The History of Hip Hop
From Bronx block parties to Obama's White House - hip hop steps into the political arena.The 2010s cemented hip hop as the soundtrack of culture and change. "The History of Hip Hop: Volume 5" explores rap's relentless progression in the last decade.Perfect for both newcomers and lifelong hip hop heads, you'll discover: Streaming's seismic impact - how Spotify, SoundCloud and Tidal transformed hip hopRap's renewed social consciousness - artists driving movements like Black Lives MatterFemale rappers shattering ceilings - megastars like Cardi B, Nicki Minaj and RapsodyInnovators like Kendrick Lamar and Tyler the Creator pushing creative boundariesHip hop moguls' entrepreneurial reach - Jay-Z, Kanye, Dr. Dre and Sean Combs' business empiresGeneration Z's arrival - how young rappers made the game their ownFrom the complex bars of Kendrick to the fiery anthems of Meg Thee Stallion, this book explores the evolution of styles, sounds and messages. It was the decade trap went global, rap got political and streaming crowned chart kings and queens.Relive hip hop's rhythmic resonance through perhaps its most groundbreaking era.
The History of Hip Hop
Taboo-breaking jams. Explicit album covers. How hip hop forced America to drop its conservative lens.Discover hip hop's explosive crossover into the mainstream during the 2000s digital revolution in Eric Reese's "The History of Hip Hop: Volume 4". This book navigates an era where scrappy stars like Eminem, Outkast and Nelly evolved from raw hip hop sounds into chart-topping icons with a new pop fusion.The book maps hip hop's cultural geography-from the vibrant Atlanta scene where OutKast pioneered funk-laced rhymes, to the club-filled streets of Nelly's St. Louis where crunk danced into the mainstream. As the internet spread, barriers fell-YouTube, iTunes and streaming services took hip hop global.Insights include: Hip hop's journey from outsider to #1 musicHow digital platforms made rap accessible, unleashing its mainstream popularityThe diversification into sub-genres like crunk, trap and conscious rapMovies and TV absorbing styles and stories from the streetsThe rise of megastars like Kanye West, Lil Wayne and Jay-ZRappers driving social change by tackling injustice and politicsImmerse yourself in a pivotal era where visionaries like Eminem, OutKast and others reinvented hip hop into the culture-dominating sound of today. Feel the beat shift for a new millennium.
Jethro Tull... Into The Eighties
There's no denying that throughout the 1970s, Jethro Tull were at the top of their game. With iconic albums such as Aqualung (1971), Thick As A Brick (1972), Songs From The Wood (1977) and Heavy Horses (1978) to their credit, the band had majestically earned their place as vital pioneers and contributors within the spectrum of progressive rock music. By the 1980s, the popularity of progressive rock had declined amongst the record-buying public. Any band wishing to continue the success they had enjoyed throughout the previous decade couldn't afford to rest on their laurels. And so arises an essential question: How did Jethro Tull fare in the 1980s? Laura Shenton MA LLCM DipRSL provides a detailed exploration into each of Jethro Tull's albums from the eighties, offering a critical analysis of the band's achievements, challenges, and sound.
Bob Dylan
Several years ago, a treasure trove containing some 6,000 original Bob Dylan manuscripts was revealed to exist. Their destination? Tulsa, Oklahoma. The documents, as essential as they are intriguing--draft lyrics, notebooks, and diverse ephemera-- comprise one of the most important cultural archives in the modern world. Along with countless still and moving images and thousands of hours of riveting studio and live recordings, this priceless collection now resides at The Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, just steps away from the archival home of Dylan's early hero, Woody Guthrie. Nearly all the materials preserved at The Bob Dylan Center are unique, previously unavailable, and, in many cases, even previously unknown. As the official publication of The Bob Dylan Center, BOB DYLAN: MIXING UP THE MEDICINE is the first wide-angle look at the Dylan archive, a book that promises to be of vast interest to both the Nobel Laureate's many musical fans and to a broader national and international audience as well. Edited by Mark Davidson and Parker Fishel, BOB DYLAN: MIXING UP THE MEDICINE focuses a close look at the full scope of Dylan's working life, particularly from the dynamic perspective of his ongoing and shifting creative processes--his earliest home recordings in the mid-1950s right up through Rough and Rowdy Ways (2020), his most recent studio recording, and into the present day. The centerpiece of BOB DYLAN: MIXING UP THE MEDICINE is a carefully curated selection of over 600 images including never-before-circulated draft lyrics, writings, photographs, drawings and other ephemera from the Dylan archive. With an introductory essay by Sean Wilentz and epilogue by Douglas Brinkley, the book features a surprising range of distinguished writers, artists and musicians, including Joy Harjo, Greil Marcus, Michael Ondaatje, Gregory Pardlo, Amanda Petrusich, Tom Piazza, Lee Ranaldo, Alex Ross, Ed Ruscha, Lucy Sante, Greg Tate and many others. After experiencing the collection firsthand in Tulsa, each of the authors was asked to select a single item that beguiled or inspired them. The resulting essays, written specifically for this volume, shed new light on not only Dylan's creative process, but also their own. BOB DYLAN: MIXING UP THE MEDICINE is an unprecedented glimpse into the creative life of one of America's most groundbreaking, influential and enduring artists.
Black Women’s Liberation Movement Music
Black Women's Liberation Movement Music argues that the Black Women's Liberation Movement of the mid-to-late 1960s and 1970s was a unique combination of Black political feminism, Black literary feminism, and Black musical feminism, among other forms of Black feminism.
The Dance Minister and Dance Technique
Sharing with dance ministers the importance of taking dance technique classes in order to minister effectively in excellence. Dance ministry is a worship arts ministry that is often misunderstood and overlooked, and it is vital that dance ministers not only know biblical principles of dance but also dance techniques. Dancers should be maintaining their temple (their bodies), as well as investing in their God-given gift and talent. Training will help the dance minister move with boldness and confidence and will allow them to move freely, focusing less on the technique and more on the Lord. We discuss stories and excuses why dance ministers will not take technique classes, what tools are available to assist them as they continue to pursue God through dance, and what God says about skill.
Old Town Road
In Old Town Road, Chris Molanphy considers Lil Nas X's debut single as pop artifact, chart phenomenon, and cultural watershed. "Old Town Road" was more than a massive hit, with the most weeks at No. 1 in Billboard Hot 100 history. It is also a prism through which to track the evolution of popular music consumption and the ways race influences how the music industry categorizes songs and artists. By both lionizing and satirizing genre tropes--it's a country song built from an alternative rock sample, a hip-hop song in which nobody raps, a comical song that transcends novelty, and a queer anthem--Lil Nas X troubles the very idea of genre. Ultimately, Molanphy shows how "Old Town Road" channeled decades of Americana to point the way toward our cultural future.
