The Rough Guide to World Music : Volume 1

by Rough Guides

The Rough Guide to World Music is the unchallenged reference work on sounds from around the globe. This third edition is more comprehensive than ever - updated and expanded throughout and with a number of new countries added. Volume 1: Africa & Middle East has full coverage of genres from Afrobeat to Arabesque, and artists from Amadou & Mariam to Umm Kulthum. The book includes articles on more than 60 countries written by expert contributors, discographies for each article with biographical notes on thousands of musicians and reviews of their best CDs.

Genres: Music

672 pages, Paperback

First published October 30, 2006

About the author

Founded in 1982, Rough Guides Ltd is a British publisher of print and digital guide book, phrasebooks and inspirational travel reference books, and a provider of personalised trips. Since November 2017, Rough Guides has been owned by APA Publications UK Ltd, the parent company of Insight Guides.
With the company's personalised trip service encompassing over eighty destinations, and 200 guidebooks covering 180 destinations, Rough Guides is a multi-faceted travel platform, with global sales of 100 million guidebooks since their inception.

Reviews

[DJ Yossarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll be reading this over and over for a long time...

[Jude Armoogan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has been my world music bible since I got it in 2008. It has introduced me to artists and art forms I never thought i would like. I must admit that I have been a fan of African Music since i was ten. I always thought that African music was limited to lilting guitars, blaring horns, superimposed keyboards all generously backed by pulsating rhythms. But this book introduced me to the lamentos of Bonga and Duo Ouro Negra, the antithesis of this belief. Some of this reading, however, is not for the faint-hearten. The stories of the struggles and trials faced by musicians in Guinea-Bissau,Sao Tome and Principe,Guinea,Zimbabwe, Sudan and Angola make for harrowing yet inspiring reading.It highlights the challenge placed on African Musicians aspiring to be successful in the west who must pander to flip flops of the European(mainly British)listening public and the total lack of patience of Western Recording companies .I do have one very minute complaint however. I found the article(or really two paragraphs)dedicated to Johnny Clegg and Juluka/Savuka was slightly disingenuous and even somewhat untrue. It states that Juluka was based mostly on western rock and pop,only 'Africanized' by Zulu war dances on stage. Zulu rhythms are at the heart of Julika;s music. But that is only a small bone of contention I have. No doubt this is a fantastic book and a must read with excellent, informed essays

[Rivkah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a textbook for a World Music course in college. It seemed to provide sufficient details regarding music in various countries, particularly the more obscure countries that were not well-known.