| Physical description |
xxii, 266 pages c24 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references. |
| Contents |
Colonialism's impact -- The archive -- The invention of "African rhythm" -- Polymeter, additive rhythm, and other enduring myths -- African music as text -- Popular music defended against its devotees -- Contesting difference -- How not to analyze African music. |
| Summary |
African music continues to draw converts, adherents, and enthusiasts. Concerts and festivals, recordings, and "world music" events are all crowded with new fans, well beyond academic halls. However, the spirit of African music is not always manifest in the scholarship about it. Even the term "African music" is open to many different interpretations. Agawu offers a new and provocative look at the history of African music scholarship and poses questions that will resonate with students of ethnomusicology and postcolonial studies. He offers an alternative, "Afro-centric" means of understanding African music, and in doing so, illuminates a different mode of creativity. This book will undoubtedly inspire heated debate -- and new thinking -- among musicologists, cultural theorists, and postcolonial thinkers. |
| Subject |
Music -- Africa -- History and criticism.
|
|
Postcolonialism -- Africa.
|
| ISBN |
0415943892 (alkaline paper) |
|
0415943906 (paperbound : alkaline paper) |
|
