Song-Means-Analysing-And-Interpreting-Recorded.Pdf

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Song-Means-Analysing-And-Interpreting-Recorded.Pdf SONG MEANS: ANALYSING AND INTERPRETING RECORDED POPULAR SONG PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Allan F. Moore | 412 pages | 30 May 2012 | Taylor & Francis Ltd | 9781409438021 | English | United Kingdom Song Means: Analysing and Interpreting Recorded Popular Song PDF Book Pass the NoDoz. A dessert. Scholars from inside musicology have responded by importing into musicological discussion various aspects of cultural theory. Need an account? Fans enjoy hit songs because they believe the lyrics are catchy, innocent, or fun. A peace offering. About the Author Allan F. User Tools. Because learning is fun, so stick with us! Analysis and interpretation are treated as separable but interdependent approaches to song. A handkerchief. When TV channels played the music video, they also edited some of the lyrics. This song appeared on "Anthology 3. Sarah Chayes: This is how kleptocracies work. Maybe Mary Jane had a "pain at the party" because she ate 12 of them! What are the consequences of such theorisation and analysis? Click here to sign up. The song topped the UK Singles Chart. Overview The musicological study of popular music has developed, particularly over the past twenty years, into an established aspect of the discipline. After listening to me, Halpern agreed. Article PDF first page preview. Bonnie Tyler believed "Total Eclipse of the Heart" was about desperately wanting love. A pair of sunglasses. He used to be a pure real-estate mogul. For instance, if an album charts on January 27, it's total number of listens will be from the January January 18 tracking week. This information helps Billboard track the top songs in the country. All of nature. If not, ask your grandparents. A police station. Scott wanted a writing credit because he frequently used the expression in his performances. See details for additional description. In a way, I was still sort of discovering who I was as an artist at that time. And the only thing I can say about it is that it's obviously in anger. A truck. A vacation. Cite Icon Cite. The cheerful "Yellow Submarine" song features Ringo singing the lead vocals. By Derek B Scott. Everything worked out after all. To shake. Hard plastic. About this product Product Information The musicological study of popular music has developed, particularly over the past twenty years, into an established aspect of the discipline. A cranky person. Sting initially aimed for a Big Brother story, about people under surveillance. On BBC Radio 2, Sting reveals, "I think the song is very, very sinister and ugly and people have actually misinterpreted it as being a gentle little love song, when it's quite the opposite. Graham: Trump has nothing left up his sleeve. To laugh. Song Means: Analysing and Interpreting Recorded Popular Song Writer Although Blunt thinks the song is sad and unromantic, it became the most-liked song from his debut album, "Back to Bedlam. It was, I realized, a well-structured presentation — so well-structured that my audience could plan exactly when to fall asleep. Poetry and Belief in the Work of T. In the chapter on Belonging, in particular, Moore tackles the incredibly loaded term, Authenticity, by treating it fairly, and without associating it with an inherent notion of value. Author of seven monographs and edited collections, he is series editor for Ashgate's Library of Essays in Popular Music, has been on the editorial board of Popular Music since , and was founding co-editor of twentieth-century music. In times of stress, trauma and crisis-whether on a personal or global scale-it can be In a way, I was still sort of discovering who I was as an artist at that time. Everyone thought the song was a patriotic American anthem. Through three sets of case studies, the contributors examine the key debates surrounding adaptations: whether screen versions A fair few artists have replaced themselves at No. Skip to content Site Navigation The Atlantic. To learn more, view our Privacy Policy. This site uses cookies. Follow us:. However, the songwriter of "Electric Slide," Bunny Wailer, put those rumors to rest. Some of the real meanings may surprise you. It is in that tradition that this book lies, although its focus is slightly different. Moore's discussion removes a lot of the rockist value perceptions of authenticity and, instead, places the power of the term back into the hands of the listener. Previous Article Next Article. It is the recording that is being analyzed, rather than the song in any abstract way, and in some cases he contrasts different