Note: This issue marks significant typographical and layout improvements over its predecessors. Also note the significant changes in the editorial structure.

articles

Ethnomusicologists Vis-a-Vis the Fallacies of Contemporary Musical Life
by Stephen Blum

“The Current Issues Committee of the Society for Ethnomusicology was organized in 1982 by Robert Garfias, in response to John Blacking’s question ‘Ethnomusicology for what?’ Garfias asked us to consider what we are doing in training ethnomusicologists, and what ethnomusicologists are contributing to education. Blum follows with a number of observations and assertions regarding the field of ethnomusicology. This article also includes fifteen responses from ethnomusicologists taking issue with various assertions of Blum’s essay.”

The Construction, Technique, and Image of the Central Javanese Rebab in Relation to its Role in the Gamelan
by Colin Quigley

“During the Spring of 1986 I was presented with the opportunity to study the Central Javanese rebab with oneof its recognized masters and revered teachers, K.R.T. Wasitodiningrat, known to his students as Pak Tjokro. In the following essay I will briefly summarize information provided by several sources available in English which describe the rebab and its history in Java, its playing techniques, and its role in the gamelan ensemble.”

Research Models in Ethnomusicology Applied to the Radif Phenomonon in Iranian Classical Music
by Hafez Modir

“The understanding of the interrelationships among the musical tradition, the performer and the performance context within a culture has concerned ethnomusicologists throughout the development of the field. The interdependency of these three factors can raise particular interest as to how and why change occurs in cultures’ musical traditions. This paper addresses the problem of determining how the radif functions in Iranian classical music, and why it is able to serve as a flexible base from which both the theory and practice of Iran’s musical tradition is derived.”

New Theory for Traditional Music in Banyumas, West Central Java
by R. Anderson Sutton

“The music I wish to consider in this paper is associated with the Banyumas region of West Central Java, and area whose music is gaining in stature both within the region and also throughout the rest of Central Java. Banyumas style music is a marginal tradition, and one which is seen by some Javanese as ‘folk art’(kesenian rakyat). As I will argue in this paper, one of the ways Banyumas musicians seek to give their music full legitimacy is through the adoption of the musical theory associated with academic institutions in Yogya and especially, two government sponsored conservatories in Solo.”

An Ethnomusicological Index to the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Part Two.
by Kenneth Culley

This is the second part of the index begun in the last issue. It is an aid for those who wish to determine the ethnomusicological topics in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.

reviews

More than Drumming: Essays on African and Afro-Latin Music and Musicians
Irene V. Jackson, editor
Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1985. 207 pp., index.
reviewed by Norman Weinstein