Book Review
Mar. 21st, 2022 09:51 pmThe Exotic In Western Music
edited by Jonathan Bellman
This volume of essays addresses the way "exotic" music and cultures are portrayed in Western music and the ways in which those portrayals came to signify larger ideas of otherness. All of the essays were good, but a few stood out. Mervyn Cooke's examination of the gamelan in western music was both a nice historical survey of composers who incorporated elements of gamelan music into their own works and a look at the various levels at which composers engage with other musical cultures. I also liked the two essays that looked at the largely inauthentic means Western composers have used to depict the Middle Eastern and Native American people and cultures.
edited by Jonathan Bellman
This volume of essays addresses the way "exotic" music and cultures are portrayed in Western music and the ways in which those portrayals came to signify larger ideas of otherness. All of the essays were good, but a few stood out. Mervyn Cooke's examination of the gamelan in western music was both a nice historical survey of composers who incorporated elements of gamelan music into their own works and a look at the various levels at which composers engage with other musical cultures. I also liked the two essays that looked at the largely inauthentic means Western composers have used to depict the Middle Eastern and Native American people and cultures.