"In forest glade and street procession, in darkened concert hall and torch-lit temple court, mankind continuously sings, dances, and plays instruments of fascinating invention. For the wealth of musical events there is as rich a variety of reasons for their celebration. A birth, a harvest, an initiation rite, or a farewell ceremony-all of these occasions sometimes require music for their proper observance. It is the interesting dynamics of these musical occasions with which we are concerned in this study; especially, musical behavior with regard to magic and ritual. Magic is generally unacknowledged by Western European intellectuals to exist or function in their world. Although amusing, this attitude is understandable in light of the position adopted by Europeans and Euro-American cultures from the Age of Enlightenment to the present, i.e., any processes which cannot be replicated with a fair degree of exactitude under certain laboratory conditions or any qualities of things which cannot be objectively measured are thought to have no real existence. Thus many customs and beliefs of European cultures came to be considered invalid and were either discarded or were redefined as only being of interest to children or persons of 'child-like' mentality. At the same time, any magical acts performed by practitioners of the established Western religions were termed acts of worship, whereas similar practices found in other religions were considered superstitious, paganistic, idolatrous, or demonic. Related to that rationale was an effort to develop a 'scientific' explanation of European traditions too deeply rooted to eradicate although they defied classification under rules of the new empiricism." --from Introduction.

Explores the cultural connection between Syrian Jewish life and Arab culture in present-day Brooklyn, New York, through liturgical music.

In many places around the world, flutes and the sounds of flutes are powerful magical forces for seduction and love, protection, vegetal and human fertility, birth and death, and other aspects of human and nonhuman behavior. This book explores the cultural significance of flutes, flute playing, and flute players from around the world as interpreted from folktales, myths, and other stories--in a word, ""flutelore."" A scholarly yet readable study, World Flutelore: Folktales, Myths, and Other Stories of Magical Flute Power draws upon a range of sources in folklore, anthropology, ethnomusicology, and literary analysis. Describing and interpreting many examples of flutes as they are found in mythology, poetry, lyrics, and other narrative and literary sources from around the world, veteran ethnomusicologist Dale Olsen seeks to determine what is singularly distinct or unique about flutes, flute playing, and flute players in a global context. He shows how and why flutes are important for personal, communal, religious, spiritual, and secular expression and even, perhaps, existence. This is a book for students, scholars, and any reader interested in the cultural power of flutes.

Robin Sylvan combines colorful firsthand accounts, extensive interviews with ravers, and cutting edge scholarly analysis to paint a compelling portrait of global rave culture as an important new religious and spiritual phenomenon that also serves as a template for mapping the future evolution of new forms of religion and spirituality in the twenty-first century.

New York magazine was born in 1968 after a run as an insert of the New York Herald Tribune and quickly made a place for itself as the trusted resource for readers across the country. With award-winning writing and photography covering everything from politics and food to theater and fashion, the magazine's consistent mission has been to reflect back to its audience the energy and excitement of the city itself, while celebrating New York as both a place and an idea.

New York magazine was born in 1968 after a run as an insert of the New York Herald Tribune and quickly made a place for itself as the trusted resource for readers across the country. With award-winning writing and photography covering everything from politics and food to theater and fashion, the magazine's consistent mission has been to reflect back to its audience the energy and excitement of the city itself, while celebrating New York as both a place and an idea.

New York magazine was born in 1968 after a run as an insert of the New York Herald Tribune and quickly made a place for itself as the trusted resource for readers across the country. With award-winning writing and photography covering everything from politics and food to theater and fashion, the magazine's consistent mission has been to reflect back to its audience the energy and excitement of the city itself, while celebrating New York as both a place and an idea.

New York magazine was born in 1968 after a run as an insert of the New York Herald Tribune and quickly made a place for itself as the trusted resource for readers across the country. With award-winning writing and photography covering everything from politics and food to theater and fashion, the magazine's consistent mission has been to reflect back to its audience the energy and excitement of the city itself, while celebrating New York as both a place and an idea.