Tales, Tunes, and Tassa Drums

Peter Manuel is a professor of musicology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY and author of Popular Musics of the Non-Western World: An Introductory Survey and Caribbean Currents: Caribbean Music from Rumba to Reggae.

"Peter Manuel's book is therefore a welcome addition to the existing Indian historiography of the Caribbean… Manuel uses mainly an ethnographic approach to support his analyses, essentially visiting and participating in events relating to Bhojpuri music in India, the Caribbean (mainly Trinidad) and the Indo-Caribbean North American diaspora. This approach has produced one of the most compelling books on Indo-Caribbean music… Manuel must be commended for producing this important scholarship on music in the Caribbean in particular, as well as India and the Indian diaspora in general."--Ethnomusicology Forum "A truly significant contribution. . . . The focus on under-theorized, flexibly handled, challengingly conceived if sometimes simple musical phenomena is much in keeping with Manuel's work throughout his career and this book is, in my view, a crowning achievement in that regard."--Richard Wolf, author of The Voice in the Drum: Music, Language, and Emotion in Islamicate South Asia "A definitive study of diverse musical traditions among the Indian communities of Trinidad, Suriname, Guyana, and the U.S. Manuel offers a descriptive/historical study based no extensive fieldwork. . . . Although he has published in this area previously, there are no comparable books. . . . no one else could have written such a comprehensive and clear study.  Recommended."--Choice"Of great value to scholars and students of both Caribbean and Indian music, as well as to individuals with a general interest in diaspora studies."--Journal of Folklore Research "An ambitious study of diaspora dynamics with significant implications for contemporary understandings of Indo-Caribbean identity and musical traditions, national identity in Trinidad, Guyana, Suriname, and Fiji, and the concept of diaspora itself. Timely and relevent in its topic, scope, observations, and conclusions, it fills a gap in the extant literature on Indo-Caribbean musical traditions, specifically with regard to tassa drumming… Tales, Tunes, and Tassa Drums is destined to be well-received and much consulted in the years to come."--Notes "In Tales, Tunes, and Tassa Drums Peter Manuel investigates the concepts of retention and invention in underexplored musics of the Indo-Caribbean diaspora that have only been briefly studied in previous ethnomusicological research… A captivating read for anyone interested in music in the Caribbean and diaspora studies more generally."--Latin American Music Review "Manuel distinguishes himself by remaining clear-headed with his analysis, elegantly using apolitical musical analysis to inform discussion of long-standing social tensions between Indian-and African-Trinidadians without getting bogged down in unnecessary details. . . . Tales, Tunes, and Tassa Drums is thoughtful and witty while demonstrating a depth of knowledge that no other author could achieve."--Western Folklore "The author is careful not to over-generalize, looking at each example in comparative contexts before making any broad theoretical claims. The work is provocative and will be a welcome addition to the literature on Indian diasporic music."--Frank J. Korom, author of Hosay Trinidad: Muharram Performances in an Indo-Caribbean Diaspora