recordings of the same song to illustrate features. Heater Fuel Filter F 4. Things are going to be gone, whether it's your age and your youth. By Eric Matson 3 minute Read. By shifting away from the extra-musical elements, Moore repositions his focus on the listener, as guided by their habitus, to borrow a sociological term. Ashgate Popular and Folk Music Ser. Helms first had a song on the Hot in when "Borrowed Dreams" peaked at I thought I needed professional help. Point two. Listen to "Circles" here. The happy song contains a lot of dark themes. I hope the president fully recovers, and provides us with some answers. Download with Google Download with Facebook or. Big bets on social enterprises will make more change Impact The border wall is destroying ecosystems. Trump never did. Song Means: Analysing and Interpreting Recorded Popular Song Reviews Sarah Chayes: This is how kleptocracies work. I wrote most of this before the president fell ill. Shoes with multiple buckles. See all 4 brand new listings. A police station. For 30 days, Psy tried to figure out the perfect dance move for the song. It was Lennon's idea to sustain the notes in the chorus. Mustard's sister was at first named Shirley, but the Beatles changed it to Pam to better connect it to the next song in the medley, "Polythene Pam. Uh, no, the IRS will sniff that one out. Melissa Avdeeff. South, meaning to be "at the end of one's rope. However, "Macarena" isn't as innocent as it sounds. It was really about the excesses of American culture and certain girls we knew. Who would have thought it could be so engaging? The academic community is now well-placed to discuss exactly what is going on in any example of popular music and the theoretical foundation for such analytical work has also been laid, although there is as yet no general agreement over all the details of popular music theory. The Atlantic Crossword. According to Lennon, he wrote the song in mockery of a man the Beatles met at a spiritual retreat in India. Heater Fuel Filter F 4. Events Innovation Festival The Grill. Jenkins adds that the successful track is "bright and shiny on the surface, and then it just pulls you down in this lockjawed mess Couples should avoid the song "One" by U2, according to Bono, U2's lead singer. Song Means: Analysing and Interpreting Recorded Popular Song Read Online You may also like. In recent years, audio- and video-on-demand streaming services have set record highs for streams. Also, according to Billboard , with 93 million streams, "WAP" has the "greatest ever [numbers] for a song in its first week of release. At first, Foreigner's hit held the record solo when "Waiting for a Girl Like You" sat at the almost-top spot for 10 weeks. Article Navigation. The song's spiritual lyrics reflect Harrison's growing interest in Hinduism. An egg yolk. Many people believe that "My Sharona" is about getting it on. Listen to "One Sweet Day" here. Hey, they were on a mission from God. The song is about an obsessive lover who is watching everything you do. Sign In Forgot password? On BBC Radio 2, Sting reveals, "I think the song is very, very sinister and ugly and people have actually misinterpreted it as being a gentle little love song, when it's quite the opposite. Armstrong was 62 years old when "Hello, Dolly! In , the Hot was just 37 years old, and a song had never debuted on the chart at No. The song topped the UK Singles Chart. Follow us:. I remember writing that lyric about feeling shiny and new — I made it through the wilderness, somehow I made it through — I made it through this very difficult time. Moore presents a study of recorded popular song, from the recordings of the s through to the present day. Listen to "Jingle Bell Rock" here. The British use the word "lorry" to describe a truck that carries cargo. Don't have an account? A leading-edge research firm focused on digital transformation. What am I going to do with it? I hope the president fully recovers, and provides us with some answers. Uh-oh, it looks like your Internet Explorer is out of date. What are the consequences of such theorisation and analysis? And we'll lend you our ears anytime. But of we want to connect to you as a person, we have to see how you feel about things. An excited feeling. It means Helms holds the record for the longest gap between a musician's first appearance on the Hot and their first top 10 hit. No, "Old Town Road" isn't the shortest song to top the US charts — though it was the shortest song in 54 years. After the album had come out and the album had been published, someone noticed that the letters spelt out LSD and I had no idea about it. In the s, songs with sexual innuendos were considered to be too vulgar.
