World Music, The Rough Guide: Latin and North America, Caribbean, India, Asia, and the Pacific (vol. 2)
Rough Guides LTD. ISBN 1-85828-636-0 (2000); 673 pp.

What has become the bible for world music has approached the countenance of an encyclopedia in its second edition. What made the first edition essential reading is all here — authoritative but provocative writing, tons of informative boxes, loads of annotated discographies — but generously expanded for the second edition, which appears to approach 1,500 pages. The pool of writers easily translate their passion and knowledge of the music to even the completely uninitiated listener, yet provide enough meat to satiate the most seasoned world music aficionados.
— Michael Parrish (Downers Grove, IL)

American Folk Music & Left-Wing Politics 1927-1957
by Richard A. Reuss with JoAnne C. Reuss
Scarecrow Press ISBN 0-8108-3684-X (2000); 328 pp.; $55.00

Though it started life as a dissertation for Indiana University, the paper was turned into a book by the author's widow. It's a solid dissertation, impeccably researched, albeit not really a book to be read for entertainment unless sentences like "Urban left-wingers sought to identify… American workers' cultural tradition that derived from the national experience yet was neither the product of the native aristocracy nor bourgeois capitalists, and not subject to their crass socioeconomic manipulations" sound like exciting reading. The book is a lot like that, doing a very good job researching the history of the folk song movement from the union songs of the Depression to the anti-fascist movement of the WWII era to the post-war era of the HUAC, which virtually destroyed the careers of many of the major players. Such stars as the Almanac Singers (which featured Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, both featured prominently), Josh White, Leadbelly, and the Lomax family are profiled extensively. Reuss makes it clear where his sympathies lie, from his solid background in both labor history and social work, and is clearly knowledgeable about the era to which he is referring, giving proper credence to when the singers were truly working for the American Communist Party, and when they were simply victims of post-war anti-Communist hysteria. Many of the main figures here testified before the HUAC, including Burl Ives, who lost the respect of many by testifying against former friends. Though the style of the book is rather academic, and it hardly makes for light reading, it can serve to expand the knowledge of those who think the topical folk-song movement started with Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs in the 60s. — Dave Soyars (Sherman Oaks, CA)

Images of Tradition: 55 Trading Cards Plus Enamel Badge and Flicker Book
English Folk Dance & Song Society (2000)

This set of trading cards contains pictures of various folk music, dance, and custom-related subjects. Examples are traditional singers like the Copper family, Sam Larner, Stan Hugill, Joe Heaney, Margaret Barry, Jeannie Robertson, and Frank Hinchliffe; revival singers like Martin Carthy, The Watersons, Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger, Peter Bellamy, Shirley Collins, and John Kirkpatrick; traditional dancer-musicians like Jinky Wells, Sam Bennett, William Kimber, and the Abbots Bromley Horn Dancers; collector-scholars like Cecil Sharp, Lucy Broadwood, Maud Karpeles, Francis James Child, A.L. Lloyd, and Sabine Baring-Gould; folk customs like the Padstow 'obby 'oss, the Lothian Burry Man, the Marshfield Paper Boys, and the Allendale Tar Barrels; folk-rock bands like Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span, and the Albion Band; classic books and albums like The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs, The Iron Muse, The Transports, The Noah's Ark Trap, and The Folk Songs of Britain LP series; and one organization, the English Folk Dance and Song Society. Each card has a high-quality photo on the front and a brief bio/description/history on the back. They are great fun to browse, and a handy checklist card helps keep them all in order. Along with the set comes an enamel pin representing Cecil Sharp with his bicycle and a "flicker book" (which we call a "flip book" in America) showing a Morris dance performed by Sharp, Maud and Helen Karpeles, and George Butterworth. It all comes in a decorative presentation box.
Possible nits to pick are many: featuring mostly English subjects while dabbling with Scotland and Ireland smacks of tokenism; ignoring organizations other than the EFDSS (like the Irish Traditional Music Archives, the School of Scottish Studies, or even the BBC) could be seen as self-serving; leaving out this or that album, group, or person (e.g. Louis Killen, the Mari Llwyd, Planxty, Pop Maynard, Belle Stewart, Seamus Ennis) is an outrage; there are a few mistakes (the checklist card lists "Lucy Ethelred" instead of "Lucy Broadwood"); the presentation box got squashed on its way across the pond; the flimsy card stock and lack of any glossy coating means the cards are doomed if they get damp, etc., etc. Then, too, they're rather silly. I can't see youngsters collecting or trading them, and adults prefer to get their information in other ways.
But the fact remains, despite all this, that these cards are a pretty nifty idea. They're almost like a miniature guidebook covering the high points of the tradition and the revival. Some of their flaws can be remedied: the set could be expanded indefinitely, if the EFDSS saw fit, with additional cards. Collaborations with other organizations could result in similar sets for Scottish, Irish and Welsh traditions — with perhaps a token English person thrown in. Just watch, in 2050 I'll show up on Antiques Roadshow with a complete set of all 500 tradition cards. I'll even have the most sought-after card of them all: an original first run index complete with the "Lucy Ethelred" mistake. It will make me a millionaire at 82.
Hey, a guy can dream...
— Steve Winick
(Philadelphia, PA)