As I write more about musicking worldwide, I’ve upgraded the former world music tag to a new category in the sidebar, which allows me to make some rudimentary subheads—and do click on all the internal links too!
The rubric “world music” is a compromise. Of course, all these posts are about far more than mere “music”: they concern the cultures of local societies along with the soundscapes that animate them. The glossy commercial category of “World Music” (to which I am almost as resistant as to “heritage“) features only as an occasional irritant—though it does appear magnificently (under “drôle”) here.
Here’s a selection of some highlights, by subheads:
- General includes useful and accessible theoretical background, like Nettl, Small, and the instructive “Why I’m not an ethnomusicologist“.
- For Europe, note my series on flamenco and fado (under the Iberia tag), as well as Sardinian chronicles and taranta; folk cultures of Italy, Poland, east Europe, and Greece. Posts on Irish music are rounded up here.
- Under Asia, I have included some posts related to the Chinese soundscape (like Different values, and Festivals), but my myriad posts on the Li family Daoists (with subheads!) and other ritual groups (many linked here), as well as the qin, all have their own separate categories and tags. My major series on Indian music is collected here. Note this post on Afghan musicking.
- Under Others I include Blind minstrels of Ukraine, and Accordion crimes.
AND it’s always worth basking in this playlist—while it could be yet more eclectic, it has a variety of gorgeous, plaintive, exuberant songs.
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