Gypsy music : the Balkans and beyond /

In his attempt to challenge stereotypes associated with the genre, Ashton-Smith has written a book that ignores the lived experience of music produced by Roma people in Europe. His research on "gypsy punk" and choice to use the term gypsy privileges contemporary music produced primarily by non-Roma musicians. Thus, his effort to contrast the people called Roma (and other self-identified ethnic groups that often fall within that broad term) with his ideas of "gypsy" confuses readers. This book is a lightweight survey of Roma history and cultural production, and struggles to contextualize commercial expressions of that production. Though the author offers this as an examination of the Balkan expression of "gypsy" music, he omits from consideration a celebrated study of Balkan Roma music: Charles Keil and Angeliki Vellou Keil's Bright Balkan Morning: Romani Lives and the Power of Music in Greek Macedonia (CH, Jun'03, 40-5712). In general, the meaning of Roma music in the context of village and rural culture in Eastern Europe and the Balkans is given short shrift. Summing Up: Optional. General readers only. --Llyn De Danaan, emeritus, Evergreen State College