Music in West Africa: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture (w/CD).(Book Review)

Music in West Africa: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture (w/CD), by Ruth M Stone; edited by Bonnie C. Wade and Patricia Shehan Campbell. Oxford University Press (198 Madison Ave., New Fork, NY 10016), 2004. 112 pp. $34.95.

A delightful combination of personal experience, scholarly integrity and cultural sensitivity characterizes Ruth Stone's book and accompanying compact disc--part of the Global Music Series by Oxford University Press.

From age 3, Ruth Stone lived among the native Kpelle in Liberia, West Africa. She is a fluent speaker of their language. It is clear she knows the people and their music first hand. Because of her considerable training, knowledge and excellence in field-work organization, ethnomusicologist Stone is free to focus the reader's attention on those elements in song style and rhythmic improvisation that are meaningful to local Liberian performers and responders.

Each chapter in this 112-page book reflects Stone's memories and experiences and her obvious love of the people and their songs. The work's directness gives an intimate portrait of the people by drawing the reader into the current of village musical thought. Thus, we can experience what is culturally important to the folks in an African community--singing, strumming, dancing, drumming and living their music.

Several aids make this book and its accompanying CD noteworthy. The inclusion of a grey disc image at the margin of each text reference helps one find and identify its corresponding CD track. Paragraphs highlighted in ...