Music Production For Beginners 2024+ Edition
Everything you need to know about making music in one place! 2024 & Beyond!Not so long ago music production was only available to the rich and famous. However, these days it's now possible to produce professional sounding music from your own home.In fact, you don't even need to know how to play an instrument or know anything about the technology or even need expensive equipment. All you need is a decent computer and some inspiration...This book will tell you the rest! If you are a first timer it will lead you in the right direction in the least amount of time.And if you have experience you will discover new insights into how to produce your best music.Here is just a tiny fraction of what you will discover inside: Best music production, VST, DAW and software for 2024 and beyondMusic Theory explained--without needing to study for years!Common beginner mistakes and how to avoid or fix themThe hit songwriting formula-songwriting, lyrics, melody, and constructionProven guidelines on how to get your music signed and how to make moneyStudio setup-achieve pro studio quality even at homeMotivation and mental hacks (get your mental game together and your music production skills will go through the roof!)Step-by-step guide to mix and master your music (even if you're not a technical person)Advances in Technology including Artificial Intelligence for musicThriving Through Networks, Having The Right Skills and Mindset MasteryAnd much, much more...Stop wasting your time on forums, YouTube, and asking the same old questions because everything you need to know is in this book.Become the music producer you've always wanted to be and make your best music with this book.
American Negro Songs and Spirituals
2023 Reprint of the 1940 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition and not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. This music collections provides words and music to 230 classic African-American Folk songs. Here are the original spirituals, the mournful Blues, the rhythmic work songs, the high-hearted cake-walk and the dance tunes of African Americans in the United States up to World War II.This collection was assembled by Dr. John W. Work of Fisk University, home of the famed Fisk Jubilee Singers who first presented Negro Spirituals to the world at large. Dr. Work has included an authoritative, historical, and critical survey of Negro music and the various types of Negro folk songs.Contents: Origins -- The spiritual -- The blues -- Work songs -- Social and miscellaneous -- The songs.; The songs.; Ain't I glad I've got out of the wilderness --; Ain't that good news? --; Ain't you glad you got good religion? --; All over this world --; Angels done bowed down --; At the bar of God --; Balm in Gilead --; Before this time another year --; Bet on Stuball --; Be with me --; Bye and bye (2 versions) --; Calvary --; Can't you live humble --; Captain, O Captain --; Captain says hurry --; Come down --; Come here Lord --; Convict song --; Daniel saw the stone --; Death ain't nothin' but a robber --; Death's goin' to lay his hand on me --; Do Lord remember me --; Done made my vow to the Lord --; Don't you let nobody turn you roun' --; Down on me --; Downward road is crowded --; Ev'ry day'll be Sunday --; Ezek'el saw the wheel --; Free at last --; Gift of God --; Give me Jesus --; Give me your hand --; Glory to that newborn King --; God is a God --; Go down 'n the valley and pray --; Go down Moses --; God's goin' to straighten them --; Going home in the chariot --; Going to shout all over God's heav'n --; Goin' keep my skillet greasy --; Gonna leave big rock behind --; Good Lord I done done --; Good morning everybody --; Got a home in that rock --; Go tell it on the mountain --; Got my letter --; Got no money --; Got religion all around the world --; Got to go to judgment --; Great day --; Had to get up this mornin' --; Hallelu --; Hallelujah --; Hammering --; Hammers keep ringing --; Hear me praying --; He is King of Kings --; He never said a mumblin' word --; He's a mighty good leader --; He's got his eyes on you --; Hold the wind --; Holy Bible --; Hot boilin' sun comin' over --; I am the true vine --; I believe this is Jesus --; I couldn't hear nobody pray --; I feel like my time ain't long --; I got a house in Baltimo' --; I have another building --; I heard the preacher of the elder --; I know the Lord's laid his hand on me --; I'll be there --; I'm a-going to do all I can --; I'm agoing to join the band --; I'm going back with Jesus --; I'm goin' to sing --; I'm just a-goin' over there --; I'm so glad --; I'm working on the buildin' --; I must walk my lonesome valley --; Inching along --; I never felt such love in my soul befo' --; In this lan' --; Is there anybody here? --; It's me --; I've done what you told me to do --; I've just come from the fountain --; I want to be ready --; I went down in the valley --; I will pray --; I wish I had died in Egypt land --; I won't stop praying --; Jesus is risen from the dead --; Jesus goin' to make up my dying bed --; Jim Strange killed Lula --; John Henry (2 versions) --; Jubilee --; King Jesus built me a house above --; Lay ten dollars down --; Lead me to the rock --; Let the church roll on --; Let us cheer the weary traveller --; Listen to the angel's shoutin' --; Listen to the lambs --; Little David --; Little talk with Jesus and many, many more
The Number Ones
Beloved music critic Tom Breihan's fascinating narrative of the history of popular music through the lens of game-changing #1 singles from the Billboard Hot 100. When Tom Breihan launched his Stereogum column in early 2018, "The Number Ones"--a space in which he has been writing about every #1 hit in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, in chronological order--he figured he'd post capsule-size reviews for each song. But there was so much more to uncover. The column has taken on a life of its own, sparking online debate and occasional death threats. The Billboard Hot 100 began in 1958, and after four years of posting the column, Breihan is still in the early aughts. But readers no longer have to wait for his brilliant synthesis of what the history of #1s has meant to music and our culture. In The Number Ones, Breihan writes about twenty pivotal #1s throughout chart history, revealing a remarkably fluid and connected story of music that is as entertaining as it is enlightening. The Numbers Ones features the greatest pop artists of all time, from the Brill Building songwriters to the Beatles and the Beach Boys; from Motown to Michael Jackson, Prince, and Mariah Carey; and from the digital revolution to the K-pop system. Breihan also ponders great artists who have never hit the top spot, like Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and James Brown. Breihan illuminates what makes indelible ear candy across the decades--including dance crazes, recording innovations, television phenomena, disco, AOR, MTV, rap, compact discs, mp3s, social media, memes, and much more--leaving readers to wonder what could possibly happen next.
Hip Hop Family Tree
Ed Piskor's Hip Hop Family Tree has been a global phenomenon and perennial bestseller since the first (of four) volumes was published in 2013, spawning multiple printings, fourteen comic books, and the author's wildly popular YouTube comics channel, Cartoonist Kayfabe (with fellow cartoonist Jim Rugg). Yet the series has never been collected under one cover. Until now. This omnibus collection includes the original 360-page series with over 140 pages of extra material: a cover gallery of every HHFT book and comic book cover and back cover Piskor ever created, pages from the HHFT comic book series that have never been collected, new annotations of the entire series by Piskor, and much more. Plus, it features a foreword by Charlie Ahearn and an afterword by Bill Adler. Hip Hop Family Tree is the entertaining, encyclopedic history of the formative years of the music genre that changed global culture. Piskor's cartooning crackles like Kirby and takes you from the parks and rec rooms of the South Bronx to the night clubs, recording studios, and radio stations where the scene started to boom, capturing the flavor of late 1970s New York City in panels bursting with obsessively authentic detail. With a vigorous and engaging Ken Burns-meets-Stan Lee approach, the battles and rivalries, the technical innovations, the triumphs and failures are all thoroughly researched and lovingly depicted. Like the acclaimed hip hop documentaries Style Wars and Scratch, Hip Hop Family Tree is an essential cultural chronicle and a must for hip hop fans, pop-culture addicts, and anyone who wants to know how it went down back in the day.
