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

»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)