In this ancient Mexican folktale, the Aztec Sky god and Wind god attempt to fix silence on Earth by bringing music to the world. They set out to the Sun palace, where legions of musicians play for the all-mighty Sun. Unfortunately, this hot-headed ruler won't give up his musicians without a fight! With clever text and easy-to-follow panels, Discover Graphics: Global Folktales are perfect for graphic novel fans new and old.
This book can be read as a charming epic tale of how MUSIC was discovered by an ancient people, yet it is far more than that! It is also the story of an epic journey by the hero to find a way to overthrow a cruel dictator who was dominating his people with fierce cruelty. And yet it is far more than that! It is rich with descriptions of the nature of the elements of Earth, Water and Wind and how they metaphorically represent the elements of Music – Rhythm, Harmony and Melody. The discerning reader will discover great lessons depending on wherever he/she is on the journey to discover TRUTH. Entertaining! Fascinating! Creative, as well as being a book of knowledge."
Scholars have long known that world music was not merely the globalized product of modern media, but rather that it connected religions, cultures, languages and nations throughout world history. The chapters in this History take readers to foundational historical moments – in Europe, Oceania, China, India, the Muslim world, North and South America – in search of the connections provided by a truly world music. Historically, world music emerged from ritual and religion, labor and life-cycles, which occupy chapters on Native American musicians, religious practices in India and Indonesia, and nationalism in Argentina and Portugal. The contributors critically examine music in cultural encounter and conflict, and as the critical core of scientific theories from the Arabic Middle Ages through the Enlightenment to postmodernism. Overall, the book contains the histories of the music of diverse cultures, which increasingly become the folk, popular and classical music of our own era.
"Journalist Stephen Witt traces the secret history of digital music piracy, from the German audio engineers who invented the mp3, to a North Carolina compact-disc manufacturing plant where factory worker Dell Glover leaked nearly two thousand albums over the course of a decade, to the high-rises of midtown Manhattan where music executive Doug Morris cornered the global market on rap, and, finally, into the darkest recesses of the Internet."--
This beautiful tapestry of traditional tales, history, folk arts, and dance offers you a glimpse into the living legacy of Mexican folklore. After an overview of Mexico's history from the Mesoamerican indigenous era to modern times, Vigil explores the fascinating traditions of Oaxacan wood carving, Huichol bead and yarn art, folk masks, folklorico dance costumes, and Mexican folklore. A collection of tales follows, including classic tales, pourquoi creation tales from native people of pre-Hispanic Mexico, and tales from the Spanish colonial era of Mexican history-trickster tales, adventure and wonder stories, and animal fables. Lively reading for older students and adults, the tales may also be used for read-alouds with younger students. With 15 of the 44 tales presented in Spanish as well as in English, this is an excellent resource for Spanish classes and for Spanish-speaking readers. The fascinating background material also makes the book an excellent source for reports and research. Color plates
Anything is possible in the world of Latin American folklore, where Aunt Misery can trap Death in a pear tree; Amazonian dolphins lure young girls to their underwater city; and the Feathered Snake brings the first musicians to Earth. One in a series of folklore reference guides ("...an invaluable resource..."--School Library Journal), this book features summaries and sources of 470 tales told in Mexico, Central America and South America, a region underrepresented in collections of world folklore. The volume sends users to the best stories retold in English from the Inca, Maya, and Aztec civilizations, Spanish and Portuguese missionaries and colonists, African slave cultures, indentured servants from India, and more than 75 indigenous tribes from 21 countries. The tales are grouped into themed sections with a detailed subject index.
What is the origin of music? In the last few decades this centuries-old puzzle has been reinvigorated by new archaeological evidence and developments in the fields of cognitive science, linguistics, and evolutionary theory. Starting at a period of human prehistory long before Homo sapiens or music existed, Tomlinson describes the incremental attainments that, by changing the communication and society of prehuman species, laid the foundation for musical behaviors in more recent times. He traces in Neandertals and early sapiens the accumulation and development of these capacities, and he details their coalescence into modern musical behavior across the last hundred millennia
World myth deciphered and organized into a coherent story of our past. It is almost impossible to read world mythology without noticing common threads and patterns that seem to paint a bigger picture. A story told by our ancient ancestors for future generations to remember and learn. What if the eyewitnesses to past events were taken seriously? What if we listen to their stories with unbiased ears, free of assumptions? What if their stories were backed up by scientific discoveries? What if the myths can explain the mysteries?
Winner of the 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism A New York Times Book Review Top Ten Book of the Year Time magazine Top Ten Nonfiction Book of 2007 Newsweek Favorite Books of 2007 A Washington Post Book World Best Book of 2007 In this sweeping and dramatic narrative, Alex Ross, music critic for The New Yorker, weaves together the histories of the twentieth century and its music, from Vienna before the First World War to Paris in the twenties; from Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia to downtown New York in the sixties and seventies up to the present. Taking readers into the labyrinth of modern style, Ross draws revelatory connections between the century's most influential composers and the wider culture. The Rest Is Noise is an astonishing history of the twentieth century as told through its music.