Efficacy of Sound
The first book-length ethnographic study on music and If獺 divination in Cuba and Nigeria. Hailing from Cuba, Nigeria, and various sites across Latin America and the Caribbean, If獺 missionary-practitioners are transforming the landscape of If獺 divination and deity (簷rìṣà/oricha) worship through transatlantic travel and reconnection. In Cuba, where If獺 and Santer穩a emerged as an interrelated, Yor羅b獺-inspired ritual complex, worshippers are driven to "African traditionalism" by its promise of efficacy: they find Yor羅b獺 approaches more powerful, potent, and efficacious. In the first book-length study on music and If獺, Ruthie Meadows draws on extensive, multisited fieldwork in Cuba and Yor羅b獺land, Nigeria, to examine the controversial "Nigerian-style" ritual movement in Cuban If獺 divination. Meadows uses feminist and queer of color theory along with critical studies of Africanity to excavate the relation between utility and affect within translocal ritual music circulations. Meadows traces how translocal If獺 priestesses (穫y獺n穩f獺), female bat獺 drummers (bataleras), and priests (babal獺wo) harness Yor羅b獺-centric approaches to ritual music and sound to heighten efficacy, achieve desired ritual outcomes, and reshape the conditions of their lives. Within a contentious religious landscape marked by the idiosyncrasies of revolutionary state policy, Nigerian-style If獺-?rìṣà is leveraged to transform femininity and masculinity, state religious policy, and transatlantic ritual authority on the island.
Efficacy of Sound
The first book-length ethnographic study on music and If獺 divination in Cuba and Nigeria. Hailing from Cuba, Nigeria, and various sites across Latin America and the Caribbean, If獺 missionary-practitioners are transforming the landscape of If獺 divination and deity (簷rìṣà/oricha) worship through transatlantic travel and reconnection. In Cuba, where If獺 and Santer穩a emerged as an interrelated, Yor羅b獺-inspired ritual complex, worshippers are driven to "African traditionalism" by its promise of efficacy: they find Yor羅b獺 approaches more powerful, potent, and efficacious. In the first book-length study on music and If獺, Ruthie Meadows draws on extensive, multisited fieldwork in Cuba and Yor羅b獺land, Nigeria, to examine the controversial "Nigerian-style" ritual movement in Cuban If獺 divination. Meadows uses feminist and queer of color theory along with critical studies of Africanity to excavate the relation between utility and affect within translocal ritual music circulations. Meadows traces how translocal If獺 priestesses (穫y獺n穩f獺), female bat獺 drummers (bataleras), and priests (babal獺wo) harness Yor羅b獺-centric approaches to ritual music and sound to heighten efficacy, achieve desired ritual outcomes, and reshape the conditions of their lives. Within a contentious religious landscape marked by the idiosyncrasies of revolutionary state policy, Nigerian-style If獺-?rìṣà is leveraged to transform femininity and masculinity, state religious policy, and transatlantic ritual authority on the island.
Willie, Waylon, and the Boys
The tragic and inspiring story of the leaders of Outlaw country and their influence on today's Alt-County and Americana superstars, tracing a path from Waylon Jennings' survival on the Day the Music Died through to the Highwaymen and on to the current creative and commercial explosion of Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile, Zach Bryan, Jason Isbell, and the Highwomen. On February 2, 1959, Waylon Jennings, bassist for his best friend, the rock star Buddy Holly, gave up his seat on a charter flight. Jennings joked that he hoped the plane, leaving without him, would crash. When it did, killing all aboard, on "the Day the Music Died," he was devastated and never fully recovered. Jennings switched to playing country, creating the Outlaw movement and later forming the Highwaymen supergroup, the first in country music, with Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson. The foursome battled addiction, record companies, ex-wives, violent fans, and the I.R.S. and D.E.A., en route to unprecedented mainstream success. Today, their acolytes Kacey Musgraves, Ryan Bingham, Sturgill Simpson, and Taylor Swift outsell all challengers, and country is the most popular of all genres. In this fascinating new book, Brian Fairbanks draws a line from Buddy Holly through the Outlaw stars of the 60s and 70s, all the way to the country headliners and more diverse, up-and-coming Nashville rebels of today, bringing the reader deep into the worlds of not only Cash, Nelson, Kristofferson, and Jennings but artists like Chris Stapleton, Simpson, Bingham, and Isbell, stadium-filling masters whose stories have not been told in book form, as well as new, diverse artists like the Highwomen, Brittney Spencer, and Allison Russell. Thought-provoking and meticulously researched, Willie, Waylon, and the Boys ultimately shows how a twenty-one-year-old bass-playing plane crash survivor helped changed the course of American music.
Just Beyond Listening
Just Beyond Listening asks how we might think about encounters with sound that complicate standard accounts of aurality. In a series of essays, Michael C. Heller considers how sound functions in dialogue with a range of sensory and affective modalities, including physical co-presence, textual interference, and spectral haunting. The text investigates sound that is experienced in other parts of the body, altered by cross-wirings of the senses, weaponized by the military, or mediated and changed by cultural practices and memory. Building on recent scholarship in sound studies and affect theory, Heller questions not only how sound propagates acoustically but how sonic presences temper our total experience of the world around us.
Just Beyond Listening
Just Beyond Listening asks how we might think about encounters with sound that complicate standard accounts of aurality. In a series of essays, Michael C. Heller considers how sound functions in dialogue with a range of sensory and affective modalities, including physical co-presence, textual interference, and spectral haunting. The text investigates sound that is experienced in other parts of the body, altered by cross-wirings of the senses, weaponized by the military, or mediated and changed by cultural practices and memory. Building on recent scholarship in sound studies and affect theory, Heller questions not only how sound propagates acoustically but how sonic presences temper our total experience of the world around us.
The Tuneful Voice
The Tuneful Voice: Selected Libretti presents a collection of works by Eugene Benson, professor, novelist, playwright, and editor, written over a fifty-year period. The volume includes adaptations of the writings of such prominent authors as Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, and Oscar Wilde as opera, operetta, musical theatre, and oratorio. The death of Canadian painter Tom Thomson is probed in the oratorio The Mystery of Canoe Lake, and the extraordinary story of the Canadian theatre mogul Ambrose J. Small is dramatized in the musical The Millionaire Who Disappeared. Other subjects range from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century.This is a book, rich in detail and personal insight, and an illuminating exploration of how musical theatre in its various genres is created. Benson's work has been performed by the Canadian Opera Company, the Stratford Festival of Canada, the Guelph Spring Festival, Toronto Operetta Theatre, Westben Arts Festival, Opera-in-Concert (Toronto), Stratford Summer Music, and broadcast by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Same Old Song
Popular music and its listeners are strongly associated with newness and youth. Young people can stay up late dancing to the latest hits and use cutting-edge technology for listening to and sharing fresh music. Many young people incorporate their devotion to new artists and styles into their own developing personalities. However, if popular music is a genre meant for the youthful, what are listeners to make of the widespread sampling of music from decades-old R&B tracks, sold-out anniversary tours by aging musicians, retrospective box sets of vintage recordings, museum exhibits, and performances by current pop stars invoking music and images of the past? In Same Old Song: The Enduring Past in Popular Music, John Paul Meyers argues that these phenomena are part of what he calls "historical consciousness in popular music." These deep relationships with the past are an important but underexamined aspect of how musicians and listeners engage with this key cultural form. In chapters ranging across the landscape of twentieth- and twenty-first-century music, Meyers finds indications of historical consciousness at work in multiple genres. Rock music canonizes its history in tribute performances and museums. Jazz and pop musicians cover tunes from the "Great American Songbook." Hip-hop and contemporary R&B singers invoke Black popular music from the 1960s and 1970s. Examining the work of influential artists like Ella Fitzgerald, Bob Dylan, Miles Davis, Kanye West, Prince, D'Angelo, and Janelle Mon獺e, Meyers argues that contemporary artists' homage to the past is key for understanding how music-lovers make meaning of popular music in the present.
