Saathee, Book Review >>
Global Minstrels - Voices of World Music
By Elijah Wald
(Routledge)
Walk is a musician as well as a music writer and was the world music critic for the Boston Globe for over dozen years. The current professor of musicology at UCLA has compiled many interviews he has conducted over the years, along with recent interviews, and put them together in a cohesive volume called Global Minstrels. It is impossible to cover all ethnic genres in one, but Walk has woven a concise narattive touching on any key artists in specific genres. This labor of love spans 15 years where Wald divides the book into regions and countries. Flamenco is the only style of music to which he devotes an entire chapter, otherwise, he writes of regional superstars and their style and development of music. Walk excels in not just explaining specific ethnic music, buut brings to long the political and social realities as well as the upbringing of these artists and explains how those factors affect their music. Walk's global travels and interviews, along with a fluid writing style, will help average music listeners understand some of this timeless music. Music profiles includes Indian and Arabic classical to Latin and Afropop. Profiled artists include Ladysmith Black Mambazo, King Sunny Ade, The Mighty Sparrow, Reuben Blades, Los Tugres del Norte, Gilberto Gil, Alan stivell, The Master Musicians of Jajouka, The Gipsy Kings, Ali Akbar Khan, Ravi Shankar, and others. 01/01/07
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