Music of the Sirens

Front Cover
Linda Austern, Inna Naroditskaya
Indiana University Press, Jul 21, 2006 - Music - 440 pages

Whether referred to as mermaid, usalka, mami wata, or by some other name, and whether considered an imaginary being or merely a person with extraordinary abilities, the siren is the remarkable creature that has inspired music and its representations from ancient Greece to present-day Africa and Latin America. This book, co-edited by a historical musicologist and an ethnomusicologist, brings together leading scholars and some talented newcomers in classics, music, media studies, literature, and cultural studies to consider the siren and her multifaceted relationships to music across human time and geography.

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Contents

1 Sirens in Antiquity and the Middle Ages
Embodiments of Acoustic Pleasure and Danger in the Modern West
Siren Traditions and Musical Creation in the CentralSouthern Andes
Heavenly and Earthly Sirens in Sixteenth and SeventeenthCentury Literary and Visual Culture
5 The Sirens the Epicurean Boat and the Poetry of Praise
Of Music Modernity and the Sirens
Water Power and Women
Loreley and Other Rhine Maidens
Music for Mami Wata and Other Water Spirits in Africa
Pop Sirens at the Twentyfirst Century
12 The Cocktail Siren in David Lynchs Blue Velvet
Bibliography
List of Contributors
Index
Back Cover
Copyright

The Legend of a Greek Singer in a Turkish Tavern

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About the author (2006)

Linda Phyllis Austern is Associate Professor of Musicology in the School of Music, Northwestern University.

Inna Naroditskaya is Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology in the School of Music, Northwestern University.

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