Recommended publications
  • German Operetta on Broadway and in the West End, 1900–1940
    Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.202.58, on 26 Sep 2021 at 08:28:39, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/2CC6B5497775D1B3DC60C36C9801E6B4 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.202.58, on 26 Sep 2021 at 08:28:39, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/2CC6B5497775D1B3DC60C36C9801E6B4 German Operetta on Broadway and in the West End, 1900–1940 Academic attention has focused on America’sinfluence on European stage works, and yet dozens of operettas from Austria and Germany were produced on Broadway and in the West End, and their impact on the musical life of the early twentieth century is undeniable. In this ground-breaking book, Derek B. Scott examines the cultural transfer of operetta from the German stage to Britain and the USA and offers a historical and critical survey of these operettas and their music. In the period 1900–1940, over sixty operettas were produced in the West End, and over seventy on Broadway. A study of these stage works is important for the light they shine on a variety of social topics of the period – from modernity and gender relations to new technology and new media – and these are investigated in the individual chapters. This book is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core at doi.org/10.1017/9781108614306. derek b. scott is Professor of Critical Musicology at the University of Leeds.
    [Show full text]
  • Exposing Corruption in Progressive Rock: a Semiotic Analysis of Gentle Giant’S the Power and the Glory
    University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--Music Music 2019 EXPOSING CORRUPTION IN PROGRESSIVE ROCK: A SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF GENTLE GIANT’S THE POWER AND THE GLORY Robert Jacob Sivy University of Kentucky, [email protected] Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2019.459 Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Sivy, Robert Jacob, "EXPOSING CORRUPTION IN PROGRESSIVE ROCK: A SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF GENTLE GIANT’S THE POWER AND THE GLORY" (2019). Theses and Dissertations--Music. 149. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/music_etds/149 This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Music at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations--Music by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STUDENT AGREEMENT: I represent that my thesis or dissertation and abstract are my original work. Proper attribution has been given to all outside sources. I understand that I am solely responsible for obtaining any needed copyright permissions. I have obtained needed written permission statement(s) from the owner(s) of each third-party copyrighted matter to be included in my work, allowing electronic distribution (if such use is not permitted by the fair use doctrine) which will be submitted to UKnowledge as Additional File. I hereby grant to The University of Kentucky and its agents the irrevocable, non-exclusive, and royalty-free license to archive and make accessible my work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known.
    [Show full text]
  • Conclusion: Popular Music, Aesthetic Value, and Materiality
    CONCLUSION: POPULAR MUSIC, AESTHETIC VALUE, AND MATERIALITY Popular music has been accused of being formulaic, homogeneous, man- ufactured, trite, vulgar, trivial, ephemeral, and so on. These condemna- tions have roots in aspects of the Western aesthetic tradition, especially its modernist and expressivist branches, according to which great art innovates, breaks and re-makes the rules, expresses the artist’s personal vision or unique emotions, or all these. Popular music has its defenders. But they have tended to appeal to the same inherited aesthetic criteria, defending some branches of popular music at the expense of others― valorising its artistic, expressive, innovative, or authentic branches against mere ‘pop’. These evaluations are problematic, because they presuppose all along a set of criteria that are slanted against the popular fi eld. We therefore need new frameworks for the evaluation of popular music. These frameworks need to enable us to evaluate pieces of popular music by the standards proper to this particular cultural form―to judge how well these pieces work as popular music, not how successfully they rise above the popular condition. To devise such frameworks we need an account of popular music’s standard features and of the further organising qualities and typical val- ues to which these features give rise. Popular music normally has four layers of sound―melody, chords, bass, and percussion―and each layer is normally made up of repetitions of short elements, these repeti- tions being aligned temporally with one another, with whole sections of repeated material then being repeated in turn to constitute song sections. © The Author(s) 2016 249 A.
