Book Review: RECONFIGURING MUSICAL CULTURES IN CENTRAL AND SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

Abstract

‘Music has to belong to someone to have an identity, it seems. And as political borders force cultural communities either side of a line, invented histories validate the new spaces’ (Samson, 3). With these two statements, Jim Samson sets the scene for the following studies — all of which explore how musical traditions, legacies, or tropes are entangled with the processes of identity formation in Central and Southeastern Europe. Focusing on neglected regional perspectives in terms of Anglophone scholarship, which are nevertheless becoming increasingly accessible (not least thanks to several authors of this very volume), this collection is a welcome addition to understanding music and identity in these meta-regions. The striking cover artwork by Miklós Bencze complements the aims of this undertaking and sug¬gests some of the themes and com¬plexity found within the pages.