Same Old Song
Popular music and its listeners are strongly associated with newness and youth. Young people can stay up late dancing to the latest hits and use cutting-edge technology for listening to and sharing fresh music. Many young people incorporate their devotion to new artists and styles into their own developing personalities. However, if popular music is a genre meant for the youthful, what are listeners to make of the widespread sampling of music from decades-old R&B tracks, sold-out anniversary tours by aging musicians, retrospective box sets of vintage recordings, museum exhibits, and performances by current pop stars invoking music and images of the past? In Same Old Song: The Enduring Past in Popular Music, John Paul Meyers argues that these phenomena are part of what he calls "historical consciousness in popular music." These deep relationships with the past are an important but underexamined aspect of how musicians and listeners engage with this key cultural form. In chapters ranging across the landscape of twentieth- and twenty-first-century music, Meyers finds indications of historical consciousness at work in multiple genres. Rock music canonizes its history in tribute performances and museums. Jazz and pop musicians cover tunes from the "Great American Songbook." Hip-hop and contemporary R&B singers invoke Black popular music from the 1960s and 1970s. Examining the work of influential artists like Ella Fitzgerald, Bob Dylan, Miles Davis, Kanye West, Prince, D'Angelo, and Janelle Mon獺e, Meyers argues that contemporary artists' homage to the past is key for understanding how music-lovers make meaning of popular music in the present.
Venue Stories
Venue Stories is an anthology of creative non-fiction that remembers, celebrates and reinvigorates our complex and plural relationship with small and independent music spaces. Written by musicians, promoters, fans and academics who have a shared passion for small music venues and musical cultures in all their splendid variety, this anthology features memoir, essays, life writing, historiography and autoethnography. Each chapter is united by a focus on the personal, the sensory and half-remembered. These are stories that cross disciplinary lines and blur distinctions between creativity, reportage and critical analysis. Venue Stories pays a visit to the toilet venues, back rooms and ad-hoc club nights that make up so much of our musical landscape. It spends time in small and local venues and asks what they mean in personal and cultural terms. Writers visit celebrated spots, long forgotten spaces and emergent venues. Whatever the lineage, they are independent, original and wonderfully weird. The stories are memories of seismic gigs and life-altering raves. They are mosaic remembrances and recollections; funny, heart-breaking, rage induced and sometimes a combination of all of these things. This is a collection of stories by and for fans, band members, merch sellers, pint pullers, journalists with a freebie, roadies with a backache and sound techs with an earache.
From the Minds of Jazz Musicians, Volume II
From the Minds of Jazz Musicians, Volume II, is a follow-up to Volume I's celebration of contemporary jazz artists who have toiled, struggled and succeeded in finding their creative space.
Rap Capital
An "impassioned tribute" (Publishers Weekly, starred review) to the most influential music culture today, Atlanta rap--a masterful, street-level story of art, money, race, class, and salvation from acclaimed New York Times reporter Joe Coscarelli. From mansions to trap houses, office buildings to strip clubs, Atlanta is defined by its rap music. But this flashy and fast-paced world is rarely seen below surface level as a collection not of superheroes and villains, cartoons and caricatures, but of flawed and inspired individuals all trying to get a piece of what everyone else seems to have. In artistic, commercial, and human terms, Atlanta rap represents the most consequential musical ecosystem of this century. Rap Capital tells the dramatic stories of the people who make it tick and the city that made them that way. The lives of the artists driving the culture, from megastars like Lil Baby and Migos to lesser-known local strivers like Lil Reek and Marlo, represent the modern American dream but also an American nightmare, as young Black men and women wrestle generational curses, crippled school systems, incarceration, and racism on the way to an improbably destination atop art and commerce. Across Atlanta, rap dreams power countless overlapping economies, but they're also a gamble, one that could make a poor man rich or a poor man poorer, land someone in jail or keep them out of it. Drawing on years of reporting, more than a hundred interviews, dozens of hours in recording studios and on immersive ride-alongs, acclaimed New York Times reporter Joe Coscarelli weaves a cinematic tapestry of this singular American culture as it took over in the last decade, from the big names to the lesser-seen prospects, managers, grunt-workers, mothers, DJs, lawyers, and dealers that are equally important to the industry. The result is a deeply human, era-defining book that is "required reading for anyone who has ever wondered how, exactly, Atlanta hip-hop took over the world" (Kelefa Sanneh, author of Major Labels). Entertaining and profound, Rap Capital is an epic of art, money, race, class, and sometimes, salvation.
Solid Rock
Solid Rock is a visual celebration of the evolution of heavy guitar music. A larger format, landscape, coffee table feature book with a unique commentary drawn from our 'In-conversation' sessions with K.K. Downing - Grammy award-winning guitarist and a founding member of classic heavy metal legends Judas Priest. A legacy that stretches back right to the dawn of heavy metal guitar music.K.K. Downing - "I'm honoured to share my thoughts and reflections from an incredible journey in rock and metal - as I have had the pleasure of meeting and gigging with many of these guitar icons throughout my long career."Austin Powell - Blues in Britain magazine. "A tremendous publication. Impressive in both content and presentation."Garry Foster - WCR FM. "Solid Rock is the perfect book for lovers of great guitar players and lovers of great guitar player debate!"Danny Stoakes - Stoakes Media. "Solid rock is a guitar fans dream. Showcasing 75 of the greatest guitarists and guitars that have ever existed; this book is a who's who of rock royalty! There might even be a few surprises tucked in the pages! K.K. Downing adds his personal thoughts and recounts a few tales about some of the guitar heroes within these pages, this is a must have for any music fan. A really enjoyable book to read..."75 years after Leo Fender began developing the designs for what would become the world's first commercially successful solid body electric guitar. Solid Rock Features 75 of the greatest ever proponents of that hallowed instrument, each within an individually designed double-page spread with full-page classic vintage photographs from the Getty Archive.Within the pages of Solid Rock are 75 electric guitar greats, each one a significant voice in shaping rock and metal music as we know it. Opening with Blues legend B.B. King, Solid Rock and takes us on a chronological voyage showcasing some of the legends that made music history happen, including Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Van Halen, Tony Iommi, Jimmy Page, Angus Young, Slash, Peter Green, David Gilmour, Randy Rhoads, and many more.We travel through the 'British Invasion' of the 60s, the birth of heavy metal in the industrial heart of England, the early 70s rockers that kick-started the American movement - and on into the 80s and 90s, hair and glam metal, thrash and beyond, featuring some of the greatest and most influential electric guitar players ever to plug in and crank up the volume...Together, they created rock music as we know it.