    [Show full text]
  • I the ROLE of LEARNING in OVERCOMING WORK
    THE ROLE OF LEARNING IN OVERCOMING WORK DISSATISFACTION by DEREK B. MACDONALD (Under the Direction of Robert J. Hill) ABSTRACT Underemployment in any of its many forms can cause ill effects for workers, not the least of which is dissatisfaction with work. The Great Recession that occurred during the end of the 2000 decade caused an increase in underemployment. Many workers were forced to find jobs that were below their credential level, were accompanied by insufficient hours or benefits, and paid below the expected level based upon education and experience. The problem is that we do not know how workers overcome work dissatisfaction that has resulted from perceived underemployment. The purpose of this study was to better understand the learning that takes place as underemployed people overcome dissatisfaction with work, informed by the following three research questions. 1. How do participants make sense of their perceived underemployment? 2. How do participants make sense of their work dissatisfaction? 3. What role does learning play for people attempting to overcome work dissatisfaction from perceived underemployment? Implementing a basic interpretive qualitative design, ten formerly dissatisfied workers spoke about their experiences with underemployment dissatisfaction, and overcoming the dissatisfaction. The major findings of this study were: 1. Workers want to feel safe, valued and free. 2. Workers respond to work dissatisfaction by quitting the dissatisfying work. 3. Workers did not demonstrate the learning skills to turn a dissatisfying work situation into a satisfying one. i One important implication of this study is that we now have a better idea of how to create and maintain a satisfying work environment.
    [Show full text]
  • Invention and Interpretation in Popular Music Historiography
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Giessener Elektronische Bibliothek INVENTION AND INTERPRETATION IN POPULAR MUSIC HISTORIOGRAPHY Derek B. Scott Invention in popular music historiography may be prompted by a desire to solve a problem, to provide a missing piece of a narrative, or to stimulate interest in a particular style or genre. Invention and interpretation often come together, as they did in the effort to establish the categories of »folk music« and »world music.« Sometimes the invention of one category neces- sitates the invention of another, as in the case of leichte Musik and ernste Musik. Many categories, including classifications of style and genre, are notoriously difficult to pin down. Genres keep breaking up into subgenres, and a musical style is subject to the tension between its conventions and the fingerprints of the individual artist. Frank Sinatra, for example, sings music of a certain style, but also sings in a certain (individual) style. This article scrutinizes examples of invention and interpretation, and speculates on the reasons why a historian or critic might take one or the other direction. Historiographical Inventions I begin with the eleven-line stave as an example of invention pure and simple. It served the purpose of explaining a baffling aspect of musical notation. A booklet published by the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music in 1958 states that the little line that is drawn through a note to indicate middle C between the treble and bass staves »led many people to imagine that this little line was really part of the middle line of an eleven- line stave, which they called the Great Stave« (Rudiments and Theory of Music 1958: 18).
    [Show full text]
  • Music Theory on the Radio:Theme and Temporality in Hans Keller’S First Functional Analysis
    DOI: 10.1111/musa.12129 WILLIAM O’HARA MUSIC THEORY ON THE RADIO:THEME AND TEMPORALITY IN HANS KELLER’S FIRST FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS On the evening of 7 September 1957, listeners to the BBC Radio’s Third Programme were treated to a unique broadcast of Mozart’s String Quartet in D minor, K. 421. The performance, by the Aeolian String Quartet, was punctuated between movements by several minutes of additional music composed by the critic Hans Keller (1919–1985). The broadcast was the public’s first exposure to what Keller called ‘functional analysis’ (abbreviated FA), or, as he more vividly put it in a magazine article previewing the broadcast, ‘the musical analysis of music’ (Keller 1994, pp. 126–8).1 The wheels that set this event in motion had begun turning nearly a year and a half earlier. On 28 April 1956 Keller sent an unsolicited proposal to Roger Fiske, the producer in charge of music lectures for the BBC. In it he described an idea for a radio broadcast that would build upon the analytical method he had recently sketched in a pair of essays on Mozart’s music: a detailed study of Mozart’s C major Piano Concerto, K. 503, in The Musical Times (Keller 1956a), and a more wide-ranging chapter titled ‘The Chamber Music’ in The Mozart Companion (Keller 1956b). In the letter, Keller describes his project and what the audience might hear: I propose an hour’s broadcast, wordless throughout, which would attempt to analyse a work or movement of your own choice according to my method of analysis.
