Popular Musics of the Non-Western World: An introductory survey

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»Today we can happily observe that the unfortunate mortal blows dealt to many traditional musics and cultures have been balanced by the extraordinary proliferation of new non-Western pop genres; most of these, while borrowing Western elements, in their own way affirm modernity and express the contradictions and complexities of modern culture. In doing so they perform a social function that traditional musics can no longer fulfill. Fortunately, the last two decades have seen a marked increase of studies of non-Western popular musics, as scholars of various disciplines recognize the importance and, very often, the inherent appeal of these new musical forms. It is the aim of this book to contribute to an understanding and appreciation of these forms by describing the major traditions in a single volume, in a manner which seeks to be at once readable, and informative to the specialist. The emphasis here on non-Western styles means that this volume cannot pretend to present an exhaustive, holistic treatment of popular music in any given society. In most of the cultures discussed here, Western-style music plays an important role in an ongoing dialectic relationship—often both symbiotic and competitive—with indigenous or syncretic popular musics. A thorough exploration of this relationship, although essential in fully understanding even the non-Western hybrids themselves in context, is beyond the scope of this study. Rather, it is the author’s hope that the documentation provided here may be useful to those wishing to explore further, within individual cultures, the complexities of contemporary musical life in general.« (from the Preface) Popular Musics of the Non-Western World Contents 1. Perspectives on the Study of Non-Western Popular Musics Definitions Popular Music and the Mass Media Mass Music or People’s Music? Popular Music and Socialism Urbanization Popular Music and the Lumpen Proletariat Acculturation 2. Latin America and the Caribbean Cuba Modern Cuban Dance Music Cuban Popular Music since 1959 Nueva Trova Puerto Rico The Dominican Republic Salsa Colombia Mexico and the American Southwest Argentina Brazil Nueva Cancion The French Caribbean Jamaica Trinidad and Tobago Soca 3. Africa West Africa Cape Verde Central Africa East Africa Ethiopia South-Central Africa South Africa Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands 4. Europe Portugal The Traditional Lisbon Fado Style Contemporary Fado Spain Greece Rebetika Modern Bouzouki Music Yugoslavia 5. The Arab Middle East (by Virginia Danielson) The Mass Media: Commercial Recordings Radio Film, Television, and Video Characteristics of Popular Music A Syncretic Genre: The Ughniyah Issues Bearing on Popular Music Music in Other Arab Countries 6. The Non-Arab Middle East Turkey Iran Israel 7. South Asia India Film Music Film Music until 1940 Film Music from 1940 to 1970 Modern Film Music Style and Structure Regional Cinema Recent Developments Film Music Outside the Cinema Popular Music Outside the Realm of Cinema Cassettes and Indian Popular Music Sri Lanka Afghanistan 8. Southeast Asia Vietnam Thailand Indonesia Kroncong Dangdut Jatpongan Pop 9. China Chinese Music and Westernization Chinese Popular Music before 1949 Music and Ideology in Communist China Mass Music from 1949 to 1964 The Cultural Revolution The Contemporary Scene 10. The Pacific Hawaii Papua New Guinea Notes Glossary Bibliography Index Illustrations follow page 148 Salsa superstar Ruben Blades Indefatigable timbalero and bandleader Tito Puente Merengue idol Wilfrido Vargas Jamaican dub poet Mutabaruka Steel band playing in Brooklyn’s 1986 road march Tex-Mex accordion virtuosos Santiago Jimenez and his son Flaco Juju’s reigning monarch, King Sunny Ade Fela Anikulapo Kuti Nigerian fuji star Ayinde Barrister Ghanaian highlife poet and composer Ko Nimo Afro-Brazil meets Afro-Cuba meets Africa Record/cassette dubbing kiosk in Ghana Gypsy vocalist Lole Montoya performing flamenco arabe Innovative flamenco singer Camarón de la Isla Transnational cinema: Hindi film poster, with Hebrew translation, in Israel Singer-prostitutes performing film songs in Bombay’s red-light and courtesan entertainment district Logo on CBS cassette boxes in India Disco comes to old China Hawaiian guitarists at the beach Gabby Pahinui in his later years Genoa Keawe and a youthful hula dancer