Tiki torches, cocktails, la dolce vita, and the music that popularized them—Mondo Exotica offers a behind-the-scenes look at the sounds and obsessions of the Space Age and Cold War period as well as the renewed interest in them evident in contemporary music and design. The music journalist and radio host Francesco Adinolfi provides extraordinary detail about artists, songs, albums, and soundtracks, while also presenting an incisive analysis of the ethnic and cultural stereotypes embodied in exotica and related genres. In this encyclopedic account of films, books, TV programs, mixed drinks, and above all music, he balances a respect for exotica’s artistic innovations with a critical assessment of what its popularity says about postwar society in the United States and Europe, and what its revival implies today. Adinolfi interviewed a number of exotica greats, and Mondo Exotica incorporates material from his interviews with Martin Denny, Esquivel, the Italian film composers Piero Piccioni and Piero Umiliani, and others. It begins with an extended look at the postwar popularity of exotica in the United States. Adinolfi describes how American bachelors and suburbanites embraced the Polynesian god Tiki as a symbol of escape and sexual liberation; how Les Baxter’s album Ritual of the Savage (1951) ushered in the exotica music craze; and how Martin Denny’s Exotica built on that craze, hitting number one in 1957. Adinolfi chronicles the popularity of performers from Yma Sumac, “the Peruvian Nightingale,” to Esquivel, who was described by Variety as “the Mexican Duke Ellington,” to the chanteuses Eartha Kitt, Julie London, and Ann-Margret. He explores exotica’s many sub-genres, including mood music, crime jazz, and spy music. Turning to Italy, he reconstructs the postwar years of la dolce vita, explaining how budget spy films, spaghetti westerns, soft-core porn movies, and other genres demonstrated an attraction to the foreign. Mondo Exotica includes a discography of albums, compilations, and remixes.

Films produced in late 1960s and early 1970s America--along with later films focusing on that period--continue to frame our understanding of the counterculture era. The popular and experimental music of the day is central to the counterculture narrative on film, from the utopian Monterey Pop (1968) to the disenchantment of Gimme Shelter (1970). But the musical side of the movement was not monolithic, and a study of contemporary film soundtracks reveals a great deal of complexity. The coinciding struggles to define collective and individual identities based on race, class, gender and generation are well documented in the music of counterculture cinema.

“Youngquist brings considerable skills to the life and work of the legendary but underappreciated and often misunderstood composer, keyboardist, and poet.” —PopMatters Sun Ra said he came from Saturn. Known on earth for his inventive music and extravagant stage shows, he pioneered free-form improvisation in an ensemble setting with the devoted band he called the “Arkestra.” Sun Ra took jazz from the inner city to outer space, infusing traditional swing with far-out harmonies, rhythms, and sounds. Described as the father of Afrofuturism, Sun Ra created “space music” as a means of building a better future for American blacks here on earth. In A Pure Solar World: Sun Ra and the Birth of Afrofuturism, Paul Youngquist explores and assesses Sun Ra’s wide-ranging creative output—music, public preaching, graphic design, film and stage performance, and poetry—and connects his diverse undertakings to the culture and politics of his times, including the space race, the rise of technocracy, the civil rights movement, and even space-age bachelor-pad music. By thoroughly examining the astro-black mythology that Sun Ra espoused, Youngquist masterfully demonstrates that he offered both a holistic response to a planet desperately in need of new visions and vibrations and a new kind of political activism that used popular culture to advance social change. In a nation obsessed with space and confused about race, Sun Ra aimed not just at assimilation for the socially disfranchised but even more at a wholesale transformation of American society and a more creative, egalitarian world. “A welcome invitation to the spaceways.” —Jazzwise

The fascinating story behind California’s mid-twentieth century obsession with all things Polynesian and Hawaiian. After World War II, suburbs proliferated around California cities as returning soldiers traded in their uniforms for business suits. After-hours leisure activities took on an island-themed sensuality that bloomed from a new fascination with Polynesia and Hawaii. Movies and television shows filmed in Malibu and Burbank urged viewers to escape everyday life with the likes of Elvis, Gidget, and Hawaiian Eye. Restaurants like Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic’s sprang up to answer the demand for wild cocktails and even wilder décor. A strange hodgepodge of idols, lush greenery and colorful drinks, Tiki beckoned men and women to lose themselves in exotic music and surf tunes. Take a trip back in time to the scene of Polynesian pop and three decades of palm trees, Mai Tais, and torches with this informal guide to the rise, fall, and resurgence of Tiki culture.

