Music: Healing the Rift – Ivan Hewett Koopje

The word ‘music’ in the early 21st century means many things. It means Mozart in the elevator, 50s pop songs on TV adverts, Finnish folk songs on Nokia ‘phones. It means inflammatory Serbian nationalist song, ancient Coptic Church chant, Berlin electronica, Wynton Marsalis.
Given this bewildering abundance, how we can speak of a single thing called ‘music’? This book will argue that we can. More than that, it will argue that a vast area of cultural practice is at risk of vanishing behind the deafening roar o…