Transforming V簷d繳n
Transforming V簷d繳n examines how musicians from the West African Republic of Benin transform Benin's cultural traditions, especially the ancestral spiritual practice of v簷d繳n and its musical repertoires, as part of the process of healing postcolonial trauma through music and ritual. Based on fieldwork in Benin, France, and New York City, Sarah Politz uses historical ethnography, music analysis, and participant observation to examine three case studies of brass band and jazz musicians from Benin. The multi-sited nature of this study highlights the importance of mobility, and diasporic connections in musicians' professional lives, while grounding these connections in the particularities of the African continent, its histories, its people, and its present.
Diva
The diva - a central figure in the landscape of contemporary popular culture: gossip-generating, scandal-courting, paparazzi-stalked. And yet the diva is at the epicentre of creative endeavours that resonate with contemporary feminist ideas, kick back against diminished social expectations, boldly call-out casual sexism and industry misogyny and, in terms of hip-hop, explores intersectional oppressions and unapologetically celebrates non-white cultural heritages. Diva beats and grooves echo across culture and politics in the West: from the borough to the White House, from arena concerts to nightclubs, from social media to social activism, from #MeToo to Black Lives Matter. Diva: Feminism and Fierceness from Pop to Hip-Hop addresses the diva phenomenon and its origins: its identity politics and LGBTQ+ components; its creativity and interventions in areas of popular culture (music, and beyond); its saints and sinners and controversies old and new; and its oppositions to, and recuperations by, the establishment; and its shifts from third to fourth waves of feminism. This co-edited collection brings together an international array of writers - from new voices to established names. The collection scopes the rise to power of the diva (looking to Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Dolly Parton, Grace Jones, and Aaliyah), then turns to contemporary diva figures and their work (with Beyonc矇, Amuro Namie, Janelle Mon獺e, Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion, Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, and Nicki Minaj), and concludes by considering the presence of the diva in wider cultures, in terms of gallery curation, theatre productions, and stand-up comedy.
Josef Hofmann
Described by his contemporaries as the greatest pianist of the era, Josef Hofmann performed on world stages for more than fifty years, enjoying phenomenal success. Using previously unpublished letters, documents, interviews, and testimonies, Elizabeth Carr uncovers Hofmann's world from child prodigy to established artist and private citizen.
The Perfect Wagnerite
The Perfect Wagnerite: A Commentary on the Niblung's Ring, a classical book, has been considered essential throughout the human history, and so that this work is never forgotten we at Alpha Editions have made efforts in its preservation by republishing this book in a modern format for present and future generations. This whole book has been reformatted, retyped and designed. These books are not made of scanned copies of their original work and hence the text is clear and readable.
Perfect Pitch
100 pieces of classical music to bring joy, tears, solace, laughter, inspiration, empathy & everything else in between "Thank you to Tim Bouverie for this book which can be enjoyed as much by the hard-nosed professional as the beginner, anxious to learn something of this great music." - Jools Holland "A treat from the very first page... the perfect introduction to classical music for a beginner, a companion for the music lover, and sheer entertainment for both." - Joanna Lumley A book for anyone who wants to bring more classical music into their life and doesn't know where to start. Nearly all of us have the capacity to enjoy classical music but too often we are put off by not knowing where to look, or what we are actually looking for. We feel the need of a guide to help navigate such vast and varied artistic terrain. With this delightful book, historian Tim Bouverie provides just this. Drawing on his lifelong passion for music, he has created a compilation of 100 classical masterpieces sure to move and be enjoyed by almost anyone. Some are well-known, some more idiosyncratic, others hidden gems waiting to be brought into the light. All are intended to comfort and inspire. He provides a short introduction to each piece - variously anecdotal, personal, historical and quirky - and a recommended recording to try. Highly accessible and entertaining, Perfect Pitch is filled with engrossing stories and insights that bring to life 300 years of the world's greatest music. An accompanying playlist is available on Spotify. "The most beautifully written explanation of classical music I have come across...Brilliant." - Victoria Hislop "Generous and passionate... astutely blends context and anecdote, always delivered with smiling and enthusiastic authority." - Dame Jane Glover, conductor and author of Mozart's Women
Lou Reed 1972-1986
This book examines the work of the first decade-and-a-half of Lou Reed as a solo artist. It would be easy to paint these years with a broad brush; with the ghost of The Velvet Underground in its aftermath slowly yet gradually gaining cultural influence, this slow-burning legacy would both tether and liberate its key participant. Between the years of 1972 and 1986, Lou Reed would seek, achieve, reject, lament, and once again pine for professional success while the excesses and extremities of a life lived in public wielded their own unruly impact. While this book seeks to maintain its focus on the music first and foremost, with an artist like Lou Reed, it seems impossible for the personal to stay divorced from the product. We will see a tentative, crestfallen Lou begin to emerge from his parental Long Island, NY cocoon to test the waters for a solo career. There is worldwide stardom and success, then banishment, followed by the embracement and rejection of various commercial enterprises, to midlife revision and rejuvenation. Multiple partners of influence, both professional and personal, would be accumulated and jettisoned, all leaving lasting traces. Lou did a lot in fourteen years, and it's only half of the story.
LL Cool J Presents the Streets Win
A celebration of 50 years of Hip Hop's vibrant history, and its transformative influence not just on American music and culture, but across the world. This vivid chronicle of the rhythm, rhyme, and reason of Hip Hop is told through intimate narratives, over 150 iconic images, and the voices of Hip Hop's founding artists. Co-authored by the legendary LL COOL J, celebrated journalist Vikki Tobak, and Rock The Bells' editorial director Alec Banks, this unparalleled collection is a must-have for music fans. -Personal Stories from Hip Hop Luminaries: Firsthand accounts from the likes of DJ Kool Herc, Salt-N-Pepa, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, Snoop Dogg and many more. -Insights from Hip Hop Royalty: Written contributions from an A-list roster including Rakim, MC Lyte, Jay-Z, and many more. -Iconic Shots from Photographic Legends: Contributions from Joe Conzo Jr., Ernie Paniccioli, Jonathan Mannion, and others who chronicled Hip Hop's rise. -Rare Images & Cultural Artifacts: Capturing the essence of Hip Hop, from street scenes to iconic performances. Delve into a collection of album covers, handwritten lyrics, and original graffiti art. -Essential for an Aficionado's Collection: With art direction by Hip Hop photography icon Ernie Paniccioli and photo editing by the renowned Jonathan Mannion. This treasure-filled testament to a cultural revolution charts Hip Hop's birth, meteoric rise, and enduring influence on the American music scene for fans everywhere.
