On the Shelf from CCBC Libraries
Women in Jamaican Music by
As the ubiquitous Jamaican musician Bob Marley once famously sang, "half the story has never been told." This rings particularly true for the little-known women in Jamaican music who comprise significantly less than half of the Caribbean nation's musical landscape. This book covers the female contribution to Jamaican music and its subgenres through dozens of interviews with vocalists, instrumentalists, bandleaders, producers, deejays and supporters of the arts. Relegated to marginalized spaces, these pioneering women fought for their claim to the spotlight amid oppressive conditions to help create and shape Jamaica's musical heritage.
Call Number: ML82 .A85 2020
Reckless Daughter by
"She was like a storm." --Leonard Cohen Joni Mitchell may be the most influential female recording artist and composer of the late twentieth century. In Reckless Daughter, the music critic David Yaffe tells the remarkable, heart-wrenching story of how the blond girl with the guitar became a superstar of folk music in the 1960s, a key figure in the Laurel Canyon music scene of the 1970s, and the songwriter who spoke resonantly to, and for, audiences across the country. A Canadian prairie girl, a free-spirited artist, Mitchell never wanted to be a pop star. She was nothing more than "a painter derailed by circumstances," she would explain. And yet, she went on to become a talented self-taught musician and a brilliant bandleader, releasing album after album, each distinctly experimental, challenging, and revealing. Her lyrics captivated listeners with their perceptive language and naked emotion, born out of Mitchell's life, loves, complaints, and prophecies. As an artist whose work deftly balances narrative and musical complexity, she has been admired by such legendary lyricists as Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen and beloved by such groundbreaking jazz musicians as Jaco Pastorius, Wayne Shorter, and Herbie Hancock. Her hits--from "Big Yellow Taxi" to "Both Sides, Now" to "A Case of You"--endure as timeless favorites, and her influence on the generations of singer-songwriters who would follow her, from her devoted fan Prince to Björk, is undeniable. In this intimate biography, drawing on dozens of unprecedented in-person interviews with Mitchell, her childhood friends, and a cast of famous characters, Yaffe reveals the backstory behind the famous songs--from Mitchell's youth in Canada, her bout with polio at age nine, and her early marriage and the child she gave up for adoption, through the love affairs that inspired masterpieces, and up to the present--and shows us why Mitchell has so enthralled her listeners, her lovers, and her friends. Reckless Daughter is the story of an artist and an era that have left an indelible mark on American music.
Call Number: ML420.M542 Y34 2017
The Music of Multicultural America by
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.
Call Number: ML3477 .M85 2016
Culture and Customs of the Choctaw Indians by
This complete overview of the Choctaw people, from ancient times to the present, includes sections on history, cuisine, music and dance, current issues, oral traditions and language, social relationships, and traditional world view. Endeavoring to replace stereotypical images with a more accurate understanding of Native Americans, Culture and Customs of the Choctaw Indians explores the traditional lives of the Choctaw people, their history and oppression by the dominant society, and their struggles to maintain a unique identity in the face of overwhelming pressures to assimilate. The book begins with a historical overview of traditional Choctaw life, belief systems, social customs, and traditions. Moving to contemporary Choctaw communities, it looks at the modern-day Choctaw and the important issues they face. Separate chapters cover cuisine, social and kinship systems, oral traditions, arts, music, and dance, as well as current issues and tribal politics. Readers will see how many Choctaw people blend traditional beliefs with participation in and knowledge of the dominant society and economy, while continuing to speak and teach the Choctaw language and traditions in homes, churches, and schools. An extensive chronology includes major events and changing conditions among the Choctaw, from ancient times until the present Includes dozens of photographs as well as maps that detail the loss of Choctaw lands through dealings with the United States
Call Number: E99.C8 A42 2013
Hip Hop in America by
An insightful new resource that looks at the rise of American hip hop as a series of distinct regional events, with essays covering the growth of hip hop culture in specific cities across the nation. Thoroughly researched, thoroughly in tune with the culture, Hip Hop in America: A Regional Guide profiles two dozen specific hip hop scenes across the United States, showing how each place shaped a singular identity. Through its unique geographic perspective, it captures the astonishing diversity of a genre that has captivated the nation and the world. In two volumes organized by broad regions (East Coast, West Coast and Midwest and the Dirty South), Hip Hop in America spans the complete history of rap--from its 1970s origins to the rap battles between Queens and the Bronx in the 1980s, from the well-publicized East Coast vs. West Coast conflicts in the 1990s to the rise of the Midwest and South over the past ten years. Each essay showcases the history of the local scene, including the MCs, DJs, b-boys and b-girls, label owners, hip hop clubs, and radio shows that have created distinct styles of hip hop culture. 24 essays in two volumes on U.S. cities that have developed distinctive hip hop identities, from New York and Los Angeles to surprising locations such as Minneapolis and Honolulu 20 contributors, each an established expert with connections to the location they are describing Nearly 100 images of key personalities, clubs, cities, and scenes A chronology highlighting the pivotal moments in the history of hip hop in the United States, from its African and Caribbean origins to the recent rise of Southern rap (Outkast, Ludacris, Lil Wayne) A rich bibliography of print and online sources for further exploration A comprehensive index of people, places, songs, and terms
