The Music of Multicultural America: Performance, Identity, and Community in the United States

by Kip Lornell, Anne K. Rasmussen

Overview

The Music of Multicultural America explores the intersection of performance, identity, and community in a wide range of musical expressions. Fifteen essays explore traditions that range from the Klezmer revival in New York, to Arab music in Detroit, to West Indian steelbands in Brooklyn, to Kathak music and dance in California, to Irish music in Boston, to powwows in the midwestern plains, to Hispanic and native musics of the Southwest borderlands. Many chapters demonstrate the processes involved in supporting, promoting, and reviving community music. Others highlight the ways in which such American institutions as city festivals or state and national folklife agencies come into play.

Thirteen themes and processes outlined in the introduction unify the collection's fifteen case studies and suggest organizing frameworks for student projects. Due to the diversity of music profiled in the book—Mexican mariachi, African American gospel, Asian West Coast jazz, women's punk, French-American Cajun, and Anglo-American sacred harp—and to the methodology of fieldwork, ethnography, and academic activism described by the authors, the book is perfect for courses in ethnomusicology, world music, anthropology, folklore, and American studies.

Audio and visual materials that support each chapter are freely available on the ATMuse website, supported by the Archives of Traditional Music at Indiana University.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781496803740
Publisher:	University Press of Mississippi
Publication date:	01/04/2016
Series:	American Made Music Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	432
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Kip Lornell, Silver Springs, Maryland, teaches at George Washington University, and among his fourteen books are Exploring American Folk Music: Ethnic, Grassroots, and Regional Traditions in the United States; The Beat! Go-Go Music from Washington, D.C.; and Shreveport Sounds in Black and White.

Anne K. Rasmussen, Williamsburg, Virginia, is professor of music and ethnomusicology and the Bickers Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the College of William and Mary. She is also the author of Women, the Recited Qur'an, and Islamic Music in Indonesia and the coauthor of Divine Inspirations: Music and Islam in Indonesia.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction Kip Lornell Anne K. Rasmussen 3

2 Czech American Polka Music in Wisconsin James P. Leary 33

3 Kitchen Racket, Céilí, and Pub Session Traditional Irish Music in Boston, Massachusetts Ann Morrison Spinney 54

4 Klezmer Music: The First One Thousand Years Henry Sapoznik 87

5 The Music of Arab Detroit: A Musical Mecca in the Midwest Anne K. Rasmussen 109

6 Mexican Mariachi Music Made in the U.S.A. Daniel Sheehy 137

7 "Nimiidaa!" [Let's all dance!]: Music and Dance of the Northern Intertribal Powwow Christopher A. Scales Gabriel Desrosiers 160

8 Waila: The Social Dance Music of the Tohono O'odham James S. Griffith 186

9 Cultural Interaction in New Mexico as Illustrated in la Danza de Matachines Brenda M. Romero 205

10 Triangles, Squares, Ovals, and Diamonds The "Fasola Folk" and Their Singing Tradition Ron Pen 239

11 The Memphis African American Sacred Quartet Community Kip Lornell 258

12 "Pan Is We Ting": West Indian Steelbands in Brooklyn Gage Averill 280

13 From the Bayou to the Bay: Louisiana French Dance Music in Northern California Mark F. Dewitt 311

14 "A Superior Race of Strong Women": North Indian Classical Dance in the San Francisco Bay Area Sarah Morelli 340

15 Sansei Voices in the Community: Japanese American Musicians in California Susan M. Asai 368

16 Constructing Communities and Identities Riot Grrrl New York City Theo Cateforis Elena Humphreys 395

Index 419

Editorial Reviews

"This book contains a treasure-trove of fifteen musical jewels, each presenting a rich and multifaceted portrait of a unique musical community within the multicultural mix that is America today. Presenting new ethnographic research on diasporic and indigenous musical cultures, each essay explores how and why communities come together to play, listen, and experience their musics together. Perfect as a text for an 'Introduction to American Music' course!"

―Ellen Koskoff, professor of ethnomusicology, Eastman School of Music (University of Rochester)

"From Irish music in Boston pubs to North Indian dance in San Francisco, this volume provides a rich sampling of the musical lives of communities across the United States. With its new and expanded introduction along with additional case studies, this is a welcome return of an American classic."

—Kay Kaufman Shelemay, G. Gordon Watts Professor of Music and professor of African and African American studies, Harvard University

From the Publisher