From
Thomas Mapfumo to Bob Marley, William Parker to Frank
Zappa, Edgard Varèse to Ice-T; from American blues
to West African drumming, hip hop to son, gospel
singing to rock'n'roll cabaret, rebel music is at the
heart of some of the most incisive critiques of
global politics. With explosive lyrics and driving
rhythms, a new wave of rebel musicians are helping to
mobilize movements for political change and social
justice, at home and around the world.
Original
in concept, unrivaled in content, Rebel Musics is
alone in placing human rights issues side by side
with different forms of music. A wide range of
accomplished contributors, from a variety of
disciplines and performance contexts, examine the
ways in which human rights and music are explicitly
linked, how musical activism resonates in practical,
political terms, and how musical resistance is
enacted--how it serves to bring together voices that
might otherwise remain silent, and how political
action through music can increase the potential for
people to choose and determine their own fate.
"A
rich collection of ideas and information about
music that inspires, delights, and educates at
the same time. It is especially welcome at a time
when people doing music are called upon by world
events to walk out on the stage and do the
unexpected."
--Howard Zinn, author of A
People's History of the United States
"A
complex and thought-provoking set of essays,
which addresses politics, human rights, and
resistance in music on a global scale. Not
content with naïve understandings of politics
and activism, Rebel Musics encourages
us to dig deeply and confront the contradictions,
power imbalances, and ethical questions
constantly circulating through sound and social
practice. Read this!"
--Ingrid Monson, Quincy Jones Professor of
African American Music, Harvard University
"An
important new collection, Fischlin and Heble's Rebel
Musics for the first time
brings together the fields of politics, popular
music and human rights. Diverse and challenging,
celebratory but refreshingly realistic, I
strongly recommend Rebel Musics to all those
interested in music and its political
possibilities."
--Chris Gibson, University of New South Wales
Apart
from the editors, contributors include: cabaret
artist, author, and musician Norman Nawrocki; film
makers Marie Boti and Malcolm Guy; musician Jesse
Stewart; poet George Elliott Clarke; author Timothy
Brennan; author Martha Nandorfy; radio host Ray
Pratt; editor, author, and music reviewer Ron
Sakolsky.
Table of Contents
DANIEL
FISCHLIN is Professor of English at the University of
Guelph and co-author with Martha Nandorfy of Eduardo Galeano:
Through the Looking Glass (Black Rose
Books). He has been active as a musician for most of
his life and this is his fourth book devoted to an
interdisciplinary musical topic.
AJAY
HEBLE is Professor of English at the University of
Guelph. He is the author of Landing
on the Wrong Note: Jazz, Dissonance, and Critical
Practice and co-editor (with
Daniel Fischlin) of The Other
Side of Nowhere: Jazz, Improvisation, and Communities
in Dialogue. Artistic Director
and Founder of The Guelph Jazz Festival, he is also
an accomplished pianist.
280
pages, 6x9, bibliography, index, photographs
Paperback ISBN: 1-55164-230-1 $24.99
Hardcover ISBN: 1-55164-231-X $53.99
Cultural Studies /
Music
September
2003
