TOWARDS A GLOBAL MUSIC HISTORY : intercultural convergence, fusion and transformation in the ... human musical story

How do we explain the globalized musical world in which we find ourselves in the early 21st century and how did we arrive here? This extraordinary book outlines an understanding of the human musical story as an intercultural--and ultimately a transcultural--one, with travel and trade as the primary conditions and catalysts for the ongoing development of musical styles. Starting with the cultural and civilizational precedents that gave rise to the first global trading and travel network in both directions across the Afro-Eurasian Old World Web in the form of the Silk Road, the book proceeds to the rise of al-Andalus and its influence on Europe through the Iberian peninsula before considering the fusion of European, African and indigenous musics that emerged in the Americas between c1500-1920 as part of Atlantic culture and the New World Web, as well as the concurrent acceleration of globalism in music through European empires and exoticism. The book concludes by examining the musical implications of our current Age of Instantaneous Exchange that technology permits, and by revisiting the question of interculturality and transculurality in music. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Dedication Page 6 Table of Contents 8 List of figures 10 List of music examples 11 Acknowledgments 12 Chapter 1 Introduction: Global musicianship and global musicology 14 Global music history: sources, people, and defining characteristics 17 Global regions: an overview of their roles and contributions 19 Beautiful musical histories on the global periphery—until later 21 A word on creativity and injustice 23 Notes 25 References 25 Part I The Afro-Eurasian Old World Web, c. 3500 BCE–1500 CE 28 Chapter 2 Precedents to the Silk Road 30 Global music pre-history 31 Musical characteristics and interactions across early civilizational centers 34 The Hellenistic world and the seeds of the Silk Road 42 Spotlight: The global ubiquity of hand drumming 43 Notes 44 References 45 Chapter 3 The first pivotal convergence: The Silk Road, c. 200 BCE–900 CE 48 Phase I: The Road emerges, c. 200 BCE–200 CE 48 Phase II: The Road evolves, c. 200–900 CE 60 Notes 70 References 70 Chapter 4 The second pivotal convergence: Al-Andalus, Byzantium, and the Europeancoming of age c. 700–1500 CE 73 Early Arab-Islamic musical contexts 78 Networks of medieval musical streams 82 Inter/transcultural Andalusian Iberia and the European convergence 90 Western European music comes of age 101 Early exportation of European music to the New World 111 Spotlight: rabab, rebec and the advent of the violin as a global instrument 114 Notes 115 References 117 Part II The New World Web, the third pivotal convergence, and the acceleration of fusion, c. 1500–1920 CE 124 Chapter 5 A musical Columbian exchange 126 The transcultural roots of Latin American music 126 The Caribbean 130 Mexico and Mesoamerica 134 Peruvian/Andean regions 137 The (urban) Brazilian coast 140 Amazonian and other interior areas 141 Spotlight: the rise of the guitar as a global transcultural instrument 143 Notes 144 References 145 Chapter 6 The rise of transcultural musics in the United States 148 Colonies, revolution, and the seeds of civil war 150 The road to expanded freedom and transcultural musical growth 163 Notes 167 References 168 Chapter 7 Expanded acceleration: Empires and exoticism 170 Debussy: a culmination? 175 Missionaries 176 Trade and colonization 179 Musical transmission accelerated 187 Notes 188 References 189 Part III The Global Web and continuous transformation, since c. 1920 CE 194 Chapter 8 The full flowering and influence of the American musical convergence 196 Three American musical streams 197 Five American musical pairs 203 Convergent impact 211 Spotlight: The emergence of a global transcultural singing style10 217 Notes 220 References 221 Chapter 9 Technology, convergence, and the age of instantaneous exchange 223 Expanded musical freedom: from print to analogue to digital 224 Inter/transcultural mediamorphosis 225 Music, moving images, and interactivity 230 Two case studies: music and technology in Japan and Indonesia 234 The end of music history? 235 Notes 236 References 236 Chapter 10 Conclusion: Global music history—interculturalor transcultural? 238 Three example contexts 239 A new defining paradigm 242 Note 243 References 243 Index 244