Customer Reviews

The Rough Guide to World 100 Essential CDs (Rough Guide 100 Esntl CD Guide)

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This small book is a brief introduction to 100 world music cds. The music covers a very wide range, though there is nothing from East Asia. Each entry is about two (small) pages long: it introduces the artist, and something about the artist's place in his or her culture's music. The writer chooses the musician's most accessible cd, in most cases. This means that some of the recommended cds are too westernized, in my opinion, but the articles do inform you (or warn you) about whether the music is authentic folk music, fusion, virtually indistinguishable from western pop, or whatever.
I am very interested in music, but I didn't know much about music other than western classical music and rock. Unfortunately, for about the last two years I had been becoming increasingly bored with the ordinary music I listened to, and I wanted to try something different. I picked up this book, and I found that it helped me a lot. It is a manageable guide to world music, suitable for people who don't yet know anything about it.
Another reviewer complained that this book was too shallow. I think he was missing the point of the book. Those wanting in-depth coverage of world music can go to other books. This book is a guide for beginners, and is actually small enough to carry with you to the music store. Now I don't need this book: for the past two years I have been using it to help me explore the music of other cultures, and so now my knowledge is deeper. However, for the beginner, I think this is a wonderful book: it is helpful, it points out many artists that are well worth knowing about, and the information in the articles is precise enough to help you decide if a particular cd would appeal to you or not. I've started reading other guides to non-western music, in particular the Rough Guide to World Music, volumes one and two (which, by the way, is 1,435 pages long), and of course these other guides include more musicians and are more definitive, but the purpose of this small book is to help you get started by introducing you to a few of the most popular world music cds. I think it serves its purpose admirably.

Afro Celt Sound system the number 1 "world music" release? King Sunny Ade's "Ju-Ju" music barely makes the list. Oriental music is completely neglected along with the Scandinavian roots movement. Franco and O.K. Jazz didn't make it? This guide is a joke.