""Tango music is passion, rhythm, alchemy and fusion. In this collection you will find a different point of view on the music for the Celtic Harp: new techniques, new tuning sets and new concepts that will make your harping even more spectacular"" Fabius Constable

How did a musical instrument transplanted to South America by European missionaries earn the official designation as Paraguay's cultural national symbol?This ethnomusicological and organological study of the Paraguayan diatonic harp in the twentieth century tells its story as an emblematic national musical instrument. First used liturgically by Jesuit missions in colonial times, the transplanted European diatonic harp was transformed and adopted into the folk music vocabulary of Paraguay and the Rio de la Plata region. Following the commercial success of Paraguayan harpist Felix Perez Cardozo in the 1930s in Argentina, the instrument's symbolic value as an icon of social, cultural, and national identity was articulated in local traditions such as popular folk music festivals. It received the designation of arpa paraguaya (Paraguayan harp) and, in 2010, official recognition as simbolo de la cultura nacional (cultural national symbol).The book integrates an account of the historical and musical development of the diatonic harp in Paraguay, an analysis of the musical contributions by harp composers and performers, a survey of the various traditional genres associated with the instrument, and a discussion of the popular and academic settings where the instrument has been cultivated and performed in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The author's fieldwork in Paraguay and continuous contact with composers, educators, festival organizers, harp performers, researchers, and festival organizers have provided unique insights into the development of the Paraguayan harp tradition as a cultural icon of the nation.This book will be of interest to a large and varied audience, including scholars and professionals in the fields of musicology and ethnomusicology, Latin American specialists, historians, libraries, harp performers and other musicians, and general readers interested in the history of musical instruments and culture.

A history, with a personal touch, of the American folk music revival is penned by a recording artist, songwriter, and former member of the Journeymen.

First published in 1994 in one volume. An A-Z of the music, musicians and discs. 2006 edition available as an e-book.

The Rough Guide to World Musicwas published for the first time in 1994 and became the definitive reference. Six years on, the subject has become too big for one book- hence this new two-volume edition. World Music 2- Latin and North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacifichas full coverage of everything from salsa and merengue to qawwali and gamelan, and biographies of artists from Juan Luis Guerra to The Klezmatics to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Features include more than 80 articles from expert contributors, focusing on the popular and roots music to be seen and heard, both live and on disc, and extensive discographies for each country, with biography-notes on nearly 2000 musicians and reviews of their best available CDs. It includes photos and album cover illustrations which have been gathered from contemporary and archive sources, many of them unique to this book, and directories of World Music labels, specialist stores around the world and on the internet.

What in the World is Music? Second Edition is an undergraduate, interactive e-textbook that explores the shared ways people engage with music and how humans organize and experience sound. It adopts a global approach, featuring more than 300 streaming videos and 50 streaming audio tracks of music from around the world. Drawing from both musicological and ethnomusicological modes of inquiry, the authors explain the nature and meaning of music as a universal human practice, making no distinction between Western and non-Western repertoires while providing students with strong points of connection to the ways it affects their own lives. The What in the World is Music? curriculum is divided into five parts, with a fully integrated multimedia program linked directly to the chapters: The Foundations of Music I proposes a working definition of "music" and considers inquiry-guided approaches to its study: Why do humans have innate musical perception? How does this ability manifest itself in the human voice? A catalog of musical instruments showcases global diversity and human ingenuity. The Foundations of Music II continues the inquiry-guided approach, recognizing the principles by which musical sound is organized while discussing elements such as rhythm, melody, harmony, texture, form, genre, and style. Where did music come from? What is it for? Music and Identity examines how music operates in shaping, negotiating, and expressing human identity and is organized around three broad conceptual frames: the group, hybridity, and conflict. Music and the Sacred addresses how music is used in religious practices throughout the world: chanting sacred texts and singing devotional verses, inspiring religious experience such as ecstasy and trance, and marking and shaping ritual space and time. Music and Social Life analyzes the uses of music in storytelling, theater, and film. It delves into the contributions of sound technologies, while looking at the many ways music enhances nightlife, public ceremonies, and festivals.