MusicHound World: The Essential Album Guide (Musichound Essential Album Guides) [Paperback]

Adam McGovern (Author), Angelique Kidjo (Author), David Byrne (Author)

Book Description

Series: Musichound Essential Album Guides | Publication Date: December 31, 2000

MusicHound World breaks down 1,100 acts and 300 compilation CDs, making sure you pick the best sounds in the world. Resource section and indexes help you explore world music through the ages and around the globe.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The newest addition to the "MusicHound" series of CD buying guides features more than 1000 acts and 20,000 CDs from more than 85 countries. Defining "world music" broadly, the book includes musicians as varied as Desmond Dekker, the Chieftans, and Carlos Varela. Musicians who also record outside of the world music scene, like Paul Simon, are clearly marked. Entries describe each performer's work and influence, but there are some errors--the entry on the Pogues, for example, contains misspellings of a band member's name and a song title. The CD recommendations are the guide's most valuable feature. Indexes include the top recommended recordings, band members, country of origin, and a cumulative performer index to all "MusicHound" titles. An index by music genre would have been helpful. Recommended for public and academic libraries with popular music collections.
-Michele McGraw, Hennepin Cty. Lib., Edina, MN
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From the Back Cover

"Everybody knows the world has two types of music," quips David Byrne, "My kind, and everyone else's."

And here in the Western world we define "everyone else's" as world music, but the dichotomy is disappearing. It's a small world with a huge record collection. MusicHound World is the only travel guide your ears will need. It reviews and recommends thousands of CDs and provides pertinent bio and background information on 1,000 artists. You'll also discover styles, instruments and cultures in scores of informative sidebars and enjoy nearly 200 photographs (captured by the lens of renowned world music photographers, Jack and Linda Vartoogian).

Open the pages and explore the sounds of: King Sunny Ad Altan Marc Anthony Beausoleil Asha Bhosle Mary Black Bloque Boukman Eksperyans Eliza Carthy Sheila Chandra Cherish the Ladies Elvis Crespo George Dalaras Gloria Estefan Cesaria Evora Peter Gabriel Rubn Gonzlez of the Buena Vista Social Club Gyuto Monks Huun-Huur-Tu Irakere Eileen Ivers Flaco Jimenez Kassav' Salif Keita Khaled Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Klezmatics Kodo Feta Kuti Ladysmith Black Mambazo Yungchen Lhamo Los Super Seven Baaba Maal Bob Marley Ricky Martin The Mighty Sparrow Youssou N'Dour Ozomatli Maxi Priest Virginia Rodrigues Oumou Sangare Mrta Sebestyn & Muzsiks Selena Ravi Shankar Sister Carol The Skatalites Tarika Carlinhos Brown's Timbalada Ali Farka Tour Vrttin Caetano Veloso Walela Papa Wemba Yothu Yindi Zap Mama, and many more

Newcomer or connoisseur, expand your CD collection with MusicHound World. We'll get you started with the MusicHound World disc from Wicklow Records, featuring the Chieftains, Vrttin, Alpha Yaya Diallo, Mary Jane Lamond and much more. With MusicHound World in hand, you'll successfully navigate this universe of incredible noise. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 1096 pages
• Publisher: Schirmer Trade Books (Music Hound) (December 31, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0825672597
• ISBN-13: 978-0825672590
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.5 x 2.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,301,909 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Must-Have for Fans of Global Music, November 19, 1999

By 

Kevin M. Meyer (Rockaway Township, New Jersey United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Musichound World : The Essential Album Guide (Paperback)

Continuing in the spirit of MusicHound's other musical overviews, the World directory is obviously a work of love by its authors and editor (bravo to all!) For someone like myself, who is eager for a guide to the vast expanse of music beyond the typical labels we Westerners feel compelled to use, the MusicHound World Directory offers the reader (and soon-to-be-listener) an immense variety of directions in which to go to discover people and places where passion and music create new dimensions. An authoritative and endlessly readable resource! Bon voyage!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Useful to hold up an air-conditioner, January 5, 2003

By 

NY Lou "Lou" (New York, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: MusicHound World: The Essential Album Guide (Musichound Essential Album Guides) (Paperback)

This book is really disappointing. While it looks massive, and weighs a ton, MUSIC HOUND's WORLD is missing so many essential figures. Look at Brazil, they have a section on DAUDE (a relatively minor artist), but have NOTHING on giants of Samba such as PAULINHO DA VIOLA and MARTINHO DA VILA. ANNA VISSI (Greece), VLADIMIR VYSOTSKY (Russia), and countless others are omitted, while an equal number of bizarre names such as VINX are here. They seem more interested in people like Linda Ronstadt and Shakira's contribution to world music that actually putting together a guide about the movers and shakers. Even the bios that they do feature are for the most part, re-hashed press releases. This guide is useless, and a waste of paper.

4.0 out of 5 stars una muy buena introduccion a la musica no "tradicional", November 8, 2001

By 

pablo rossi (BUENOS AIRES, BUENOS AIRES Argentina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: MusicHound World: The Essential Album Guide (Musichound Essential Album Guides) (Paperback)

El termino world music con que los americanos engloban toda la musica que suena algo "diferente" es tan amplio que hace casi imposible englobarla en un libro que tenga una armonia en su criterio de seleccion. Por otra parte las calificaciones, omisiones y extensiones dadas a cada interprete son totalmente subjetivas. Salvo esto la seleccion es buena con especial enfasis en la musica africana, asiatica,y para mi gusto demasiada anglofila ( celta,irlandesa,etc) La latina esta representada muy parcialmente con grandes omisiones, y peca de errores de origen y estilo. Cuenta con una buen indice por paises y un adecuado muestrario de los considerados los mejores albunes de cada interprete. Posee los accesos a mail de la mayoria y nos permite conocer artistas ignotos para el occidente para poder profundizar a nuestro gusto. Para mi la mejor seleccion global de la World music. He seguido sus recomendaciones y no me ha defraudado ALTAMENTE RECOMENDABLE EN ESPECIAL POR LA POBREZA DE ESTE TIPO DE MATERIAL QUE SE PUEDE ENCONTRAR HOY ( una buena combinacion con otro punto de vista es : Global Pop : World music, World markets.)
VALE AMPLIAMENTE SU COSTO