Historical Dictionary of Popular Music

Norman Abjorensen

This book seeks to trace the rise of popular music, identify its key figures and track the origins and development of its multiple genres and styles, all the while seeking to establish historical context. It is, fundamentally, a ready reference guide to the broad field of popular music over the past two centuries. It has become a truism that popular music, so pervasive in the modern world, constitutes a soundtrack to our lives – a constant though changing presence as we cross thresholds and grow from children to teenagers to adults. But it has become more than a soundtrack; it has become a narrative. Not just an accompaniment to our daily lives but incorporating our lives, our sense of identity, our lived experiences, into it. We have become part of the music just as the music has become part of us.

The Historical Dictionary of Popular Music contains a chronology, an introduction, an appendix, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 1000 cross-referenced entries on major figures across genres, definitions of genres, technical innovations and surveys of countries and regions. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about popular music. « less more »

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 694 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-5381-0214-5 • Hardback • May 2017 • $145.00 • (£95.00)

978-1-5381-0215-2 • eBook • May 2017 • $137.00 • (£90.00)

Series: Historical Dictionaries of Literature and the Arts

Subjects: Music / History & Criticism, Reference / Dictionaries

Historical Dictionary of Popular Music

Hardback

eBook

Summary

This book seeks to trace the rise of popular music, identify its key figures and track the origins and development of its multiple genres and styles, all the while seeking to establish historical context. It is, fundamentally, a ready reference guide to the broad field of popular music over the past two centuries. It has become a truism that popular music, so pervasive in the modern world, constitutes a soundtrack to our lives – a constant though changing presence as we cross thresholds and grow from children to teenagers to adults. But it has become more than a soundtrack; it has become a narrative. Not just an accompaniment to our daily lives but incorporating our lives, our sense of identity, our lived experiences, into it. We have become part of the music just as the music has become part of us.

The Historical Dictionary of Popular Music contains a chronology, an introduction, an appendix, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 1000 cross-referenced entries on major figures across genres, definitions of genres, technical innovations and surveys of countries and regions. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about popular music.

Book Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 694 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-5381-0214-5 • Hardback • May 2017 • $145.00 • (£95.00)

978-1-5381-0215-2 • eBook • May 2017 • $137.00 • (£90.00)

Series: Historical Dictionaries of Literature and the Arts

Subjects: Music / History & Criticism, Reference / Dictionaries

Author

Norman Abjorensen is an Australian historian, academic and broadcaster with a long interest in popular music. A former journalist, he has a PhD from The Australian National University, Canberra, and has presented radio programs on new music and the history of rock, lectured on popular culture and written a jazz column for a Melbourne newspaper.

Table of Contents

Preface
Chronology
Introduction
THE DICTIONARY
Appendices
Bibliography
About the Author

Historical Dictionary of Popular Music

Norman Abjorensen

Historical Dictionary of Popular Music

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