Feenin
In Feenin, Alexander Ghedi Weheliye traces R&B music's continuing centrality in Black life since the late 1970s. Focusing on various musical production and reproduction technologies such as auto-tune and the materiality of the BlackFem singing voice, Weheliye counteracts the widespread popular and scholarly narratives of the genre's decline and death. He shows how R&B remains a thriving venue for the expression of Black thought and life and a primary archive of the contemporary moment. Among other topics, Weheliye discusses the postdisco evolution of house music in Chicago and techno in Detroit, Prince and David Bowie in relation to appropriations of Blackness and Euro-whiteness in the 1980s, how the BlackFem voice functions as a repository of Black knowledge, the methods contemporary R&B musicians use to bring attention to Black Lives Matter, and the ways vocal distortion technologies such as the vocoder demonstrate Black music's relevance to discussions of humanism and posthumanism. Ultimately, Feenin represents Weheliye's capacious thinking about R&B as the site through which to consider questions of Blackness, technology, history, humanity, community, diaspora, and nationhood.
The Come Up
The essential oral history of hip-hop, from its origins on the playgrounds of the Bronx to its reign as the most powerful force in pop culture--from the award-winning journalist behind All the Pieces Matter, the New York Times bestselling oral history of The Wire "The Come Up is Abrams at his sharpest, at his most observant, at his most insightful."--Shea Serrano, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Hip-Hop (And Other Things) ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Boston Globe, The Guardian, Spin The music that would come to be known as hip-hop was born at a party in the Bronx in the summer of 1973. Now, fifty years later, it's the most popular music genre in America. Just as jazz did in the first half of the twentieth century, hip-hop and its groundbreaking DJs and artists--nearly all of them people of color from some of America's most overlooked communities--pushed the boundaries of music to new frontiers, while transfixing the country's youth and reshaping fashion, art, and even language. And yet, the stories of many hip-hop pioneers and their individual contributions in the pre-Internet days of mixtapes and word of mouth are rarely heard--and some are at risk of being lost forever. Now, in The Come Up, the New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Abrams offers the most comprehensive account so far of hip-hop's rise, a multi-decade chronicle told in the voices of the people who made it happen. In more than three hundred interviews conducted over three years, Abrams has captured the stories of the DJs, executives, producers, and artists who both witnessed and themselves forged the history of hip-hop. Masterfully combining these voices into a seamless symphonic narrative, Abrams traces how the genre grew out of the resourcefulness of a neglected population in the South Bronx, and from there how it flowed into New York City's other boroughs, and beyond--from electrifying live gatherings, then on to radio and vinyl, below to the Mason-Dixon Line, west to Los Angeles through gangster rap and G-funk, and then across generations. Abrams has on record Grandmaster Caz detailing hip-hop's infancy, Edward "Duke Bootee" Fletcher describing the origins of "The Message," DMC narrating his role in introducing hip-hop to the mainstream, Ice Cube recounting N.W.A's breakthrough and breakup, Kool Moe Dee recalling his Grammys boycott, and countless more key players. Throughout, Abrams conveys with singular vividness the drive, the stakes, and the relentless creativity that ignited one of the greatest revolutions in modern music. The Come Up is an exhilarating behind-the-scenes account of how hip-hop came to rule the world--and an essential contribution to music history.
The Carpenters
The brother and sister team of Karen and Richard Carpenter rank as one of the most successful acts in pop music history. Between the first Carpenters' album released in 1969 and their final studio album together in 1981, they achieved three Grammy awards, 18 hits in the US Top 20 (and ten in the UK) and multiple platinum discs, leading to eventual sales of over 100 million copies worldwide. Although the group's career was brought to a tragic and premature end by the untimely death of Karen Carpenter in 1983, they remain a much-loved band that continue to attract new fans. The Carpenters crafted their own distinctive sound with multi-part harmonies and lush arrangements, providing a rich backdrop for the distinctive sound of Karen Carpenter's vocals. In addition to being a gifted interpreter of songs, Karen was also passionate about playing the drums, with Richard's talents extending to keyboards, singing, composing, arranging and producing. This book explores the background to each of their studio albums and classic singles, as well as their solo recordings, live albums and compilations of rare tracks. From their earliest recordings in a jazz trio through to Richard's reinterpretations of their best-known songs with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and as a solo pianist, this appraisal looks at over 55 years of Carpenters' releases.
Rap and Redemption on Death Row
Imprisoned since age nineteen, Alim Braxton has spent more than a quarter century on North Carolina's death row. During that time, he converted to Islam and dedicated his life to redemption. Braxton, a rapper since the age of thirteen, uses his rhymes as a form of therapy and to advocate for prison reform, particularly by calling attention to the plight of the wrongfully incarcerated. This book, a hip-hop-rich prison memoir, chronicles Braxton's struggles and triumphs as he attempts to record an album while on death row, something no one has done before. Braxton's world is complex: full of reflections on guilt, condemnation, incarceration, religious awakening, and the redemptive power of art. Ultimately, Braxton shows us that even amid the brutality of our prison system there are moments of joy, and on death row joy may be the most powerful form of resistance.
Blacksound
"No book from this past year better explains American popular music than professor Matthew Morrison's Blacksound."--A Rolling Stone​ Best Music Book of 2024 A new concept for understanding the history of the American popular music industry. Blacksound explores the sonic history of blackface minstrelsy and the racial foundations of American musical culture from the early 1800s through the turn of the twentieth century. With this namesake book, Matthew D. Morrison develops the concept of "Blacksound" to uncover how the popular music industry and popular entertainment in general in the United States arose out of slavery and blackface. Blacksound as an idea is not the music or sounds produced by Black Americans but instead the material and fleeting remnants of their sounds and performances that have been co-opted and amalgamated into popular music. Morrison unpacks the relationship between performance, racial identity, and intellectual property to reveal how blackface minstrelsy scripts became absorbed into commercial entertainment through an unequal system of intellectual property and copyright laws. By introducing this foundational new concept in musicology, Blacksound highlights what is politically at stake--for creators and audiences alike--in revisiting the long history of American popular music.
Rap and Redemption on Death Row
Imprisoned since age nineteen, Alim Braxton has spent more than a quarter century on North Carolina's death row. During that time, he converted to Islam and dedicated his life to redemption. Braxton, a rapper since the age of thirteen, uses his rhymes as a form of therapy and to advocate for prison reform, particularly by calling attention to the plight of the wrongfully incarcerated. This book, a hip-hop-rich prison memoir, chronicles Braxton's struggles and triumphs as he attempts to record an album while on death row, something no one has done before.Braxton's world is complex: full of reflections on guilt, condemnation, incarceration, religious awakening, and the redemptive power of art. Ultimately, Braxton shows us that even amid the brutality of our prison system there are moments of joy, and on death row joy may be the most powerful form of resistance.
From the Heart
In 1974, nine musicians came together in Appleton, Wisconsin, to form Matrix, a jazz fusion ensemble. Led by composer and keyboardist John Harmon, the group rose to prominence on the festival circuit before recording six acclaimed albums. Follow Harmon as he tells the story of the band, from their beginnings on the road in the Midwest to their greatest successes to their reunion tours that brought them back together. From the Heart brings you into the inner workings of a highly influential music group, as well as closer to the man who made it all happen.
