Women and Music in Cross Cultural Perspective

"The past fifteen years have been a time of intense scholarly interest in women, resulting in an explosion of literature that has begun to reveal the overriding effects of gender on other cultural domains. Affecting all aspects of culture, issues of sexuality, gender-related behaviors, and inter-gender relations also have profound implications for music performance. This volume represents an introduction to the field of women, music, and culture and in no way attempts to be comprehensive in its coverage nor conclusive in its implications. For example, Western classical music is not discussed here, many large world areas are not covered, nor does this volume present a comprehensive survey of all recent developments in feminist-oriented anthropology. What these essays do share is a focus on women's culture identity and musical activity, either in socially isolated performance environments or within the public arenas shared by their male counterparts."--From the preface

This volume offers an introduction to the field of women, music, and culture, examining the implications of gender upon music performance. The presentation focuses on women from many different countries, cultures and historical periods--from the professional musician to the village preserver of traditional music and culture, from the young woman of the 19th century of hymnody tradition of the U.S. to the female tayu or chanter in the male dominated Gidayu narrative tradition of Japan.