Call Number: ML3531 .H573 2010
Accordions, Fiddles, Two Step and Swing by
They love to dance most of all, more than any other people in the colony,i? French immigrant C.C. Robin wrote of the Cajun community in 1803. The vibrancy of folk musical traditions in south Louisiana has captured the imaginations of historians, musician aficionados, and dancers across the world. Editors Ryan A. Brasseaux and Kevin S. Fontenot provide a sweeping overview of Cajun music, from early studies of the musical genre, to organizations based on preserving culture through music, to its early heyday on the radio and festival stage, to its present state, edging onto the national radar with Grammy awards, blockbuster movie soundtracks, and revolutionary adaptations of old Cajun standards. The materials featured in this volume are organized into categories based on their thematic focusa'socio-cultural context, commercialization, and artist biography. Accordions, Fiddles, Two Step & Swing is designed with scholars, students, and Cajun music aficionados in mind. The articles included represent the spectrum of Cajun musical expression as interpreted by authors from all walks of life. Materials ranging from instrumentation to information dealing with specific artists and social contexts demonstrate that Cajun music is defined more by ethos and social context than a delimited set of stylistic features. We hope this collection of essays will stimulate a new generation of researchers to document shifts within the local, regional, even global soundscapes. Perhaps this collection of essays will encourage budding scholars and established humanists alike to document a bit of culture for posterity one song at a time.
Call Number: ML3477.7.L8 A26 2006
Streaming Videos
- The Americas I: North American Indians and Inuit (Eskimos) ol 27 of the JVC Video Anthology of World Music and Dance features native American traditions of North America, including Inuit drum dances, Canadian Haida totem pole ceremony and potlatch and songs and dances of the Kwakiutl; also included are numerous Nez Perce ceremonial and memorial songs, war dance, and soup dance songs; a Flathead hoop dance; Yakima women's songs, a Shoshone hoop dance and war dance.
- Blues Beginning The blues was born in the Mississippi Delta over a hundred years ago and is one of America's great gifts to the world of music. To tell the story of its genesis and early development, Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman invites us to his club, Ground Zero in Clarksdale Mississippi. From there he traces the early history of the blues. It's an astonishing tale, as the simple but powerful songs played by dirt-poor African-Americans went on to inspire the likes of Dylan, Hendrix, Clapton and The Rolling Stones, and helped create modern rock music.
- Interview with Toni Anderson, Music Historian Toni Anderson Interview about a group of young ex-slaves in Nashville, Tennessee, who set out on a mission to save their bankrupt school by giving concerts. Traveling first through cities in the North, then on to venues across Europe, the Jubilee Singers introduced audiences to the power of spirituals, the religious anthems of slavery. Driven to physical collapse and even death, the singers proved more successful - and more inspirational - than anyone could have imagined.
Databases
- Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new window
Articles on any subject. This is a good place to start.
- Academic Video Online This link opens in a new window
Videos on many subjects from PBS, HBO, BBC, History Channel, and others.
- Arts & Humanities Database
Articles on arts including visual arts, architecture, design, music, literature, and theatre,
and humanities including history, philosophy, and cultural studies. - Humanities International Complete This link opens in a new window
Articles and ebooks about humanities topics like arts, history, language, law, literature, philosophy, and politics.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Journals, books, images, and primary sources about many subjects.
Online from CCBC Libraries
Prairie Bohemian by
Gay never recorded an album, never won a Juno. His music existed in the moment, appreciated by the few who were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. For the rest of us, those late-night jam sessions in a shack in an alley on the bad side of Edmonton never happened. We never got to hear him play the Cole Porter songs he loved with Carlos Montoya, never got to watch the ashes build dangerously on the end of his menthol cigarette. And when Frank Gay died, only the guitar players gently wept.-- Shelley YoungblutUntil his death in 1982, Edmonton luthier and guitarist Frank Gay built guitars for several famous musicians, including country stars Johnny Cash, Don Gibson, Webb Pierce, and Hank Snow. He captivated listeners with his singular talent on guitar and other instruments, and was well known within the music industry. Trevor Harrison's detective work uncovers the story of this private, charming, and bohemian man, doing a tremendous service to Canadian culture and music history. Harrison pieces together Frank Gay's life through interviews with people who knew him and saw him play. Very few recordings of him playing exist, and the sparse accounts of Gay's life and work raise more questions than they answer. Musicians and instrument makers, as well as those interested in Canadian music or Edmonton's colourful past, will be fascinated by this biography of western Canadian luthier, musician, and guitar virtuoso Frank Gay.
