Bibliolore

by rilm | October 2, 2025 · 6:00 am

Mambo’s enduring appeal

The mambo is characterized by short, syncopated rhythmic patterns–the saxophone typically sets the tempo, while the brass instruments carry the melody. Danced by couples, either fully or slightly separated, the mambo is sometimes described as a variant of the rumba, though it incorporates forward and backward steps. Interestingly, the mambo was codified not in Cuba, but in the United States. The key difference between the original danzón-mambo and the mambo lies in the introduction of a new rhythm and, more importantly, the fusion of Cuban music with compositional elements drawn from big band jazz, as seen in the works of René Hernández, Bebo Valdés, and Pérez Prado. In 1948, the Cuban pianist and composer Pérez Prado relocated to Mexico City, where he formed his own orchestra, which he conducted while dancing and singing, and adding his signature vocal grunts to his performances. With his band, Prado helped define the structure of the mambo, releasing his biggest hits with RCA. Following the success of these records, he embarked on a tour of the United States.

Pérez Prado’s music and dance style also gained widespread popularity in Latin America, especially through his appearances in numerous Mexican films during the early 1950s. As a result, he quickly earned the title of the “King of Mambo”. As the mambo gained traction across the Americas, different regional styles began to emerge. In New York, artists like Machito and his Afro-Cubans (pictured at the beginning of this post), Tito Puente, and Tito Rodríguez helped shape the genre’s evolution. Mambo became a mainstream sensation, especially with the release of Papa loves mambo (1954) by Perry Como, which was followed by covers from iconic artists like Nat King Cole and Bing Crosby.

While the popularity of mambo seemed to decline after the rise of the cha cha cha, it remained a lasting cultural force in certain places. Mambo became much more than just a syncopated rhythm or a new style of dancing—it evolved into a cultural phenomenon that left a significant impact on popular culture. The genre found particular success in cinema, especially in the soundtracks of various popular films, including the 1954 film Mambo, directed by Robert Rossen. Mambo’s influence continued to grow in Europe, especially after its association with Federico Fellini’s iconic 1960 film La dolce vita; mambo also appeared in the first act of West side story (1957) by Leonard Bernstein.

Promotional poster for the 1954 film *Mambo*, directed by Robert Rossen.

In more recent years, mambo’s enduring appeal can be seen in Pink Martini’s 1997 song No hay problema, which incorporates mambo rhythms, as well as Lou Bega’s 1999 hit Mambo no. 5, which sparked a pop revival of the genre. Mambo even found a modern twist in 2021, with DJ Steve Aoki, singer Willy William, and Italian rapper Sfera Ebbasta collaborating on the track Mambo, blending the rhythm into a dance/electronic style (listen to the track below).

This according to the article of the week in DEUMM Online.

Cassettes as sound archives of the early Colombian punk scene

Cassette tapes played a pivotal role in democratizing music consumption, empowering independent creation and distribution–especially in genres like punk and rap. Their portability and low cost made them powerful tools for circulating ideas and challenging dominant cultural narratives. Though the music industry feared their potential for piracy, cassettes did more than any previous technology to globalize music access. In the Global South, where major labels maintained near-monopolies, cassettes enabled the spread of music that held little commercial appeal for corporate interests, fostering the emergence of new genres in the process.

Cassettes played a vital role in the global ascent of genres like hip hop, punk, and extreme metal, emerging as the preferred medium for lo-fi and experimental artists. Their raw sound quality and DIY accessibility made them indispensable to underground scenes, allowing musicians to bypass industry gatekeepers and connect directly with listeners across borders. This cultural significance was captured in the inaugural 2019 issue of El sótano: Memorias punk Medallo, a fanzine documenting the punk movement in Medellín, Colombia during the 1980s and 1990s. The issue features vivid recollections from musicians and fans, reflecting on the cassette tapes (casetes) that preserved their sound and spirit.

According to the zine, in Medellín, casetes were the loyal companions of punk’s rebellious roar, echoing through the dark, decaying streets where the movement thrived. Slipped into pockets or tucked inside worn jackets, each tape bore a personal imprint–amplifying the raw realities of life on the margins. In this landscape of resistance, punk forged its own inventive forms of defiance. The cassette, more than a plastic medium, became a vessel of sonic rebellion, flooding the streets with noise, and confronting the very society that sought to silence it.

