full spectrum of ideas that sound out from and resonate within and across bodies. Contributors. George Blake, David Borgo, Judith Butler, Rebecca Caines, Louise Campbell, Illa Carrillo Rodríguez, Berenice Corti, Andrew Raffo Dewar, Nina Eidsheim, Tomie Hahn, Jaclyn Heyen, Christine Sun Kim, Catherine Lee, Andra McCartney, Tracy McMullen, Kevin McNeilly, Leaf Miller, Jovana Milovic, François Mouillot, Pauline Oliveros, Jason Robinson, Neil Rolnick, Simon Rose, Gillian Siddall, Julie Dawn Smith, Jesse Stewart, Clara Tomaz, Sherrie Tucker, Lindsay Vogt, Zachary Wallmark, Ellen Waterman, David Whalen, Pete Williams, Deborah Wong, Mandy-Suzanne Wong
Negotiating Difference in French Louisiana Music: Categories, Stereotypes, and Identifications (American Made Music Series)
by Sara Le MenestrelSara Le Menestrel explores the role of music in constructing, asserting, erasing, and negotiating differences based on the notions of race, ethnicity, class, and region. She discusses established notions and brings to light social stereotypes and hierarchies at work in the evolving French Louisiana music field. She also draws attention to the interactions between oppositions such as black and white, urban and rural, differentiation and creolization, and local and global.Le Menestrel emphasizes the importance of desegregating the understanding of French Louisiana music and situating it beyond ethnic or racial identifications, amplifying instead the importance of regional identity. Musical genealogy and categories currently in use rely on a racial construct that frames African and European lineage as an essential difference. Yet as the author samples music in the field and discovers ways music is actually practiced, she reveals how the insistence on origins continually interacts with an emphasis on cultural mixing and creative agency. This book finds French Louisiana musicians navigating between multiple identifications, musical styles, and legacies while market forces, outsiders' interest, and geographical mobility also contribute to shape musicians' career strategies and artistic choices.The book also demonstrates the decisive role of non-natives' enthusiasm and mobility in the validation, evolution, and reconfiguration of French Louisiana music. Finally, the distinctiveness of South Louisiana from the rest of the country appears to be both nurtured and endured by locals, revealing how political domination and regionalism intertwine.
Negro Soy Yo: Hip Hop and Raced Citizenship in Neoliberal Cuba
by Marc D. PerryIn Negro Soy Yo Marc D. Perry explores Cuba's hip hop movement as a window into the racial complexities of the island's ongoing transition from revolutionary socialism toward free-market capitalism. Centering on the music and lives of black-identified raperos (rappers), Perry examines the ways these young artists craft notions of black Cuban identity and racial citizenship, along with calls for racial justice, at the fraught confluence of growing Afro-Cuban marginalization and long held perceptions of Cuba as a non-racial nation. Situating hip hop within a long history of Cuban racial politics, Perry discusses the artistic and cultural exchanges between raperos and North American rappers and activists, and their relationships with older Afro-Cuban intellectuals and African American political exiles. He also examines critiques of Cuban patriarchy by female raperos, the competing rise of reggaetón, as well as state efforts to incorporate hip hop into its cultural institutions. At this pivotal moment of Cuban-U.S. relations, Perry's analysis illuminates the evolving dynamics of race, agency, and neoliberal transformation amid a Cuba in historic flux.
Neil and Me
by Scott YoungScott Young chronicles his son's early years in and around Toronto and Winnipeg and his rise from journeyman, musician to superstar in the 1960s and 1970s. The frequent occasions when Scott and Neil's paths have crossed - from backstage meetings and family get-togethers to a sold-out appearance at Carnegie Hall - give a fascinating portrait of an enigmatic star.From the Paperback edition.
Neil Young and the Poetics of Energy
by William Echard“This book uniquely and successfully sustains a cohesive analysis of the work, career, and reception of a single artist . . . Neil Young.” —Daniel Cavicchi, author of Tramps Like UsAs a writer in Wired magazine puts it, Neil Young is a “folk-country-grunge dinosaur [who has been] reborn (again) as an Internet-friendly, biodiesel-driven, multimedia machine.” In Neil Young and the Poetics of Energy, William Echard stages an encounter between Young’s challenging and ever-changing work and current theories of musical meaning—an encounter from which both emerge transformed.Echard roots his discussion in an extensive review of writings from the rock press as well as his own engagement as a fan and critical theorist. How is it that Neil Young is both a perpetual outsider and critic of rock culture, and also one of its most central icons? And what are the unique properties that have lent his work such expressive force? Echard delves into concepts of musical persona, space, and energy, and in the process illuminates the complex interplay between experience, musical sound, social actors, genres, styles, and traditions.Readers interested primarily in Neil Young, or rock music in general, will find a new way to think and talk about the subject, and readers interested primarily in musical or cultural theory will find a new way to articulate and apply some of the most exciting current perspectives on meaning, music, and subjectivity.“A fascinating and unique reading of Neil Young’s music.” —Literary Review of Canada“[An] intriguing, elegantly written analysis of Young . . . Exemplifies the fruitful union of musicology and cultural studies.” —Cotten Seiler, Dickinson College