Lament from Epirus: An Odyssey into Europe's Oldest Surviving Folk Music - Rilegato

King, Christopher C.

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0393248992 ISBN 13: 9780393248999

Casa editrice: W W Norton & Co Inc, 2018

Riassunto

In a gramophone shop in Istanbul, renowned record collector Christopher C. King uncovered some of the strangest—and most hypnotic—sounds he had ever heard. The 78s were immensely moving, seeming to tap into a primal well of emotion inaccessible through contemporary music. The songs, King learned, were from Epirus, an area straddling southern Albania and northwestern Greece and boasting a folk tradition extending back to the pre-Homeric era. To hear this music is to hear the past.Lament from Epirus is an unforgettable journey into a musical obsession, which traces a unique genre back to the roots of song itself. As King hunts for two long-lost virtuosos—one of whom may have committed a murder—he also tells the story of the Roma people who pioneered Epirotic folk music and their descendants who continue the tradition today.King discovers clues to his most profound questions about the function of music in the history of humanity: What is the relationship between music and language? Why do we organize sound as music? Is music superfluous, a mere form of entertainment, or could it be a tool for survival? King’s journey becomes an investigation into song and dance’s role as a means of spiritual healing—and what that may reveal about music’s evolutionary origins.

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Recensione

"A passionate record collector embarks on a Greek musical odyssey in this captivating travelogue,...remarkable book...It's not a spoiler to say that King found what he was looking for, and he tells the story well." --Ed Ward, Financial Times

"Manic, uncensored and pathologically self-aware in the most entertaining fashion, Lament From Epirus is a feverish memoir of the ecstasies and traumas of a music obsessive, and a gonzo account of the deep, transporting meaning of music itself...Half travelogue, half meditation, all confession, King's book is compelling, illuminating and funny, but above all it is a deeply serious lament for the flattening and coarsening of culture by the onrush of technology, commerce and globalisation."

--The Wire

"...superb book...A highly recommended read, then, for anyone interested in the music of the southern Balkans, the roots of European folk music, the aesthetics of vernacular music or the philosophy of record collecting."

--Songlines

"Lament From Epirus is a most gripping and entertaining ethnomusicological ride. Highly recommended."

--Rock n Reel

"The book is a great read in itself, but for aficionados of hardcore folk music, it's essential, grappling as it does with what might lie (perhaps deeply buried) in the heart of the music we love."

--fRoots

L'autore

Christopher C. King, a Grammy-winning producer, musicologist, and prominent 78 rpm record collector, has been profiled in the New York Times Magazine and the Washington Post and has written for the Paris Review and the Oxford American. He lives in Virginia.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: W W Norton & Co Inc
• Data di pubblicazione: 2018
• ISBN 10: 0393248992
• ISBN 13: 9780393248999
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero edizione: 1
• Numero di pagine: 304