Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-wq2xx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T03:24:58.606Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Open letter

‘Black music’, ‘Afro-American music’ and ‘European music’1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Philip Tagg
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

I have recently found myself reacting with some irritation on meeting such terms as ‘black music’, ‘white music’, ‘Afro-American music’ and ‘European music’. The aim of this letter, written mainly with white European or North American students, friends and colleagues in mind, is to question the validity of these terms, to bring some issues lurking behind their general usage out into the scribal daylight and, hopefully, to provide some ideas for a constructive debate on music, race and ideology.

Type
Research Article
Information
Popular Music , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , October 1989 , pp. 285 - 298
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Chernoff, J. M. 1979. African Rhythm and Sensibility (Chicago University Press), pp. 46–88Google Scholar
Gammond, P. 1975. Scott Joplin and the Ragtime Era (London: Sphere), pp. 98–100Google Scholar
Hindemith, P. 1952. A Composer's World (New York: Doubleday), pp. 216–21Google Scholar
Ledang, O. K. 1987. ‘Europeisk barokkmusikk i koloniperspektiv’, Studia Musicologica Norvegica, 13: 45–81Google Scholar
Marcus, G. 1986. ‘We Are The World?’, Ré Records Quarterly, 1 (4), pp. 36–9Google Scholar
Nketia, J. W. K. 1974. The Music of Africa (New York: W. W. Norton), pp. 120–74Google Scholar
Oliver, P. 1960. The Meaning of the Blues (Toronto: Macmillan), pp. 131–3Google Scholar
Toop, D. 1984. The Rap Attack (London: Pluto), pp. 128–31Google Scholar
Welch, C. 1972. Hendrix (London: Ocean Books)Google Scholar