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Celtic Modern: Music at the Global Fringe.

Article Excerpt
Celtic Modern: Music at the Global Fringe. Edited by Martin Stokes and Philip V. Bohlman. (Europea: Ethnomusicologies and Modernities, 1.) Lanham, MD; Oxford: Scarecrow Press, 2003. [vii, 293 p. ISBN 0-8108-4780-9. $65 (hbk.); ISBN 0-8108-4781-7. $35 (pbk.)] Index.

This is a collection of nine self-contained articles with introduction and afterward. The traditional musics of Celtic nations are the focus, but popular musics are also covered. Various aspects of "global pop" are discussed as they confront traditional musics, and popular genres are the focus of two of the articles. The book includes an array of viewpoints and methodologies, but has an essential focus: all the musics discussed are united not only by inclusion in the "Celtic" area, but by their position as national musics turned transnational in the postmodern world. Musical style as expressive of, and as implicated in the construction of, various levels of identity is a point of departure. All the articles deal to some extent with the commodification of music, both as style and as symbol; thus they also engage with the commodification of ethnicity. The unifying term "Celtic" is thoroughly critiqued throughout. This volume is not a primer--it does not aim to introduce either the traditional musics or the issues such as essentialism and transnationalism that are discussed. But for even undergraduate students who have had some introduction to the traditional styles, it provides several provocative points of departure.

The two editors are eminently qualified on the topics of identity and modernity. Philip Bohlman has published extensively on music's role...

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