Cajun and Zydeco Dance Music in Northern California: Modern Pleasures in a Postmodern World  (University Press of Mississippi) traces how the San Francisco Bay Area region of California has been able to develop and sustain more than a dozen Cajun bands and several dances a week. 

Queen Ida; Danny Poullard; documentary filmmaker Les Blank; and Chris Strachwitz of Arhoolie Records. These are names that are familiar to many fans of Cajun music and zydeco, and they have one other thing in common: all longtime residence in the San Francisco Bay Area. They are all part of a vibrant scene of dancing and live Louisiana French music that has been going on for decades.

 

In this first of its kind ethnomusicological study of world film music, editor Mark Slobin brings together a truly global analysis of the subject. Where most film music studies concentrate on the great composers and film scores of Hollywood, Global Soundtracks: Worlds of Film Music fills a huge gap by also considering music in films from subcultural America, China, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, Indonesia, and both north and south India. Historical surveys of film music practices as well as examples of specific films and the work of individual directors are included.
 
 These essays by top scholars examine how and why music works in films around the world. It is argued that music works not just for narrative enhancement and hinting at the motivations of characters, but also as a sort of "invisible narrator" that passes cultural information about the society in which the film is set.

 

Ventilador Music has published two new books (with CD) with sheet music by the legendary Flamenco guitarist Mario Escudero and contemporary guitarist Juan Lorenzo.

 

Mario Escudero - Gloria de la Guitarra Flamenca, written by Claude Worms includes some of Escudero's most important works, including the buleria ‘Ímpetu.’ Escudro performed with some of the leading artists of his time, including Vicente Escudero, Ramón Montoya, Tomás Pavón, Niña de los Peines, and Mairena. The book's notes are in English, Spanish and French.

American writer Estela Zatania has a new book in Spanish titled Flamencos de Gañanía (Ediciones Giralda, 2007), which focuses on the historical cortijos (Andalusian haciendas) of the lower Guadalquivir region. The book is an insider’s look at a formerly undocumented era of recent flamenco history which the author presents as an important stopover on the way to today’s globalized theatrical flamenco.

Estela Zatania, native New Yorker who moved to Spain in 1970, has spent a lifetime not only writing about flamenco, but performing it as well. Tourists who yearn to see “the real thing” instead of what is offered in dives that dot the Spanish coastline, will enjoy this privileged look into the most authentic of all flamenco settings from a time and ambience when the art was practiced, not for the marketplace, but as family tradition, during Spain’s postwar period.

The Encyclopaedia of Albanian Folk Iso-Polyphony, with text in Albanian and English is now available.

Iso-Polyphony is an exceptionally beautiful and uniquely Albanian folk musical form that is a UNESCO-approved as “A Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity”.

The encyclopedia, which is prepared by ethnomusicologist Prof. Dr. Vasil S. Tole, an expert on iso-polyphonic music, is now published in English and Albanian + CD included best iso-polyphonic music of Albania, will be the first comprehensive reference source of Iso-Polyphonic music.

Middletown (Connecticut), USA - In the new book Traveling Spirit Masters, Deborah Kapchan explores how a group of Moroccan ritual musicians from the sub-Saharan Africa diaspora have come to participate in the world music market. These musicians are known as the Gnawa, and their traditional belief is that they can heal those afflicted with possession and other ills. It is thought that the Gnawa placate offending spirits with music, incense, colors, and animal sacrifice.
 
 The regular rhythms of the Gnawa's heavy metal castanets and the bass melodies provided by the hajhuj (a three-stringed instrument, which is also called sintir and guimbri) induce a trance in the listener. These trance-inducing rhythms have found their way into music outside of the Moroccan Gnawa community, such as American jazz, popular French music and world beat.

Under Your Skin will be a 350- 400 page book with a DVD about musicians from around the world, ranging from popular music to classical. In many ways Under Your Skin is the first exploration on the cultural diversity of music. The 300 page book gives a valuable insight on artists from around the globe – from Popular Music to Jazz, Hip Hop, Reggae, Avantgarde, Metal, Electronic, DJ-ing/Turntablism and Classical. The book comprises a vast affiliation of artistic and social culture in its variety and illuminates in a world-wide discussion its usefulness in today’s societies.

In interviews the artists discuss their careers, their ups and downs, their tactical skills needed to bring music to the market, the light and shadow sides of touring and the effect it causes. Under Your Skin covers musicians from different generations and gives the reader a close insight into the music business which is rarely shown, from the day to day pursuits to the more humorous side of the business. The book will also include comments and contributions from celebrities, as well as photographs and cartoons which will make Under Your Skin a very collectable item.

Wesleyan University Press has announced the re-issue of Ruth Finnegan's The Hidden Musicians: Music-Making in an English Town (ISBN: 0-8195-6853-8). The 406 page book is a landmark study of music and culture that documents the remarkable scope of amateur music-making in the English town of Milton Keynes, focusing on the early 1980s. This unique ethnography demonstrates the active and continuing role of local part-time musicians and their supporters while challenging general assumptions about music and how we study it.

The scope of the book is truly expansive, covering rock, country, brass band music, hand bell choirs, punk, opera, and many other forms of music. The book sprung from Finnegan's own participation in the local music scene of Milton Keynes, which lead her to the conviction that amateur music practitioners are just as worthy of investigation as professional performers, and that their cultural practices are as real and interesting as the economic or class facets of their lives to which so much attention is usually devoted.