Customer Reviews

African Rhythm and African Sensibility: Aesthetics and Social Action in African Musical Idioms

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This is a remarkable work that fits African music into its cultural context and is consistently provocative and enlightening. It's a world music classic, along with such studies as "The Latin Tinge," "The Brazilian Sound" and "Catch a Fire."

What begins as a primer in African polyrhythm becomes a spiritual quest to understand culture and humanity. Don't skip the endnotes in this impassioned examination of musical tonality and rhythm. Forging a tentative balance between scholarship and interpretation, Chernoff's book addresses the subconscious dynamics of culture, and unwittingly explains "race" more convincingly than the agitprop self-promoters whose explicit goal is to deconstruct the historical consciences of Africans and Europeans.

This book's sweetness, modesty, humor and graceful scholarship honors one of the world's greatest achievements. It's about drumming, and life.

this is THE classic on african music. you will find it listed in the bibliographies of almost any serious study that came later. it is in-depth and comprehensive. if you want to get just one: this is it.

This a must have text for anyone studying African music and culture. I recommend this text as a supplement to any graduate level musicology course. It is not a dull text and provides valuable insight for those seeding to know more about African music. I used it as a main source for studying and preparing for my doctoral exams.

having red just the two firts chapters i can say in advance that this book provides a solid explanation on cultural, social musical aspects on African music. among many possibilities those tools can be used to understand western musi.

This is one terrific book, an incredibly valuable research material source. I'm using it to help deepen my understanding not only of African musics, but also of African-American musics, of Jazz. I'm really glad that I chose to add this to my home library. It is a source I will go back to again & again.