Review Music Of The Billion

Music in Chinese culture is not an isolated phenomenon, but is rather a contextual phenomenon broadly related to all aspects of life. In historical China, music was integrally related to banquets, archery events, dances, etc. The word for "music" in Chinese is yue. In its inclusive meaning, yue refers to the "arts" and to music, and, together with morals, law, and politics, was traditionally considered to be one of the four fundamental societal functions. Primarily because of this emphasis, every feudal state, dynasty and republic throughout history had established an official music organization or bureau of music indicating the import of music within the society. The book is organized into two parts: one, a diachronic orientation of major musical events throughout history, and two, a synchronic focus on musical content and context. In the historical section, the patterns and themes are emphasized, so that a sense of continuation, interrelationships and changes can be observed. In part two, six topical subjects have been selected, based on what the author believes represent a sense of balance of major subjects and styles in Chinese music, that is topics on aesthetics, notation-transmission, instrumental music (high art and regional styles), theatrical music, and major musical instruments. -- Back cover.

What is the origin of music? In the last few decades this centuries-old puzzle has been reinvigorated by new archaeological evidence and developments in the fields of cognitive science, linguistics, and evolutionary theory. Starting at a period of human prehistory long before Homo sapiens or music existed, Tomlinson describes the incremental attainments that, by changing the communication and society of prehuman species, laid the foundation for musical behaviors in more recent times. He traces in Neandertals and early sapiens the accumulation and development of these capacities, and he details their coalescence into modern musical behavior across the last hundred millennia

For the first time, the final years of one of the world's most captivating rock showman are laid bare. Including interviews from Freddie Mercury's closest friends in the last years of his life, along with personal photographs, Somebody to Love is an authoritative biography of the great man. Here are previously unknown and startling facts about the singer and his life, moving detail on his lifelong search for love and personal fulfilment, and of course his tragic contraction of a then killer disease in the mid-1980s. Woven throughout Freddie's life is the shocking story of how the HIV virus came to hold the world in its grip, was cruelly labelled 'The Gay Plague' and the unwitting few who indirectly infected thousands of men, women and children - Freddie Mercury himself being one of the most famous. The death of this vibrant and spectacularly talented rock star, shook the world of medicine as well as the world of music. Somebody to Love finally puts the record straight and pays detailed tribute to the man himself.

New York Times bestselling Music Is History combines Questlove’s deep musical expertise with his curiosity about history, examining America over the past fifty years—now in paperback Focusing on the years 1971 to the present, Questlove finds the hidden connections in the American tapes, whether investigating how the blaxploitation era reshaped Black identity or considering the way disco took an assembly-line approach to Black genius. And these critical inquiries are complemented by his own memories as a music fan and the way his appetite for pop culture taught him about America. A history of the last half-century and an intimate conversation with one of music’s most influential and original voices, Music Is History is a singular look at contemporary America.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In the final book of his astonishing career, Carl Sagan brilliantly examines the burning questions of our lives, our world, and the universe around us. These luminous, entertaining essays travel both the vastness of the cosmos and the intimacy of the human mind, posing such fascinating questions as how did the universe originate and how will it end, and how can we meld science and compassion to meet the challenges of the coming century? Here, too, is a rare, private glimpse of Sagan’s thoughts about love, death, and God as he struggled with fatal disease. Ever forward-looking and vibrant with the sparkle of his unquenchable curiosity, Billions & Billions is a testament to one of the great scientific minds of our day. Praise for Billions & Billions “[Sagan’s] writing brims with optimism, clarity and compassion.”—Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel “Sagan used the spotlight of his fame to illuminate the abyss into which stupidity, greed, and the lust for power may yet dump us. All of those interests and causes are handsomely represented in Billions & Billions.”—The Washington Post Book World “Astronomer Carl Sagan didn’t live to see the millennium, but he probably has done more than any other popular scientist to prepare us for its arrival.”—Atlanta Journal & Constitution “Billions & Billions can be interpreted as the Silent Spring for the current generation. . . . Human history includes a number of leaders with great minds who gave us theories about our universe and origins that ran contrary to religious dogma. Galileo determined that the Earth revolved around the Sun, not the other way around. Darwin challenged Creationism with his Evolution of Species. And now, Sagan has given the world its latest challenge: Billions & Billions.”—San Antonio Express-News “[Sagan’s] inspiration and boundless curiosity live on in the gift of his work.”—Seattle Times & Post-Intelligencer “Couldn’t stay awake in your high school science classes? This book can help fill in the holes. Acclaimed scientist Carl Sagan combines his logic and knowledge with wit and humor to make a potentially dry subject enjoyable to read.”—The Dallas Morning News