Today, casetes endure as potent memory devices–resonant artifacts of scenes that thrived on the cassette’s portability and resilience. As Patricia Arenas, a Medellin punk musician recalled, “Cassettes were everything to punk–they were the gateway to discovering bands and the soundtrack that traveled from one neighborhood to another. Back then, we recorded our own tapes and shared them with others. It was a simple act, but it carried a kind of mysticism: having a cassette and a pen to label it, to mark it with our own touch, and to know exactly what we were listening to.”

Ana Loaiza, another musician from Medellín, recalls the deep personal connection she formed with cassette tapes, each one carrying its own memory. “When I started getting into music, I lived and breathed to get cassettes,” she says. “They’re part of every rocker’s history in Medellín–we used to steal them from our parents.” Loaiza still treasures her collection, many of which remain in pristine condition. Protective of her tapes, she rarely lent them out. For her, it was a ritual: carefully labeling each cassette, writing out lyrics by hand, and using special pens reserved just for that purpose. These tapes weren’t just music–they were artifacts of identity, rebellion, and belonging.

This according to El sótano: Memorias punk Medallo. Find it in the RILM Archive of Popular Music Magazines.

Music and the status of women in Igbo society

Although Igbo women in Nigeria come from diverse socioeconomic and educational backgrounds, they share common experiences regarding how their gender is socially classified. In many cases, they face a pervasive sense of powerlessness rooted in gender inequality, alongside widespread marginalizing and discriminatory practices that have become entrenched in Alaigbo, southeastern Nigeria. This marginalization persists despite the adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women in 1979, a treaty ratified by all West African states, including Nigeria. More than four decades later, Igbo women still endure discrimination, largely due to the government’s hesitation to fully implement and enforce this international commitment.

Before Nigeria’s colonization, Igbo and other African women enjoyed greater control over their lives, wielding fundamental power within daily routines and family structures. Although the Igbo sociopolitical system was predominantly male and kinship-based, it remained flexible enough to offer many women leadership roles. This was made possible by the dual-sex political system in Igbo society, where women’s organizations operated as parallel authority structures alongside men’s, reflecting a balance of power and complementarity between the genders. In precolonial Nigeria, women’s musical performances not only expressed their social status but also celebrated this gender partnership. However, British colonial rule and missionary activities severely undermined and dismantled the traditional autonomy and influence of women. Igbo musical traditions, however, have maintained a vital role in expressing gender relations, often intertwined with religious significance.

The performance costume of the Chikwado women’s ensemble of Amodo.

Igbo music is fundamentally about promoting the lasting well-being of individuals and communities. This principle influences how musical performances and groups are formed, a tradition that continues to thrive today. For example, Felicia Ezeugwu, a leader of her group, explained that the Chikwado women’s ensemble of Amodo was founded in Nsukka due to concerns about public sanitation. After their weekly village cleaning sessions, the Amodo women would make music for their own entertainment, which eventually developed into a formal music and dance group. In this way, women’s musical activities serve as a powerful way to express and fulfill the social, religious, political, and cultural duties that maintain the community.

This according to “Depiction and empowerment of women in Indigenous Igbo music” by Ijeoma Iruka Forchu (Ethnomusicology 67/1 [winter 2023] 45–71; RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2023-9947).

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Filed under Africa, Black studies, Gender and sexuality, Women's studies

Tagged as British colonialism, Gender, Igbo, marginalization, Nigeria, West Africa, women

by rilm | August 29, 2025 · 6:00 am

Poly Styrene in Slash

The February 1978 issue of Slash Magazine opened with the assertion, “We ain’t stupid, we know that glamorous women sell more magazines, so what else could we do but put the lovely Poly Styrene on it?” At this point, as Slash was entering its second year of documenting the burgeoning punk and new wave scenes across Los Angeles and beyond, the magazine had already gained a reputation for its unapologetically bold stance against disco, Elvis, and concept albums. It declared, “Enough is enough, partner! About time we squeezed the pus out and sent the filthy rich old farts of rock ‘n’ roll to retirement homes in Florida where they belong.”