    [Show full text]
  • Azealia Banks: ‘Chasing Time’, Erotics, and Body Politics
    Popular Music (2018) Volume 37/2. © Cambridge University Press 2018, pp. 157–174 doi:10.1017/S0261143018000053 Azealia Banks: ‘Chasing Time’, erotics, and body politics KAI ARNE HANSEN and STAN HAWKINS Department of Musicology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway E-mail: [email protected] and [email protected] Abstract During the 2010s a new generation of queer hip hop artists emerged, providing an opportunity to engage with a set of politics defined by art, fashion, lyrics and music. A leading proponent of this movement was Azealia Banks, the controversial rapper, artist and actress from New York. This study instigates a critical investigation of her performance strategies in the track and video, ‘Chasing Time’ (2014), offering up various perspectives that probe into queer agency. It is suggested that techniques of sonic styling necessitate a consideration of subjectivity alongside genre and style. Employing audiovisual methods of analysis, we reflect on the relationship between gendered subjectivity and modalities of queerness as a means for demonstrating how aesthetics are staged and aligned to advanced techniques of production. It is argued that the phenomenon of eroticised agency, through hyperembodied display, is central to understanding body politics. This article opens a space for problematising issues of black female subjectivity in a genre that is traditionally relegated to the male domain. Introduction1 One might well wonder what time Banks is actually chasing in the exhilarating song, ‘Chasing Time’. What compels her to steer away from ‘straight time’ with such alac- rity? And, how does music eroticise her act? Born in 1991, Azealia Banks hails from Harlem, New York.
    [Show full text]
  • What's in a Song? Copyright's Unfair Treatment of Record Producers and Side Musicians Gabriel J
    Vanderbilt Law Review Volume 61 | Issue 4 Article 4 5-2008 What's in a Song? Copyright's Unfair Treatment of Record Producers and Side Musicians Gabriel J. Fleet Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/vlr Part of the Intellectual Property Law Commons Recommended Citation Gabriel J. Fleet, What's in a Song? Copyright's Unfair Treatment of Record Producers and Side Musicians, 61 Vanderbilt Law Review 1235 (2019) Available at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/vlr/vol61/iss4/4 This Note is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Vanderbilt Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Vanderbilt Law Review by an authorized editor of Scholarship@Vanderbilt Law. For more information, please contact [email protected]. NOTES What's in a Song? Copyright's Unfair Treatment of Record Producers and Side Musicians 1. INTRODU CTION ................................................................... 1236 II. LEGAL BACKGROUND .......................................................... 1240 A. Distinct Copyrights for Musical Compositions and Sound Recordings..................... 1241 B. Copyright Infringement .......................................... 1242 C. Joint A uthorship..................................................... 1246 III. POPULAR MUSIC COMPOSITION AND PRODUCTION N ORM S .......................................................... 1250 A. M usic Composition Today ...................................... 1251 B. The Role of the Record Producer ............................ 1256
    [Show full text]
  • HERE`S a LITTLE STORY THAT MUST BE TOLD Microphone Grandmistresses, Lady Def Jams, Battle Queens, Mixmistresses, Fly Emcees, Spinderellas from the Late 70S to 1990
    JEE-NICE PRESENTS: HERE`S A LITTLE STORY THAT MUST BE TOLD Microphone Grandmistresses, Lady Def Jams, Battle Queens, Mixmistresses, Fly Emcees, Spinderellas from the late 70s to 1990. Enjoy & spread the word! This Booklet is dedicated to all the ladies who rock da mike and spin the turntables. This copied fan-mag tries to discover the story of female hiphop activity from the beginning of hiphop culture in the late 70s to 1990. There is a cut in 1990. It was difficult to draw that line, to decide which artists to include and which not. Yo Yo, Queen Mother Rage, Sister Souljah, BWP, Conscious Daughters are not in it because they are more 90s then 80s. Nikki D, Tairrie B. and L.A. Star are on the edge, but I included them, because they are more 80s. What I did was to collect all the lyrics and pictures, which I could find and republish facts which are important for making history. I didn’t want to write anything new, I wanted to collect, to see what you can find out (in Germany), if you want to. In the end it’s not much and nothing that was published in the german language. You will find the source material in an appendix, so that you can check out where it comes from and read more, if you want to. Pictures without numbers are from my own record collection. This compilation can’t be complete and some facts will be wrong, but I have tried to make it as accurate as I can.
