Review: “Encyclopedia: The Book of World Music” edited by Yoshihiko Tokumaru, Yuji Takahashi, Masakazu Kitanaka, Hiroshi Watanabe

(Original posted on December 17, 2008)

When one sees the title “The Book of World Music,” the first thing that comes to mind is likely a book that explains the musical characteristics and historical development of music from around the globe—gospel, reggae, Latin music, as well as music from the Middle East, Africa, and so on—complete with introductions to reference recordings; a book that covers the basic information of each genre.

In other words, an encyclopedia “of” world music. However, if you pick up this book based on that expectation, you will likely be greatly surprised and perplexed by its actual content.

As the editors state in the afterword, the original project started as a literal encyclopedic book. However, since music from various parts of the world does not exist in cultural or social isolation but is fluid and undergoes transformation through repeated cross-cultural contact influenced by politics and economics, there is no meaning in creating an “encyclopedic enumeration” that ignores the action and reaction of such social dynamics. This, they state, is what led to the fruition of this distinctive encyclopedia.

So, what does “World Music” refer to in this book? It is “music that is listened to and performed in various regions of the world, beyond the region where it was born.” So-called rock and Western classical music are prime examples, and music from various regions distributed worldwide under the name “ethnic music,” such as Latin, African, and Asian music, also falls under the category of world music here.

Conversely, there is also a great deal of music around the world that exists only within its specific region and is not heard by the general public. Such music, which does not leave its region of origin and is not widely known outside of it, is distinguished in this book by the term “Traditional Music.”

Now, this book emphasizes the process by which “World Music” came into being, rather than treating it as a fixed genre. It traces the internal changes that led local musicians to creativity and the changes resulting from contact with different musical styles, taking into account social/political influences and geographical/informational (recording) exchanges.

Although this book has the format of an encyclopedia, by reading it through, one can grasp how “World Music” came to be established and will be able to view and think about it from a broad perspective. In that sense, it can also be read as an excellent history of modern music and a social history of music.

Thus, while the overall tone is anchored in social and political perspectives, the book’s excellence lies in the fact that it devotes more than thirty percent of its pages to “Rhythm (Corporeality)” and “Timbre (Acoustic Space),” with each theme being treated multi-dimensionally by a diverse group of writers.

Among them are Atsushi Sasaki and Yoshihide Otomo, and it is interesting to see them writing about collage, sampling, recording/reproduction, and criticality in a free-flowing style uncharacteristic of an encyclopedia.

The book as a whole features over 60 contributors, including ethnomusicologists, those with many years of fieldwork experience, and active performers. Their writings, stemming from their respective standpoints (likely based on very flexible requests), are incredibly lively and possess a depth, quality, and passion that goes beyond the framework of simple item entries.

To be honest, however, it is likely difficult to understand without some preliminary knowledge of the history of music and societies around the world, so it’s not a book I can recommend wholeheartedly to everyone. But if you look at the table of contents and find something that piques your interest, I urge you to actually pick up the book. You will surely feel its面白さ (面白さ – fun/interest) and gain intellectual excitement even by just cherry-picking the items that interest you.

Table of Contents for “Encyclopedia: The Book of World Music”

About the Editors

徳丸吉彦 (Tokumaru Yoshihiko)

Musicology. Professor at Seitoku University, Visiting Professor at The Open University of Japan, Professor Emeritus at Ochanomizu University. “The Theory of Ethnomusicology,” “Iwanami Koza: Music of Japan, Music of Asia” (co-editor). (Quoted from this book)

高橋悠治 (Takahashi Yuji)

Composer, Pianist. “The Silence of Sound, The Sound of Silence,” “Yuji Takahashi Collection 1970s,” “An Introduction to the Anti-Methodology of Music.” (Quoted from this book)

北中正和 (Kitanaka Masakazu)

Music Critic. “The World is Made of Music,” “Mainichi World Music 1998-2004,” “How the Guitar Changed Japanese Songs.” (Quoted from this book)

渡辺裕 (Watanabe Hiroshi)

Musicology. Professor at the Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, The University of Tokyo. “The Thinking Ear,” “Japanese Culture: A Modern Rhapsody,” “The Birth of the Audience.” (Quoted from this book)