Founded in Los Angeles in 1977 by Steve Samiof and Melanie Nissen, Slash magazine covered a broad spectrum of genres tied to the underground rock scene of the time. Beyond punk and new wave, it also provided coverage of rockabilly, reggae, and blues. Over its run, Slash published 29 issues before it folded in 1980. However, its legacy lived on through Slash Records, a punk label that was eventually acquired by Warner Bros. Records in 1999. The February 1978 issue epitomized what made Slash iconic within the early punk scene. With feature sections like “Local Shit”, “Dread Greats”. a lively “Letters from Readers” column, and the beloved comic strip Jimbo by Gary Panter, the magazine set the stage for its signature interviews with punk musicians.

A poem in the February 1978 issue of *Slash*.

The highlight of this issue was undoubtedly the interview with Poly Styrene (born Marianne Joan Elliott-Said), the lead singer of the London punk band X-Ray Spex. Born from a Scottish-Irish mother and a Somali father, Styrene began writing and playing music at 15, eventually becoming the embodiment of punk’s youthful, creative energy. As the frontwoman of X-Ray Spex, Poly stepped into a predominantly white, male-dominated punk scene. Her identity as a biracial teenage girl with thick braces and wild curly locks made her a strikingly radical figure in a movement that celebrated its defiant and unconventional image.

In the interview, conducted at a Shepperton bar, Poly talks about X-Ray Spex’s activities in a blunt and indifferent tone, typical of 1970s punk attitude.

Slash: So when was X-Ray Spex formed?

Poly: About Christmas, around January.

Slash: So it’s just been a year-a pretty amazing year, eh?

Poly: Yeah, I s’pose so, pretty good.

Slash: Did you ever expect X-Ray Spex to get this big? You must be knocked out by what’s happening.

Poly: I don’t really think about it–I never thought about it, and I still don’t. I just carry on.

Poly also shares fascinating details of her life in music, including how she came up with her punk moniker, the evolution of the band, her passion for fashion, and why so many young people in the late 1970s had grown bored with mainstream music.

Read the full interview in the RILM Archive of Popular Music Magazines.

Below is a fan-made video for the X-Ray Spex song Oh bondage! Up yours!

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Filed under Literature, Music magazines, Popular music

Tagged as 1970s, England, Los Angeles, Poly Styrene, Punk, Punk rock, Slash, X-Ray Spex

by rilm | August 22, 2025 · 6:00 am

International Day for the remembrance of the slave trade and its abolition (23 August)

This Saturday, 23 August, is UNESCO’s International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, which seeks to “inscribe the tragedy of the slave trade in the memory of all peoples”. The date coincides with the 1791 uprising in Saint Domingue, today the Republic of Haiti, that so heavily impacted the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. In regions like the Caribbean, northern South America, and Brazil, music and culture have been deeply shaped by the historical conditions of African slavery and fusion and syncretization that arose from European colonialism. Today, the Afro-Latin musical roots of genres such as salsa, Cuban son, Brazilian samba and bossa nova, Dominican merengue, and Panamanian and Puerto Rican reggaetón, among many others, continue to echo the enduring legacy of slavery in the Americas.

To observe the International Day, read the entry on slavery in Ilan Stavans’s Latin music: Musicians, genres, and themes, which traces the abhorrent practice globally, with a detailed section on the Haitian Revolution, the first and only successful slave rebellion to dismantle the plantation system and achieve political independence. The rebellion reverberated across the New World and sparked a wave of newfound consciousness and hope among Black populations throughout the Americas, while simultaneously triggering reactionary and often violent responses from European and criollo planters and other ruling elites.

*Prise de la Ravine-à-Couleuvres* (Capture of the Ravine-à-Couleuvres, 23 February 1802), by Karl Girardet, engraved by Jean-Jacques Outhwaite.

