北極圏にほど近いロシアの婚礼音楽や、ブラジルの熱帯雨林の小さな村の歌、北アフガニスタンのウズベク人の舞踏音楽…著名な民俗音楽学者のマーク・スロービンが、地球上のあらゆる場所のあらゆる民族の音楽を取り上げて紹介する入門書です。いくつかの音楽については、譜面と歌詞も収載しており、今日、そして未来の民族音楽の可能性や課題についても論じます。
   

• The first short introduction to folk music with global coverage

  
This stimulating Very Short Introduction throws open the doors on a remarkably diverse musical genre, with a world-wide reach that goes far beyond America's shores to discuss folk music of every possible kind and in every corner of the globe. Written by award-winning ethnomusicologist Mark Slobin this is the first compact introduction to folk music that offers a truly global perspective. Slobin offers an extraordinarily generous portrait of folk music, one that embraces a Russian wedding near the Arctic Circle, a group song in a small rainforest village in Brazil, and an Uzbek dance tune in Afghanistan. He looks in detail at three poignant songs from three widely separated regions—northern Afghanistan, Jewish Eastern Europe, and the Anglo-American world—with musical notation and lyrics included. He goes on to sketch out the turbulent times of folk music today and tomorrow, confronting new possibilities, frameworks, and challenges.