Popular music in Japan has been under the overwhelming influence of American, Latin American and European popular music remarkably since 1945, when Japan was defeated in World War II. Beginning with gunka and enka at the turn of the century, tracing the birth of hit songs in the record industry in the years preceding the War, and ranging to the adoption of Western genres after the War--the rise of Japanese folk and rock, domestic exoticism as a new trend and J-Pop--Popular Music in Japan is a comprehensive discussion of the evolution of popular music in Japan. In eight revised and updated essays written in English by renowned Japanese scholar Toru Mitsui, this book tells the story of popular music in Japan since the late 19th century when Japan began positively embracing the West.

Music and Traditions of the Arabian Peninsula provides a pioneering overview of folk and traditional urban music, along with dance and rituals, of Saudi Arabia and the Upper Gulf States of Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar. The nineteen chapters introduce variegated regions and subcultures and their rich and dynamic musical arts, many of which heretofore have been unknown beyond local communities. The book contains insightful descriptions of genres, instruments, poetry, and performance practices of the desert heartland (Najd), the Arabian/Persian Gulf shores, the great western cities including Makkah and Medinah, the southwestern mountains, and the hot Red Sea coast. Musical customs of distinctive groups such as Bedouin, seafarers, and regional women are explored. The book is packaged with downloadable resources and almost 200 images including a full color photo essay, numerous music transcriptions, a glossary with over 400 specialized terms, and original Arabic script alongside key words to assist with further research. This book provides a much-needed introduction and organizational structure for the diverse and complex musical arts of the region.

Frishkopf, Michael: Introduction: Music and media in the Arab world and music and media in the Arab world as music and media in the Arab world : a metadiscourse. - S. 1-64 Nassar, Zein: A history of music and singing on Egyptian radio and television. - S. 67-76 Abdel-Aziz, Moataz: Arabic music videos and their implications for Arab music and media. - S. 77-89 Wassimi, Mounir al-: Arab music and changes in the Arab media. - S. 91-96 Cestor, Elisabeth: Music and television in Lebanon. - S. 97-110 Ulaby, Laith: Mass media and music in the Arab Persian Gulf. - S. 111-126 Abdel-Latif, Yasser: Music of the streets : the story of a television program. - S. 129-136 Grippo, James R.: What's not on Egyptian television and radio! : locating the 'popular' in Egyptian Sha'bi . - S. 137-162 Elmessiri, Abdel-Wahab: Ruby and the checkered heart. - S. 163-172 Kubala, Patricia: The controversy over satellite : music television in contemporary Egypt. - S. 173-224 Barghouti, Tamim al-: Caliphs and clips. - S. 225-230 Armbrust, Walter: What would Sayyid Qutb say? : some reflections on video clips. - S. 231-254 Darwish, Hany: Images of women in advertisements and video clips : a case study of Sherif Sabri. - S. 255-263 Khachab, Walid El-: Arab video music : imagined territories and the liberation of desire (or sex lives in video (clip)). - S. 265-275 Abdel-Fattah, Wael: The biographies of Stalets today : revolutions in sound and images. - S. 277-290 Meizel, Katherine: Real-politics : televised talent competitions and democracy promotion in the Middle East. - S. 291-308.

Children develop their musicality best through engaging and participating, and an effective and enriching music curriculum must focus on the development of practical music-making skills. Jumpstart! Music therefore contains a wealth of ideas and activities that will support any teacher as they aid the musical learning of pupils aged 7 to 14, helping students not only to learn in new and exciting ways, but also to enjoy themselves while they are doing it. Inspiring any young learner to listen to, make and create a range of music, the book includes multiple simple-to-use ideas and activities, with every chapter based around fun and engaging topics, such as: Storytelling History Media Modern music Technology The world With group suggestions as well as opportunities for the students to develop their skills independently, the games and ideas featured in this title all focus on the core skills in learning music – listening, singing, playing, improvising, composing and SMSC (spiritual, moral, social, cultural) – and are all flexible enough to be adapted to fit each individual situation, whatever the resources to hand. Jumpstart! Music is an essential classroom resource for helping young learners develop their musicality and musicianship and will support any teacher in delivering engaging, inclusive and creative music lessons.

This book offers the first in-depth study of experimental and popular music scenes in Beirut, looking at musicians working towards a new understanding of musical creativity and music culture in a country that is dominated by mass-mediated pop music, and propaganda. Burkhalter studies the generation of musicians born at the beginning of the Civil War in the Lebanese capital, an urban and cosmopolitan center with a long tradition of cultural activities and exchanges with the Arab world, Europe, the US, and the former Soviet Union. These Lebanese rappers, rockers, death-metal, jazz, and electro-acoustic musicians and free improvisers choose local and transnational forms to express their connection to the broader musical, cultural, social, and political environment. Burkhalter explores how these musicians organize their own small concerts for ‘insider’ audiences, set up music labels, and network with like-minded musicians in Europe, the US, and the Arab world. Several key tracks are analyzed with methods from ethnomusicology, and popular music studies, and contextualized through interviews with the musicians. Discussing key references from belly dance culture (1960s), psychedelic rock in Beirut (1970s), the noises of the Lebanese Civil war (1975-1990), and transnational Pop-Avant-Gardes and World Music 2.0 networks, this book contributes to the study of localization and globalization processes in music in an increasingly digitalized and transnational world. At the core, this music from Beirut challenges "ethnocentric" perceptions of "locality" in music. It attacks both "Orientalist" readings of the Arab world, the Middle East, and Lebanon, and the focus on musical "difference" in Euro-American music and culture markets. On theoretical grounds, this music is a small, but passionate attempt to re-shape the world into a place where "modernity" is not "euro-modernity" or "euro-american modernity," but where possible new configurations of modernity exist next to each other.

This text presents a comprehensive and up-to-date reference work on popular music, from the early 20th century to the present day.

Japan was the first non-Western nation to compete with the Western powers at their own game. The country’s rise to a major player on the stage of Western music has been equally spectacular. The connection between these two developments, however, has never been explored. How did making music make Japan modern? How did Japan make music that originated in Europe its own? And what happened to Japan’s traditional music in the process? Music and the Making of Modern Japan answers these questions. Discussing musical modernization in the context of globalization and nation-building, Margaret Mehl argues that, far from being a side-show, music was part of the action on centre stage. Making music became an important vehicle for empowering the people of Japan to join in the shaping of the modern world. In only fifty years, from the 1870s to the early 1920s, Japanese people laid the foundations for the country’s post-war rise as a musical as well as an economic power. Meanwhile, new types of popular song, fuelled by the growing global record industry, successfully blended inspiration from the West with musical characteristics perceived as Japanese. Music and the Making of Modern Japan represents a fresh contribution to historical research on making music as a major cultural, social, and political force.