Latin music: Musicians, genres, and themes provides an in-depth exploration of the rich and diverse world of Latin American music, examining its history, cultural significance, and the wide range of genres it encompasses. Spanning five centuries and 25 countries, the encyclopedia, covers the evolution of Latin music from its roots in Indigenous, African, and European traditions to its contemporary global influence. It offers detailed profiles of influential musicians, including iconic figures such as Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Placido Domingo, and Carlos Santana, shedding light on their contributions to the development of Latin music and their lasting legacies. The two volumes delve into key genres like salsa, merengue, bachata, tango, and reggaetón, discussing their origins, stylistic characteristics, and cultural impact across different Latin American countries and communities. In addition to genre exploration, Latin music touches on broader themes of identity, migration, and the ways in which Latin music has become a vehicle for social and political expression. The encyclopedia’s 244 entries also include sociopolitical factors that have shaped Latin American music’s growth and dissemination. This is a key resource for music researchers looking to understand the musical traditions, key figures, and cultural contexts that have defined music in Latin America and its enduring global appeal.

Find the entry on slavery written by Ruthie Meadows in Latin music: Musicians, genres, and themes located in RILM Music Encyclopedias.

The first image is of Sexteto Habanero (circa 1925), an early Cuban son band from Havana, Cuba.

The Hindustani bīṇ

The term “vīṇā” has appeared in various Vedic texts dating back to the early first millennium B.C.E. Originally a generic designation for stringed instruments, the term has been used in diverse ways across India and throughout parts of Southeast Asia. Evolving directly from earlier medieval stick zithers, the Hindustani bīṇ (the word for vīṇā or rudra veena in North India) came to be regarded as one of the most esteemed instruments in the Hindustani musical tradition. Alongside the rabāb, the bīṇ held a central place in court and classical music traditions. Its significance was underscored by the honorary title mahatī vīṇā (the great vīṇā). The art of playing the bīṇ was transmitted through hereditary family traditions, or gharānās, some of which trace their lineage back to the legendary court musician Tānsen, who served under the Mughal Emperor Akbar. Musical knowledge was closely guarded within these lineages, and professional performance of the bīṇ was typically restricted to male members of the family.

A portrait of the Hindustani classical musician, Mian Tansen.

The modern form of the bīṇ likely emerged during the 19th century. Earlier versions featured a string holder made of bamboo with wooden end pieces inserted; later designs replaced this with a fully wooden tube, constructed by joining two hollowed-out halves. At the lower end sits a high, often hollow bridge supported by a wide, arched piece of bone. The instrument now has 24 tall wooden frets with metal inlays along the playing edges, laced on in a movable fashion. Seven large tuning pegs are inserted through the string holder from both the right and left sides. Four main playing strings run across the frets, accompanied by three additional strings—used for drone and rhythmic punctuation—two positioned on the left side of the tube (closest to the player) and one on the right. These auxiliary strings each rest on separate, broad bone bridges at the lower end of the instrument. Two large resonators, made from bottle gourds fitted with wooden components, are attached to the back of the string carrier using hollow threaded fittings. Each resonator has a hand-sized round opening at the rear, contributing to the bīṇ’s distinctive tonal resonance.

This according to a recently published entry on the vina by Pia Srinivasan Buonomo in MGG Online.

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Filed under Asia, Instruments, World music

Tagged as bīṇ, Hindustani music, instrument, North India, Tansen

by rilm | August 6, 2025 · 6:00 am

The improbable rise of Run the Jewels

In the history of rap music, the success of Killer Mike (Michael Render), a Black man from Atlanta, Georgia, and El-P (Jaime Meline), a white man from Brooklyn, New York, seems implausible. Yet, they’ve defied all odds, turning what should have been the twilight of their careers into the peak of their success. As the powerhouse duo Run the Jewels, El-P and Killer Mike have headlined global festivals, become action figures and Marvel comic characters, led a worldwide countercultural movement, and played significant roles in the last two U.S. presidential elections.

Their journey evokes a modern-day buddy movie. Filled with twists and triumphs, it mirrors the massive shifts in the music industry over the last 25 years–from the peak of the CD era to its decline and the rise of streaming platforms–and reflects the evolution of pop culture and its sociopolitical climate. From the surge of Afrofuturism and the fall of the Twin Towers to the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement and Colin Kaepernick’s protest, these pivotal moments shaped how their growing friendship turned Killer Mike and El-P from underground solo acts into globally recognized icons.

Killer Mike (left) and El-P perform on NPR’s *Tiny Desk*.