The MP3 and iPod revolution have changed forever how people listen to music, but choosing what to listen to next remains the dilemma of music lovers everywhere. As music director of KCRW in Santa Monica, CA, and DJ of the influential "Morning Becomes Eclectic” show, Harcourt uncovers the best in new and overlooked music for over half a million listeners every day. In Music Lust, Harcourt does what Nancy Pearl did for books in her national bestseller Book Lust. With more than 80 unique and unusual thematic lists, Harcourt offers a wide-ranging guide to the best in recorded music, from Frank Sinatra to Frank Zappa, Billie Holiday to Billy Bragg, bebop to hip-hop, The White Album to Back in Black, and much, much more. Known as an international tastemaker, Harcourt lends his discerning ear in recommended listening lists such as "Queens of Punk,” "Great Road Music,” and "My Desert Island Discs.” Within each list, key bands and performers are introduced and discussed, and pivotal albums and songs identified. With the diversity of genres represented and Harcourt at the helm, Music Lust’s eclectic access to musicians, themes, and styles is spot-on for this moment in music.

Modern art is a mass phenomenon. Conceptual artists like Damien Hirst enjoy celebrity status. Works by 20th century abstract artists like Mark Rothko are selling for record breaking sums, while the millions commanded by works by Andy Warhol and Francis Bacon make headline news. However, while the general public has no trouble embracing avant garde and experimental art, there is, by contrast, mass resistance to avant garde and experimental music, although both were born at the same time under similar circumstances - and despite the fact that from Schoenberg and Kandinsky onwards, musicians and artists have made repeated efforts to establish a "synaesthesia" between their two media. Fear of Music examines the parallel histories of modern art and modern music and examines why one is embraced and understood and the other ignored, derided or regarded with bewilderment, as noisy, random nonsense perpetrated by, and listened to by the inexplicably crazed. It draws on interviews and often highly amusing anecdotal evidence in order to find answers to the question: Why do people get Rothko and not Stockhausen?

A funny, transporting, surprising, and poignant novel that was one of the highest-selling debuts of recent years in Korea, Love in the Big City tells the story of a young gay man searching for happiness in the lonely city of Seoul Love in the Big City is the English-language debut of Sang Young Park, one of Korea’s most exciting young writers. A runaway bestseller, the novel hit the top five lists of all the major bookstores, went into twenty-six printings, and was praised for its unique literary voice and perspective. It is now poised to capture a worldwide readership. Young is a cynical yet fun-loving Korean student who pinballs from home to class to the beds of recent Tinder matches. He and Jaehee, his female best friend and roommate, frequent nearby bars where they push away their anxieties about their love lives, families, and money with rounds of soju and ice-cold Marlboro Reds that they keep in their freezer. Yet over time, even Jaehee leaves Young to settle down, leaving him alone to care for his ailing mother and to find companionship in his relationships with a series of men, including one whose handsomeness is matched by his coldness, and another who might end up being the great love of his life. A brilliantly written novel that takes us into the glittering nighttime of Seoul and the bleary-eyed morning after with both humor and emotion, Love in the Big City is a wry portrait of millennial loneliness as well as the abundant joys of queer life.

(Book). Everyone knows the success stories of the music industry how Michael Jackson's Thriller blew the roof off and how Clive Davis helped orchestrate Carlos Santana's stunning comeback. But now you'll find out about people who were dead wrong. This book details some of the most expensive blunders ever made by artists and by record executives, managers and producers who've worked with stars such as Michael Jackson, Christina Aguilera, the Beatles, Madonna, Nickelback, Bob Dylan, Dido, the Rolling Stones, and dozens more. From contract and copyright screw-ups to sheer arrogance and lying, this book includes eye-opening revelations on: the pitfalls of employing a family member, the marketability of suicide, the industry's accepted levels of lies and thievery, and much, much more.