This study of Mariachi considers the genre's folk origins, its development and essence, the teaching style, song styles, the modern virtuosos, and the role of innovation. The revisionist, perfectionist, and constructionist aesthetics are compared. Appendixes include proposals for notation, song lyrics, and Web resources. Nevin is a classical composer. A companion CD, featuring Mariachi music, can be ordered separately. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

"The voice is the most important instrument in Mexican Ranchera (Mariachi) music because the bulk of its repertoire is sung. However, no book on vocal care and production, voice history, diction, technique, graded song lists, and warm-ups for Mariachi singers has been available until now. Dr. Juanita Ulloa has designed The Mariachi Voice to create a bridge between the voice and Mariachi fields, and to extend the reach of training and advocacy for Mariachi vocal training to academic programs, voice studios, and individual singers. Her Operachi style evolved out of her own training, touring, recording, and training of others as a specialist in Mexican and Latin American song. In The Mariachi Voice, Dr. Ulloa shares vocal technique and pedagogy, introducing the female Mariachi fach. She highlights important differences in training the female voice for healthy Ranchera singing while still honoring the style and introduces Mexican Spanish Lyric Diction with International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Professor John Nix of University of Texas, San Antonio contributes an article on vocal production and care. Readers will develop cultural sensitivity towards this almost 200-year-old tradition. The Ranchera vocal history chapter explores the crossover classical vocal training of ranchera singer-actors in charro movie musicals, many tracing back to legendary Mexico City based voice teacher José Pierson. It is a wake-up call to raising the standards and accessibility of vocal training. The Mariachi Voice is sure to enrich those who take pride in sharing these songs and their singers as important symbols of Mexico's identity worldwide"--

In Intoxicated Identities, Tim Mitchell provides a novel and well-grounded framework for understanding subjective drinking experiences from the Aztecs to the present day in areas as diverse as Chiapas, Chihuahua, Oaxaca, Mexico City, Texas and California. Power drinking plays a crucial role in Mexican religion, politics, fine arts and ritual spousal abuse. Mexico ranks number one in deaths from cirrhosis, and Mexican Americans are twice as likely to be arrested for drunken driving as blacks or whites. With methods and concepts derived from an extraordinary range of disciplines, Mitchell explains how Mexican culture reinforces heavy drinking. He analyzes supply (nationalistic marketing strategies) but emphasizes demand (psychocultural motivations unique to Mexico). He chronicles the joys and sorrows of a borrachera, or drinking binge, and explores this altered state of consciousness on its own terms, not from any temperance or anti-alcohol perspective.

The sustainability of music and other intangible expressions of culture has been high on the agenda of scholars, governments and NGOs in recent years. However, there is a striking lack of systematic research into what exactly affects sustainability across music cultures. By analyzing case studies of nine highly diverse music cultures against a single framework that identifies key factors in music sustainability, Sustainable Futures for Music Cultures offers an understanding of both the challenges and the dynamics of music sustainability in the contemporary global environment, and breathes new life into the previously discredited realm of comparative musicology, from an emphatically non-Eurocentric perspective. Situated within the expanding field of applied ethnomusicology, this book confirms some commonly held beliefs, challenges others, and reveals sometimes surprising insights into the dynamics of music cultures. By examining, comparing and contrasting highly diverse contexts from thriving to 'in urgent need of safeguarding, ' Sustainable Futures for Music Cultures analyzes sustainability across five carefully defined domains. The book identifies pathways to strategies and tools that may empower communities to sustain and revitalize their music heritage on their terms. In this way, this book contributes to greater scholarly insight, new (sub)disciplinary approaches, and pathways to improved practical outcomes for the long-term sustainability of music cultures. As such it will be an essential resource for ethnomusicologists, as well as scholars and activists outside of music, with an interest in the preservation of intangible cultural heritage.

This definitive two-volume encyclopedia of Latin music spans 5 centuries and 25 countries, showcasing musicians from Celia Cruz to Plácido Domingo and describing dozens of rhythms and essential themes. Eight years in the making, Latin Music: Musicians, Genres, and Themes is the definitive work on the topic, providing an unparalleled resource for students and scholars of music, Latino culture, Hispanic civilization, popular culture, and Latin American countries. Comprising work from nearly 50 contributors from Spain, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the United States, this two-volume work showcases how Latin music—regardless of its specific form or cultural origins—is the passionate expression of a people in constant dialogue with the world. The entries in this expansive encyclopedia range over topics as diverse as musical instruments, record cover art, festivals and celebrations, the institution of slavery, feminism, and patriotism. The music, traditions, and history of more than two dozen countries—such as Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Spain, and Venezuela—are detailed, allowing readers to see past common stereotypes and appreciate the many different forms of this broadly defined art form.

Cultural Writing. Music. African Studies. Asian Studies. Book two of Musike. Edited by Shihan de Silva Jayasuriya. SOUNDS OF IDENTITY: THE MUSIC OF AFRO-ASIANS "concerns the survival of musical traditions among Africans who were displaced to Asia. Memories of the ancestral homeland seem to be embedded in these musical traditions. Music is also an important factor in identity formation of diasporas. Music, however, is not always limited to the diaspora and there are spillovers to the host societies"--from the Editor's Introduction. This volume features Amy Catlin-Jairazbhoy on Sidi African music, Aisha Bilkhair Khalifa on Spirit Posession and its practices in Dubai, Lila Ingrams on African connections in Yemeni music, Galia Sabar & Shlomit Kanari on African Musicians in Israel and many more. SOUNDS OF IDENTITY is a compelling, thought provoking exploration of this fascinating musical "border" between cultures.