Emerald
Dublin's Thin Lizzy have become one of the most revered cult acts of all time, studious and discerning fans of hard rock the world over revelling in the storytelling acumen of the legendary Phil Lynott and the craft and class of his band. Through numerous interviews with most of the principals involved and a mountain of painstaking research Emerald; Thin Lizzy's Golden Era examines the band's career up to 1976 culminating in the superlative and sparkling Jailbreak, home of such hits as 'Cowboy Song', 'Emerald', 'Jailbreak' and 'The Boys Are Back In Town' and followed by Johnny The Fox that included the hit single 'Don't Believe A Word'. Along the way, alcohol and drugs wreaked havoc between band members, producers and managers, but despite line-up changes and a mostly grinding, rock scrabble existence, Ireland's favourite sons persevered, finally achieving the smash hit record they'd deserved for so long. Immerse yourself in Popoff's celebrated record-by-record methodology and emerge a rejuvenated Lizzy fan, newly appreciative of the deep album tracks hiding within this singular band's often forgotten early years. A revised and expanded version of Popoff's previous Dublin To Jailbreak Emerald; Thin Lizzy's Golden Era is based on interviews the author conducted specifically for the book with band members Eric Bell, Scott Gorham, Brian Downey, Gary Moore and Brian Robertson; managers Terry O'Neill and Ted Carroll; producers Nick Tauber and Ron Nevison; Nigel Grange from Vertigo; road manager Frank Murray and cover artist Jim Fitzpatrick. Revealing Phil Lynott in all his dastardly guises Emerald; Thin Lizzy's Golden Era, is an essential read for the devoted Lizzy fans.
My Punk Rock Life
Growing up as a rebellious teenager in the suburbs of Los Angeles, hanging out at gigs and gaining access to the now-legendary bands of the era, Marla Watson is now unleashing her rarely seen hardcore punk photography from the early 1980's in this new book entitled 'My Punk Rock Life'."I never considered myself to be a professional photographer but more of a historian. Regardless, I took some pretty great photos right alongside some of the greats like Edward Colver, Alison Braun and Glen E. Friedman. In late 1983 I travelled to London for two months and took pictures of all my favourite punk bands of that era. Life is a lot of fun when you are young and unencumbered. My negatives have been safely stored in my attic until the Covid years when I had extra time on my hands to scan them and create a book."Marla's book emphasises the fans point of view. Reaching out to both friends and strangers to write short pieces about what it felt like to be a punk back then, including personal stories and experiences. The feedback so far has been massively positive from the likes of Ian Mackaye, Jello Biafra, Keith Morris, Mike Burkett, Jeff Nelson and others, many of whom are featured in the book."A crucial document on the early days of US hardcore!""A great archive of that time period. The bands, the people, the venues... everything is so well documented.""Marla paints an excellent picture of the SoCal punk scene during the 80s with her photography and anecdotes."Marla started taking pictures at Los Angeles punk shows in the early 1980's, just as the US punk hardcore scene was emerging. This was her salvation. She made a press pass and stood on the side of the stage with her camera during all those amazing shows. She has collected the photography from that experience of a lifetime into this 254 page book. With over 300 high quality and rarely seen images from the infancy of the hardcore punk scene featuring seminal acts such Black Flag, Minor Threat, The Dead Kennedys, The Misfits, The Damned, Circle Jerks, Bad Religion, The Vandals, Channel 3, The Adicts, Stiff Little Fingers, Shattered Faith, Fear, White Flag, Youth Brigade, Social Distortion, The Angry Samoans, Battalion of Saints, Redd Kross, 7 Seconds, Suicidal Tendencies, Descendents, Bad Brains, Discharge, UK Subs, The Clash, The Varukers, The English Dogs, T.S.O.L, The Lewd, Subhumans, Red Scare, Ill Repute, The Pandoras, The Blades, The Bangs, The Toy Dolls, Sin 34, GBH, The Dickies, DOA, and the list goes on! These photos have sat in a box, untouched for forty years. Now Marla is sharing her photography with the world in her first book; 'My Punk Rock Life'.
My Punk Rock Life
Growing up as a rebellious teenager in the suburbs of Los Angeles, hanging out at gigs and gaining access to the now-legendary bands of the era, Marla Watson is now unleashing her rarely seen hardcore punk photography from the early 1980's in this new book entitled 'My Punk Rock Life'."I never considered myself to be a professional photographer but more of a historian. Regardless, I took some pretty great photos right alongside some of the greats like Edward Colver, Alison Braun and Glen E. Friedman. In late 1983 I travelled to London for two months and took pictures of all my favourite punk bands of that era. Life is a lot of fun when you are young and unencumbered. My negatives have been safely stored in my attic until the Covid years when I had extra time on my hands to scan them and create a book."Marla's book emphasises the fans point of view. Reaching out to both friends and strangers to write short pieces about what it felt like to be a punk back then, including personal stories and experiences. The feedback so far has been massively positive from the likes of Ian Mackaye, Jello Biafra, Keith Morris, Mike Burkett, Jeff Nelson and others, many of whom are featured in the book."A crucial document on the early days of US hardcore!""A great archive of that time period. The bands, the people, the venues... everything is so well documented.""Marla paints an excellent picture of the SoCal punk scene during the 80s with her photography and anecdotes."Marla started taking pictures at Los Angeles punk shows in the early 1980's, just as the US punk hardcore scene was emerging. This was her salvation. She made a press pass and stood on the side of the stage with her camera during all those amazing shows. She has collected the photography from that experience of a lifetime into this 254 page book. With over 300 high quality and rarely seen images from the infancy of the hardcore punk scene featuring seminal acts such Black Flag, Minor Threat, The Dead Kennedys, The Misfits, The Damned, Circle Jerks, Bad Religion, The Vandals, Channel 3, The Adicts, Stiff Little Fingers, Shattered Faith, Fear, White Flag, Youth Brigade, Social Distortion, The Angry Samoans, Battalion of Saints, Redd Kross, 7 Seconds, Suicidal Tendencies, Descendents, Bad Brains, Discharge, UK Subs, The Clash, The Varukers, The English Dogs, T.S.O.L, The Lewd, Subhumans, Red Scare, Ill Repute, The Pandoras, The Blades, The Bangs, The Toy Dolls, Sin 34, GBH, The Dickies, DOA, and the list goes on! These photos have sat in a box, untouched for forty years. Now Marla is sharing her photography with the world in her first book; 'My Punk Rock Life'.
Singing Down the Barriers
Never has there been a more urgent time to foster cultural humility, diversity, and community dialogue while addressing systemically exclusionary teaching practices in vocal music. Singing Down the Barriers offers readers from all ethnic backgrounds a space in which to better understand the historical and cultural barriers to researching, programming, and performing repertoire by composers from the African diaspora. Emery Stephens and Caroline Helton present a pedagogical guide for singers, singing teachers, students, and administrators that will assist not only with programming but also in creating sustainable, brave spaces for critical conversations on race, equity, and American music. The book is divided into three parts: Part one presents historical context for African American song from the 19th century to the 21st century.Part two examines the culture of academic institutions and provides a framework for positive change.Part three provides strategies to foster integrated communities that can explore this repertoire with respect and mutual support as well as ways to incorporate Afrocentric music into the canon.This book is a seminal resource for higher education, community music programs, private studios, and beyond, and will help support DEI initiatives for vocal music programs.
