French-speaking Caribbean and its Diaspora
By John Gray
Foreword by Julian Gerstin
Price:
$79.95
Binding:
Cloth
ISBN:
978-0-9844134-0-9
237
pages
African
Diaspora Press
Pub.
Date: June 2010
SUBJECTS
Music
– Ethnomusicology
Music
– Popular & Folk
Performing
Arts
Area
Studies – Caribbean Studies
Ethnic
Studies – Black/African Diaspora Studies
SERIES
TITLE: Black
Music Reference Series
SERIES
NUMBER: 1
|
REVIEWS
" ... the book will prove an indispensable, in-hand
reference to current French Caribbean music scholarship"
-- Library Journal
" ...represents a major update of available bibliographical guides…exceedingly pleasurable to recommend"
-- Notes (Music Library Association)
DESCRIPTION
From
Vodou to Zouk, the inaugural volume in African
Diaspora Press's Black
Music Reference Series, is a landmark work
documenting vernacular music traditions of the French- and
Creole-speaking Caribbean. Its nearly 1300 entries cover
all of the French-speaking islands, in particular Haiti,
Martinique, Guadeloupe, and French Guiana, as well as
their overseas enclaves in France, the United States and
Canada. Idioms covered range from the liturgical music of
Haitian Vodou to folk and popular dance musics such as
kalenda, bélé, compas, zouk, ragga, and more. A lengthy
biographical and critical section provides information on
more than 350 of the region’s leading musicians and
producers. Most works are in English, French, and Spanish,
with a smattering in Creole. These range in date from 1698
to 2008, with the bulk having been published or recorded
between the 1930s and 2008. Interdisciplinary in scope,
the book offers a wide spectrum of perspectives, chiefly
from the humanities and social sciences, which range from
academic studies to popular reportage. Of particular note
is the strong representation of sources from the Caribbean
and France not found anywhere else.
An
introduction by the compiler and a scholarly foreword by
ethnomusicologist Julian Gerstin help to contextualize the
history of the region and its vibrant musical legacy.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JOHN GRAY is director of the Black Arts Research Center in
Nyack, New York. His previous publications include African
Music (1991); Fire
Music: A Bibliography of the New Jazz, 1959-1990
(1991); Blacks
in Classical Music (1988); Blacks
in Film and Television (1990); Black
Theatre and Performance (1990);
and, Ashe,
Traditional Religion and Healing in Sub-Saharan Africa and
the Diaspora (1989),
all published by Greenwood Press.
To
order, visit www.african-diaspora-press.com