Nineteen scholars from five countries explore significant issues in the history of ethnomusicology and its methodological and theoretical foundations, while providing a critique of the discipline.
"This is a useful and enriching collection of articles of interest to musicologists and ethnomusicologists. . . . The authors manage to cover much ground, presenting fascinating insights into the history of the discipline while also exploring new directions in both theory and analysis. . . . the most sweeping work of this kind to be published since the 1960s."—L. D. Loeb, University of Utah, for Choice
Often defined as the comparative and anthropological study of the musics of the world, the field of ethnomusicology originated in the late nineteenth century. Early on, landmark publications that objectively examined non-European musics, political events (such as the colonization of Africa), and the Romantic movement's interest in folklore fused with new technological advances (such as the invention of recording), creating a field that would have a profound effect on the study, pedagogy, and practice of music.