Listen to the 10th anniversary edition of Run the Jewels’ first album here.

Killer Mike, the 39-year-old rapper and entrepreneur, commands attention with his powerful presence, blending raw talent with a unique perspective that sets him apart. His verses seamlessly navigate detailed street narratives, intense battle raps, sharp punchlines, and passionate political commentary. Killer Mike first gained widespread recognition as a protégé of Outkast, the iconic Atlanta rap duo that paved the way for Southern hip hop to earn international respect. As a member of the Dungeon Family, he got his big break with a standout feature on Snappin’ and trappin’, a track from OutKast’s 2000 album Stankonia. After a series of solo releases and mixtapes, he expanded his creative reach, contributing music and voicing a character on Frisky dingo, an animated series that marked the beginning of his collaboration with Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. In 2012, Killer Mike dropped R.A.P. music, a fiery album that brought together his commanding presence with the menacing beats of El-P, a seasoned veteran of New York City’s independent hip hop scene.

El-P (left) and Killer Mike (right) perform during the 2019 All Points East Festival at Victoria Park in London. Photo by Robin Little.

El-P first made his mark as part of Company Flow, a group of sharp-tongued, anti-establishment lyricists who approached their tracks with the same rebellious energy as graffiti artists tagging subway cars. As the flagship act of Rawkus Records, a powerhouse of independent hip hop in the mid-1990s, Company Flow’s 1996 album Funcrusher plus became a cornerstone of underground hip hop. By the end of the decade, El-P, alongside his manager Amaechi Uzoigwe, launched the Definitive Jux label, with the intent to release Company Flow’s second album. However, before the project could come to fruition, the group split up. Despite this, the unfinished material was eventually reworked and became the foundation for El-P’s solo breakout, marking the start of his career as a solo artist and producer.

The unexpected collaboration between underground hip hop giants El-P and Killer Mike turned out to be a perfect fit. In 2013, the duo reunited to launch Run the Jewels, revamping the gritty, hard-hitting style of late-1980s and early-1990s hip hop legends like Ice Cube and EPMD. Through their groundbreaking releases, Killer Mike and El-P firmly established themselves as dominant forces in modern music, becoming influential voices in the soundscape of contemporary rap.

This according to Kill your masters: Run the Jewels and the world that made them by Jaap Van der Doelen (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2024; RILM Abstracts of Music Literature 2024-15629).

Watch Run the Jewels perform on NPR’s Tiny Desk concerts here.

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Filed under Humor, Mass media, Music industry, Performers, Politics, Popular music

Tagged as El-P, Hip hop, Killer Mike, New York City, Politics, Popular culture, Popular music, Rap music, Run the Jewels, Southern rap, underground

by rilm | August 2, 2025 · 6:00 am

A new model for Italian music production

RCA Italiana, established in Rome in 1951 as a subsidiary of the Radio Corporation of America, became one of the most influential Italian record labels of the 20th century. Its foundation was supported not only by the Vatican but also by funding from the 1948 European Recovery Program–better known as the Marshall Plan. Under the leadership of Ennio Melis, RCA earned a prominent role in Italian popular music, and from 1962 onward, some of the most iconic figures in Italian music recorded at its expansive studios on Via Tiburtina, as well as the more intimate Cenacolo studios. Artists such as Ennio Morricone, Gianni Morandi, Patty Pravo, Francesco De Gregori, and Antonello Venditti all passed through its doors. However, after its peak in the early 1960s and into the mid-1970s, RCA faced a significant decline, partly due to the bankruptcy of its parent company and shifts in the global market. The 1980s saw the company’s final fall, culminating in its sale to Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) in 1986. Despite its decline, the RCA brand—once a symbol of the golden age of the Italian recording industry—still exists today under the Sony Music catalog.

RCA Italiana employee testing a record plate.

Listen to Nico Fidenco‘s *La voglia di ballare* here. This and many other Italian pop recordings were produced at RCA Italiana.