    [Show full text]
  • The Institutionalization of Hip-Hop Djing Education
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Carolina Digital Repository CONTINUING THE QUEST FOR LEGITIMACY: THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF HIP-HOP DJING EDUCATION Megan Ross A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Musicology in the Department of Music. Chapel Hill 2015 Approved by: Mark Katz Andrea Bohlman Chérie Rivers Ndaliko © 2015 Megan Ross ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Megan Ross: Continuing the Quest for Legitimacy: The Institutionalization of Hip-Hop DJing Education (Under the direction of Mark Katz) Since the early 2000s, many hip-hop DJs have taken on teaching roles in educational institutions, whether in secondary schools, universities, or for-profit ventures. This thesis explores this development as part of an ongoing quest for legitimacy within hip-hop and the broader world and also as a response to the increasing dominance of digital technologies. Teaching offers DJs the opportunity to preserve their foundational values of innovation, experimentation, and personalization. Their approach tends to be fundamentally multimodal, emphasizing the use of sight, sound, and touch to demonstrate the artistry necessary to becoming a DJ. There are many benefits to formal education, such as bringing about gender equality in the field, as well as concerns related to standardization and authenticity of pedagogical methods based on informal learning traditions. My study is more broadly relevant to popular music institutionalization, authenticity debates in hip-hop education, and informal and formal approaches to learning music.
    [Show full text]
  • British Hip Hop, Garage and Grime As Ethnography
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Northumbria Research Link The Sound of Street Corner Society: UK Grime Music as Ethnography Abstract This article explores the ways in which popular music can be linked with ethnography and the ethnographic enterprise. While there is a tradition of connecting popular music with sociology, this article posits a further sociological resonance, one that is not so much theoretical as methodological. The article suggests that forms of contemporary popular music parallel key facets of ethnography, not simply in terms of the sociological analysis of popular music employing ethnography, but with regard to popular music as an ethnographic resource, as ‘data,’ and as the reflexive expression of Paul Willis’ conception of the ‘ethnographic imagination.’ Although popular music generally may exhibit ethnographic qualities, the article argues that contemporary British Hip Hop in the form of ‘Grime’ is a potent exemplar. This is because of the resolutely cultural, spatial nature of Grime music, a factor that marks out grime as a distinctive musical form and a distinctive ethnographic form. This article stresses that Grime is a twenty-first century form of music that explicitly and deliberately consists of experientially- rooted narratives of particular modes of British urban life. It is music about urban locations made from within those urban locations. Key words: ethnography, Hip Hop, Grime, music, space, urban, emic, ethnographic imagination The Sound of Street Corner Society: UK Grime Music as Ethnography “MCs better start chatting about what’s really happening” (Dizzee Rascal, ‘Brand New Day’).
    [Show full text]
  • Dancecult 5(2) Reviews
    Reviews Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture Ytasha L. Womack Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books, 2013. ISBN: 978-1-61374-796-4 (paperback) RRP: US $$16.95 (paperback) DOI:10.12801/1947-5403.2013.05.02.08 tobias c. van Veen McGill University (Canada) Following upon her accessible and personable book documenting the transformation of “race” in the late 20th century African American context, Post-Black: How a New Generation is Redefining African American Identity(2010), Ytasha Womack has written a similarly enlightening and readable survey of Afrofuturism. Womack provides several useful definitions of Afrofuturism, notably as “an intersection of imagination, technology, the future, and liberation”, in which “Afrofuturists redefine culture and notions of blackness for today and the future” by combining “elements of science fiction, historical fiction, speculative fiction, fantasy, Afrocentricity, and magic realism with non-Western beliefs” (9). With its first-person narrative, easy-going interview quotes from Afrofuturist artists, musicians, writers and scholars, overview of Afrofuturism’s scholarly history, artistic and musical traditions, and numerous references to past and contemporary Afrofuturist works, the book is useful for newcomers and adherents alike. Womack’s chapters are prefaced by full-page black-and-white comic-style artwork from John Jennings and James Marshall, an added touch that greatly aids in visualizing the futurist hybridity of black identity and technology. Let me not curb my enthusiasm: Ytasha Womack has successfully accomplished the long- overdue and challenging task of writing the first book-length overview of Afrofuturism. Through her concise and self-reflective reportage, Womack has explicated Afrofuturism’s concepts, artists and works with ease and sophistication.
    [Show full text]