Baldacchino, Godfrey, ed. Island Songs. A Global Repertoire. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2011. xli + 299 pp. Index, hardcover. ISBN 978-0-8108-8177-8, $70.00. Why focus on island song? What about islands captures our fancy? How do the characteristics of island life give rise to song? How do the songs of one island merit comparison to any other? Why should those of us not living on islands care? We might ask these very questions of the new book Island Songs. In his opening chapter, editor Godfrey Baldacchino does more than justify the focus of this book; he and the contributing authors frame the study of islands, their culture, and their music in various contexts that reveal the value of song and singing to islanders and by extension to us all. For music educators seeking sophisticated explorations of the relationship between song, culture, and historical contexts, this collection of essays is a valued resource. It is not the first book to focus on island music. Island Music (2004) by Kevin Dawe--who wrote the preface to this book--precedes it, as do many other studies that Baldacchino reviews in his introduction. While earlier publications share the comparative scope of Island Songs, the specific focus on song sets this publication apart. However, despite the reference to repertoire implied in the title, the book does not provide educators with songs for their students to sing. Certainly an industrious reader could use the lists and discographies that conclude each chapter to identify and collate a collection of songs from islands spanning the globe featured in the chapters. The essays address performance practice for Jamaica, Trinidad, Tobago, Barbados, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Martinique, Guadaloupe, St. Barthelemy, St. Martin, Cape Breton, Newfoundland, Hebrides, Jersey, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Chiloe, Crete, Sicily, the Aeolian Islands, Ibiza, Formentera, Gotland, with passing reference to others including Iceland, Melanesia, and East Timor. The scope is impressive and critical to the editor's intent to compare expression across geographical and cultural divides. Thus, while it would be quite an undertaking to cull a representative song list from those entries, mining the cultural analysis provided in Island Songs is likely to be far more rewarding to music scholars and teachers. Godfrey Baldacchino is a sociologist and research chair of island studies at the University of Prince Edward Island, Canada. The founder and executive editor of the Island Studies Journal, his three earlier books, A World of Islands (2007), Bridging Islands (2007), and Island Enclaves (2010), demonstrate his commitment to exploring the relationship between geographic conditions, social relationships, and culture. He admits to limited music expertise but has a long-standing relationship with the organization Advancing Interdisciplinary Research in Singing (AIRS), which cosponsored this book and helped determine its focus. Significantly, Baldacchino understands islands as concentrated depositories of the world's diversity and as ideal candidates for observing and critiquing the dynamic of globalization (xxiv). He further sees songs as ideal tools for deciphering the contradictions and paradoxes that comprise island life (xxii). The diversity of perspectives represented by the authors is a main strength of the book. The contributors are an international team (many representing the islands they examine) whose experiences range from academics to cultural activism: Ijahnya Christian (English Caribbean), Soraya Marcano (Spanish Caribbean), Yoko Oryu and Godfrey Baldacchino (French Caribbean), Heather Sparling (Cape Breton), Deatra Walsh (Newfoundland), Ray Burnett and Kathryn A. Burnett (Scottish Hebrides), Henry Johnson (Jersey Islands), Oli Wilson (Papua New Guinea), Jennifer Cattermole (Fiji), Walter Garrido and Philip Hayward (Chiloe), Maria Hnaraki (Crete), Sergio Bonanzinga (Sicily), Cristoforo Garigliano (Aeolian Islands), Judith R. …
Read full abstract