Review: Music Latin America, Caribbean; Brill

Subject: RE: Review: Music Latin America, Caribbean; Brill
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 12 Jul 11 - 01:30 PM

Hopefully there is more described in the Argentina chapter than tango!

Presumably there is nothing about English folk music as it is not in the world!

Subject: Review: Music Latin America, Caribbean; Brill
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 12 Jul 11 - 01:12 PM

Music of Latin America and the Caribbean, 2010, Mark Brill, Pearson Prentice Hall pub., 402 pp.

This is not a detailed review, but a summary of some points made by Eric Bindler, who reviewed the book for Jour. American Folklore.

The book is intended as a general survey. a 'textbook for undergraduate world music classes'. Primary focus is on sociocultural and historical processes that have shaped each musical tradition.
Ch. 1- Relationships between music, culture and identity.
Ch. 3-9- Music of individual countries or regions throughout the hemisphere. Brief surveys of most important folk and popular styles of each geographic area. Ch. 3, Mexico from Aztec-Maya to current regional folk traditions and popular music. Ch. 4-5, Caribbean moving from historical roots to European power struggles to cultural diversity which has emerged in each area; Ch. 4, Spanish-speaking, Ch. 5, English-speaking Jamaica, Trinidad, and French-speaking, Haiti, Martinique, Guadalupe; brief discussion of Garifuna of C. Am.
Ch. 6- Brazil, Ch. 7-9 South America (Ch. 7, Colombia-Venezuela, Ch. 8, the Andes, Ch. 9 Argentina, Chile, southern 'cone').

Shortcomings. Lack of recognition of authoritative ethnomusicological and other sources. Although he includes "Recommended Listening" and "Viewing", and includes 2 CDs, there is no comprehensive bibliography, recreasing the book's effectiveness as a reference tool. [This is a short-coming of textbooks of this kind, often the result of publishers' editing and marketing philosophy].
The reviewer remarks that in his specialty, Jamaica, there are inaccuracies, omissions and over-simplifications leading to misleading claims.

Overall a good summary for undergraduate courses, but needs to be supplemented with more in-depth accounts.

If I have mis-stated the reviewers' comments, I apologise. I have not read the book and may have missed Eric Bindler's intent.