The company was originally named Radio e Televisione Italiana SpA (RTI). Its president, Count Enrico Pietro Galeazzi Lisi, who was a special delegate of the Pope, oversaw its establishment, while the driving force behind the project was Giuseppe Antonino Biondo, a Sicilian engineer and naturalized U.S. citizen working for the American RCA. The name RCA Italiana SpA was officially adopted in July 1954, a year after the company made the somewhat controversial decision to shift its focus to record production. Initially, the U.S. multinational appeared more interested in exporting its phonographic and radio-television equipment. However, by the end of 1953, the company outlined a new program for releases on 78 rpm records, coinciding with the final wave of Marshall Plan funding. To kickstart this new direction, Biondo enlisted renowned composer and conductor Armando Trovajoli and several other prominent Italian musicians. The new catalogue marked a departure from the dominant the American RCA and its classical repertoire, helping to usher in a new era of Italian music. These recordings took shape in a variety of studios already equipped with RCA technology.

In June 1962, the complex of recording studios on Via Tiburtina was officially inaugurated. The facility was a flagship of the company, featuring a centralized production system inspired by the U.S. model. This system consolidated all phases of the production process–recording, mastering, pressing, and storage–into one multipurpose campus. The heart of the complex was a striking red studio building (see the first image in this post), which featured the RCA Italiana sign, prominently visible from the Raccordo Anulare, the nearby ring road. Inside, the campus housed four recording studios spread across different floors: Studio A, the largest, was designed for big orchestras; studio B, about half the size of studio A, was used for vocals, instrumental recordings, soundtracks, and film dubbing; and the smaller studios C and D were intended for more smaller productions.

Additionally, there were three natural echo chambers (reverberation rooms) built underground to minimize interference from external sounds. However, vibrations from the increasingly heavy traffic on the nearby ring road rendered these chambers unusable, prompting the development of artificial reverb technology. The other building on the site contained office spaces, warehouses dedicated to pressing records, and other storage areas for the finished products. Although the album covers were printed by third-party companies, the design work was carried out on the campus, ensuring a fully integrated creative process.

This according to a newly published entry on RCA Italiana by Francesco Brusco in DEUMM Online.

Watch an documentary in Italian on the history RCA Italiana here.

RCA Italiana employees testing recordings.

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Filed under Acoustics, Europe, Mass media, Music industry, Performers, Popular music

Tagged as Italy, Marshall Plan, Music industry, Pop, Popular music, RCA Italiana, Sound recording and reproduction

by rilm | July 29, 2025 · 6:00 am

Mongol and Han shamanic ritual music

Lingshen, or “welcoming the deity,” is a shamanic ritual music practiced by the Mongol people of Horqin and the Han people of Jutai in China. It emerges within the context of healing ceremonies led by a shaman and their assistant, typically performed for individuals experiencing hysteria. Central to this practice is the shamanic belief that all aspects of the world are governed by spirits, and that divine protection is granted only to those who express deep devotion and reverence toward the gods. In this spiritual framework, the divine is omnipresent, reflecting a worldview rooted in the principle that “all things have spirits”. This belief system is intimately tied to the rhythm of daily village life, shaped through the intertwined development of culture and ritual. Shamanism stands at the heart of this musical culture.

The lingshen ritual encompasses a rich tapestry of sonic elements: the ritual specialist evokes spirits through the striking of percussion instruments, a designated singer delivers spiritually resonant melodies, and the faithful respond with rhythmic hand clapping, creating a musical dialogue between humans and the divine. These performances are more than ceremonial; they serve as transmission vessels for shamanic musical culture, deeply rooted in local folk customs and shaped by the lived experiences of village life.

Horqin’s vast grasslands in northern China are characteristic of the region’s landscape.

Geographically, Horqin’s proximity to Jilin province and its historical inclusion of the Jiutai district in Changchun has fostered a cross-cultural exchange. During the early Qing dynasty, intermingling between the Mongol and Han populations–through trade, migration, and shared ritual practice–deeply influenced the evolution of local shamanic music traditions. As a result, lingshen embodies not only sacred spiritual intent but also the historical flow of musical motifs and ritual structures across ethnic and regional boundaries.

