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Ethnomusicology: A Very Short Introduction describes this growing discipline, showing how modern researchers go about studying music from around the world, looking for insights into both music and humanity. Ethnomusicologists believe that all humans, not just those we call musicians, are musical, and that musicality is one of the essential touchstones of the human experience. This insight raises big questions about the nature of music and the nature of humankind, and ethnomusicologists argue that to address these questions properly, we must study music in all its geographical and historical diversity. Ethnomusicologists today not only examine traditional forms of music, but also explore more contemporary musical forms.Less

World Music: A Very Short Introduction shows how ‘world music’ has emerged as an invention of the West from encounters with other cultures and presents its modern diversity ranging from folk and traditional music to ‘worldbeat’. This VSI is wide-ranging in its geographical scope, yet individual chapters provide in-depth treatments of selected music cultures and regional music histories. The book frequently zooms in on repertoires and musicians — such as Bob Marley, Bartok, and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan — and attempts to account for world music's growing presence and popularity at the beginning of the twenty-first century.Less