“A brisk, frothy narrative . . . informative and fun.” —The Wall Street Journal In the dizzying wake of World War II, Rome skyrocketed to prominence as an epicenter of film, fashion, photography, and boldfaced libertinism. Artists, exiles, and a dazzling array of movie talent rushed to Rome for a chance to thrive in this hotbed of excitement. From the photographers who tailed the stars to the legends who secured their place in cinematic fame, Dolce Vita Confidential resurrects the drama that permeated the streets and screens of Rome.

“The Mondo Cane films were an important key to what was going on in the media landscape of the 1960s, especially post the JFK assassination. Nothing was true, and nothing was untrue...” J G Ballard Being the first ever English-language title devoted exclusively to the controversial and influential mondo documentary film cycle, this revised edition of Sweet and Savage remains the only serious study of mondo as a global film phenomenon, and includes a detailed examination of the key films of this cult genre. Sweet and Savage identifies the principle stylistic aspects of the mondo genre through a fascinating ‘non-linear’ approach that echoes the collage shock effects of the original films. In so doing it features exclusive interviews and many unique material contributions. It is lavishly illustrated with rare photographs, stills, posters, and record sleeves. Foreword by Jeremy Dyson.

New Englanders are as far away from the South Pacific as any American can be, yet when tiki fever gripped the country in the mid-twentieth century, even they were not immune. Tropical-themed restaurants and bars sprang up in the unlikeliest of places, from coastal cities to far-flung suburbs. Places like the Hu Ke Lau, the Aku-Aku and the Kowloon were packed every night. Decades after the fever ended, it re-emerged as a new century dawned, and New Englanders took up the mantles of Polynesian pop to escape to places of tropical leisure in their own backyard. Local author Kevin Quigley dives deep into the region's unusual history with tiki culture.

The SAGE Encyclopedia of Music and Culture presents key concepts in the study of music in its cultural context and provides an introduction to the discipline of ethnomusicology, its methods, concerns, and its contributions to knowledge and understanding of the world′s musical cultures, styles, and practices. The diverse voices of contributors to this encyclopedia confirm ethnomusicology′s fundamental ethos of inclusion and respect for diversity. Combined, the multiplicity of topics and approaches are presented in an easy-to-search A-Z format and offer a fresh perspective on the field and the subject of music in culture. Key features include: Approximately 730 signed articles, authored by prominent scholars, are arranged A-to-Z and published in a choice of print or electronic editions Pedagogical elements include Further Readings and Cross References to conclude each article and a Reader’s Guide in the front matter organizing entries by broad topical or thematic areas Back matter includes an annotated Resource Guide to further research (journals, books, and associations), an appendix listing notable archives, libraries, and museums, and a detailed Index The Index, Reader’s Guide themes, and Cross References combine for thorough search-and-browse capabilities in the electronic edition

The second edition of a classic text on the history of electronic music, this book has been thoroughly updated to present material on home computers and the Internet, as well as enlarged sections on history and theoretical issues.

A deep dive into the history and retro appeal of musical exotica, including the Orientalism, Hawaiianesque, and Afro-tropicalism sub-sets. Widening the Horizon is the first in-depth study of exoticism in Post-War popular music. The opening chapters analyze the work of Les Baxter, Martin Denny, Arthur Lyman, Korla Pandit, Yma Sumac—the musicians who developed (and exemplified) the style known as Exotica in the 1950s and 1960s. Other chapters address more recent developments in musical exoticism which have revived and reinflected the form, such as Haruomi Hosono’s Soy Sauce Music trilogy; the works of Van Dyke Parks, on albums such as Tokyo Rose; and the career of New Age populist/exoticist Yanni. Contributors to this anthology include writers and academics from Australia, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.