In the Hands of Jesus
Around 2008 and onward, during my time attending Unity Church in Marathon, Florida Keys, alongside my partner Carolyn, I conceived a variety of melodies and songs aimed at fostering hope, love, and prayer. This involved referencing not only Jesus but also other spiritual leaders, each with their unique perspectives. I tend to lean towards a more liberal standpoint in terms of my willingness to engage with certain religious preachers who emphasize conservative notions of hell, sin, and damnation, though I've included them in this collection as well. Initially, I grappled with the choice between the titles "In the Hands of Jesus" or "In the Hands of God."In the process of assembling this compilation of songs and instrumentals, I've also incorporated additional melodies that aren't directly tied to Jesus. My perspective on religion remains open, and I extend my support to all faiths and matters of spiritual enlightenment, except for those that involve worshiping and adoring the devil. My intention is not to pass judgment or preach, recognizing that each individual is on their distinct path to God, a journey shared even by all living creatures, plants, and trees on our planet.Like everyone else, I face moments of uncertainty as I navigate the multitude of life's mysteries waiting to be explored and embraced. Reading "My Journey Back to God" by Kristen Dickerson served as a source of inspiration, prompting me to not postpone the creation of this collection, especially considering certain medical challenges. Time is of the essence! Alexander
Feenin
In Feenin, Alexander Ghedi Weheliye traces R&B music's continuing centrality in Black life since the late 1970s. Focusing on various musical production and reproduction technologies such as auto-tune and the materiality of the BlackFem singing voice, Weheliye counteracts the widespread popular and scholarly narratives of the genre's decline and death. He shows how R&B remains a thriving venue for the expression of Black thought and life and a primary archive of the contemporary moment. Among other topics, Weheliye discusses the postdisco evolution of house music in Chicago and techno in Detroit, Prince and David Bowie in relation to appropriations of Blackness and Euro-whiteness in the 1980s, how the BlackFem voice functions as a repository of Black knowledge, the methods contemporary R&B musicians use to bring attention to Black Lives Matter, and the ways vocal distortion technologies such as the vocoder demonstrate Black music's relevance to discussions of humanism and posthumanism. Ultimately, Feenin represents Weheliye's capacious thinking about R&B as the site through which to consider questions of Blackness, technology, history, humanity, community, diaspora, and nationhood.
Decolonizing Contemporary Gospel Music Through Praxis
Is contemporary Black British gospel music a coloniality? What theological message is really conveyed in these songs? In this book, Robert Beckford shows how the Black British contemporary gospel music tradition is incrisis because its songs continue to be informed by colonial Christian ideas about God. Beckford explores the failure of both African and African Caribbean heritage Churches to Decolonise their faith, especially the doctrine of God, biblical interpretation and Black ontology. This predicament has left song leaders, musicians and songwriters with a reservoir of ideas that aim to disavow engagement with the social-historical world, black Biblical interpretation and the necessity of loving blackness. This book is decolonisation through praxis. Reflecting on the conceptual social justice album 'The Jamaican Bible Remix' (2017) as a communicative resource, Beckford shows how to develop production tools to inscribe decolonial theological thought onto Black British music(s). The outcome of this process is the creation of a decolonial contemporary gospel music genre. The impact of the album is demonstrated through case studies in national and international contexts.
Hearing Maskanda
Hearing Maskanda outlines how people make sense of their world through practicing and hearing maskanda music in South Africa. Having emerged in response to the experience of forced labour migration in the early 20th century, maskanda continues to straddle a wide range of cultural and musical universes. Maskanda musicians reground ideas, (hi)stories, norms, speech and beliefs that have been uprooted in centuries of colonial and apartheid rule by using specific musical textures, vocalities and idioms. With an autoethnographic approach of how she came to understand and participate in maskanda, Titus indicates some instances where her acts of knowledge formation confronted, bridged or invaded those of other maskanda participants. Thus, the book not only aims to demonstrate the epistemic importance of music and aurality but also the performative and creative dimension of academic epistemic approaches such as ethnography, historiography and music analysis, that aim towards conceptualization and (visual) representation. In doing so, the book unearths the colonialist potential of knowledge formation at large and disrupts modes of thinking and (academic) research that are globally normative.
Cinderella and Company
A wickedly funny look at opera today--the feuds and deals, maestros and managers, divine voices and outsized egos--and a portrait of the opera world's newest superstar at a formative point in her life and career. In Cinderella & Company, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Manuela Hoelterhoff takes us on a two-year trip on the circuit with Cecilia Bartoli, the young mezzo-soprano who has captured an adoring public around the world. Rossini's Cenerentola is Bartoli's signature role, and Cinderella & Company tells the fairy-tale story of her life, which started on a modest street in Rome where the Fiat was the coach of choice. The lucky break, the meteoric rise, the starlit nights and nail-chewing days are all part of a narrative that shows Bartoli rehearsing, playing, traveling, eating, and charming us with her vivacity and dazzling virtuosity. Along the way, Hoelterhoff gives us an unusually vivid, behind-the-scenes look at the opera world. The first stop is Houston, where Bartoli brightens a droopy Cenerentola production; later scenes follow her to Disney World and to the Metropolitan Opera, where a fidgety cast awaits the flight-phobic mezzo's arrival for Mozart's Cosi fan tutte. Traveling to Santa Fe, Paris, Rome, Venice, and London, Hoelterhoff drops in on opening nights and boardroom meetings, talks to managers and agents, describes where the money comes from, and survives one of the longest galas in history. Here too are tantalizing glimpses of divinities large and small: Kathleen Battle's famously chilly limousine ride; Pl獺cido Domingo flying through three time zones to step into the boots of an ailing Otello; Luciano Pavarotti aiming for high C in his twilight years. And we meet the present players in Bartoli's world: Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu, a.k.a. the Love Couple; Jane Eaglen, the Wagnerian web potato monitoring her cyberspace fan mail; the appealing soprano Ren矇e Fleming, finally on the brink of stardom. At once informed and accessible, Cinderella & Company brings the world of grand opera into sharp focus--right up to the last glimpse of Cecilia Bartoli waving triumphantly from Cinderella's wedding cake.
Playing Piano Chords, Part II
With this book you can learn to accompany songs on the piano in a smooth way. You don't need to be able to read music for this book. Instead, you learn the chords with images that are easy to understand. With the pictures you quickly master the chords. You can accompany a first song after half an hour. Each lesson will take about 30-45 minutes (depending on your skills of course). There are four blocks and there are nine lessons in each block. So in total there are 36 lessons. In each block you will learn new chords and new songs to play. This book features countless songs from artists such as Ed Sheeran, The Beatles, Alicia Keys, Queen and The Black Eyed Peas. The songs are from different styles and periods. These songs have all been hits, so you're probably familiar with most of them.