Publication Date: 2015-08-16
Contemporary Musicians by Publication Date: 2013-06-14
First Peoples of Canada by
First Peoples of Canada offers readers a rare opportunity to experience a celebrated exhibition that has toured the world, yet has never been shown in Canada. This beautifully designed, full-colour book presents a collection of 150 archaeological and ethnographic objects produced by Canada's First Peoples - including some that are roughly 12,000 years old - that represent spectacular expressions of creativity and ingenuity. Curators Jean-Luc Pilon and Nicholette Prince sought out pieces held by the Canadian Museum of Civilization that could be considered "masterworks" based on their aesthetic qualities, symbolic value, or the skills and raw materials used in manufacturing them. These unique and priceless artifacts embody the rich diversity of skills and materials used by Canadian Inuit, First Nations, and Métis in both ancient and modern times. First Peoples of Canada is full of insights not only on the pieces themselves, but also on the cultures that produced them and the geography of this vast land. Readers will come away from this book with a renewed appreciation of the lifestyles and achievements of Canada's original inhabitants. This collection focuses on items made by people in four regions across Canada: the farmers of the Great Lakes, the hunters and warriors of the Great Plains, the wealthy Salmon People of costal British Columbia, and the people of Canada's harshest environments, the Arctic and Boreal Forest.
Publication Date: 2013-10-24
Encyclopedia of African American Music by
African Americans' historical roots are encapsulated in the lyrics, melodies, and rhythms of their music. In the 18th and 19th centuries, African slaves, longing for emancipation, expressed their hopes and dreams through spirituals. Inspired by African civilization and culture, as well as religion, art, literature, and social issues, this influential, joyous, tragic, uplifting, challenging, and enduring music evolved into many diverse genres, including jazz, blues, rock and roll, soul, swing, and hip hop. Providing a lyrical history of our nation, this groundbreaking encyclopedia, the first of its kind, showcases all facets of African American music including folk, religious, concert and popular styles. Over 500 in-depth entries by more than 100 scholars on a vast range of topics such as genres, styles, individuals, groups, and collectives as well as historical topics such as music of the Harlem Renaissance, the Black Arts Movement, the Civil Rights Movement, and numerous others. Offering balanced representation of key individuals, groups, and ensembles associated with diverse religious beliefs, political affiliations, and other perspectives not usually approached, this indispensable reference illuminates the profound role that African American music has played in American cultural history. Editors Price, Kernodle, and Maxile provide balanced representation of various individuals, groups and ensembles associated with diverse religious beliefs, political affiliations, and perspectives. Also highlighted are the major record labels, institutions of higher learning, and various cultural venues that have had a tremendous impact on the development and preservation of African American music. Among the featured: Motown Records, Black Swan Records, Fisk University, Gospel Music Workshop of America, The Cotton Club, Center for Black Music Research, and more. With a broad scope, substantial entries, current coverage, and special attention to historical, political, and social contexts, this encyclopedia is designed specifically for high school and undergraduate students. Academic and public libraries will treasure this resource as an incomparable guide to our nation's African American heritage. Advisory board of prominent scholars of African American music More than 500 entries by more than 100 scholars Many entries composed by world-renowned scholars and authors who have studied, researched, and written extensively on specific topics Emphasis on the social and historical contexts of African American music through entries on significant musicians, social issues, political and legal concerns, and turning-point events ; Entries that cite numerous print and electronic resources for student research. A selected, general bibliography of the most important works on African American music Numerous illustrations
Publication Date: 2010-12-17
The Queer Composition of America's Sound by
In this vibrant and pioneering book, Nadine Hubbs shows how a gifted group of Manhattan-based gay composers were pivotal in creating a distinctive "American sound" and in the process served as architects of modern American identity. Focusing on a talented circle that included Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson, Leonard Bernstein, Marc Blitzstein, Paul Bowles, David Diamond, and Ned Rorem, The Queer Composition of America's Sound homes in on the role of these artists' self-identification?especially with tonal music, French culture, and homosexuality?in the creation of a musical idiom that even today signifies "America" in commercials, movies, radio and television, and the concert hall.
Publication Date: 2004-10-18
Struggling to Define a Nation by
Identifying music as a vital site of cultural debate, Struggling to Define a Nation captures the dynamic, contested nature of musical life in the United States. In an engaging blend of music analysis and cultural critique, Charles Hiroshi Garrett examines a dazzling array of genres--including art music, jazz, popular song, ragtime, and Hawaiian music--and numerous well-known musicians, such as Charles Ives, Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, and Irving Berlin. Garrett argues that rather than a single, unified vision, an exploration of the past century reveals a contested array of musical perspectives on the nation, each one advancing a different facet of American identity through sound.
Publication Date: 2008-10-12
Ruth Crawford Seeger by Publication Date: 2000-02-10