The songs performed in lingshen rituals serve distinctly functional purposes within the spiritual framework of shamanic healing. For practitioners, their use is twofold: first, the shaman employs music to express the community’s reverence and devotion to the deities, acting as an intermediary voice between the people and the divine; second, through prayerful singing and coordinated ritual sound, both the shaman and the faithful aim to soothe and honor the gods in accordance with the wishes of the villagers. This musical invocation is believed to facilitate a swift descent of the spirits into the ritual space, thereby initiating the healing process and affirming spiritual presence.

The frame drums above are key instruments in the rituals of both the Horqin Mongolian and Jiutai Han shamans.

A comparative study of the shamanic musical traditions among the Mongolian and Han peoples in Horqin and Jiutai reveals a pattern of coordinated cultural development. During the early Qing Dynasty, political alliances and intermarriages between Horqin Mongols and the Manchus served to preserve each group’s regime stability. These relationships, along with sustained political and economic exchange and the movement of Mongolian and Han populations within the region, fostered the emergence of new village social structures. The evolving social frameworks and their intersecting cultural subsystems laid fertile ground for mutual influence, shaping the trajectory of shamanic music culture in both communities.

This according to 萨满音乐的协同与影响—科尔沁蒙古族与九台汉族萨满领神音乐之比较 (The synergy and influence of shamanic music: A comparison of the shamanic lingshen music of the Mongol people in Horqin and the Han people in Jiutai) by Wang Xiaodong (Zhongyang Yinyue Xueyuan xuebao/Journal of the Central Conservatory of Music 4:165 [fall 2021] 31–46; RILM Abstracts of Music Literature 2021-17727). Find this journal in RILM Abstracts of Music Literature with Full Text.

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Filed under Asia, Ethnomusicology, Religious music, World music

Tagged as China, folk customs, Horqin, Jilin province, lingshen, Percussion instrument, Ritual, Shamanism, Sound

by rilm | July 24, 2025 · 6:00 am

Brian Wilson’s good vibrations

With the passing of Brian Wilson on 11 June 2025–just days before his 83rd birthday–the music world lost one of its most innovative pop composers and producers. As a songwriter, musician, and producer, Wilson co-founded the Beach Boys in 1961 and was the creative force behind the band during its formative years. He wrote, arranged, and produced most of their material during their first five years, crafting a string of 1960s pop classics. The Beach Boys became synonymous with the vibrant themes of Southern California surf culture and youthful fun. With upbeat, danceable hits like Surfin’ U.S.A. (1963), I get around (1964), Fun, fun, fun (1964), California girls (1965), Good vibrations (1966) and many others, they emerged as one of the most successful pop bands of the decade–culminating in a memorable appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964.

Watch the Beach Boys perform on The Ed Sullivan Show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnnFwfewk9c&list=RDQnnFwfewk9c&start_radio=1

The Beach Boys’ carefree, easygoing surf music was characterized by their distinctive vocal harmonies, which quickly became their trademark. Pet sounds–by far the band’s most musically complex and experimental album–was released in 1966 and was deeply inspired by The Beatles’ 1965 album Rubber soul. Widely regarded as one of the most influential records in pop music history, Pet sounds marked a significant artistic leap for the band and for pop as a whole.

Wilson also produced singles for other artists, including The Honeys, a female vocal trio that featured his wife, Marilyn, and Glen Campbell. His production style was heavily influenced by Phil Spector; he frequently worked at Gold Star Studios and employed many of the same session musicians Spector used during the 1960s. Wilson recorded all the backing tracks for the Beach Boys’ hits live, without overdubbing, often adding vocals afterward. Due to deafness in one ear, he worked exclusively in mono.

Wilson in the mid-1970s, performing on piano.

Wilson with a goat on the photoshoot for the *Pet sounds* album cover.

In 1964, Wilson withdrew from live performances to focus on songwriting and studio work. From the late 1960s onward, he also battled depression and substance abuse, eventually stepping away from the music industry entirely for a time. Despite these challenges, he recorded eleven solo albums between 1988 and 2021 and published his autobiography, I am Brian Wilson: A memoir, in 2016. In 2021, Rolling Stone magazine ranked the Beach Boys’ song God only knows at number 11 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

This according to the entry on Brian Wilson by William Ruhlmann in the Encyclopedia of recorded sound (2005, find it in RILM Music Encyclopedias) and a recently published short obituary in MGG Online.