Jazz Cosmopolitanism in Accra - Five Musical Years in Ghana

The distinguished scholar Steven Feld shaped the field of the anthropology of sound and music. In this new work, he looks at the vernacular cosmopolitanism of a group of jazz players in Ghana, including some who have traveled widely, played with American jazz greats, and blended Coltrane with local instruments and philosophy. He describes their cosmopolitan outlook as an accoustemology, a way of knowing the world through sound. Feld combines memoir, biography, ethnography, and history, telling a story of diasporic intimacy and dialogue that contests both American nationalist and Afrocentric narrations of jazz history.

List of contents

Opus xi

Four-Bar Intro
>
Vamp In, Head
>
First Chorus, with Transposition
>
Second Chorus, Blow Free
>
Third Chorus, Back Inside
>
Fourth Chorus, Shout to the Groove
>
Head Again, Vamp Out
>
"Dedicated to You" 245

Horn Backgrounds, Riffs Underneath 249

Themes, Players 299

Summary

Looks at the vernacular cosmopolitanism of a group of jazz players in Ghana, who have traveled widely, played with American jazz greats, and blended Coltrane with local instruments and philosophy. This book describes their cosmopolitan outlook as an accoustemology, a way of knowing the world through sound.

Product details

• Authors: Steven Feld
• Publisher: Duke University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 09.03.2012
• EAN: 9780822351627
• ISBN: 978-0-8223-5162-7
• No. of pages: 328
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Music; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Jazz, Afrikanische Geschichte, Sozial- und Kulturanthropologie, Ethnographie, Music / Songbooks, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social, MUSIC / Genres & Styles / Jazz, HISTORY / Africa / West