Discordant Notes

"Discordant Notes provides a rich, polyphonic, and engaging narrative of the role played by music in Madrid's everyday life and how sound was used to create and to control sources of anxiety to its 'respectable' audiences." -- João Silva, Transposition: Musique et Sciences Sociales "A brilliant exploration of music, noise and the soundscapes that accompanied Madrid's evolution into a modern metropolis. Llano's ground-breaking study of music and marginality delves into the worlds of flamenco, organ grinders and workhouse bands, shedding fresh light on issues of race, class and politics. A truly remarkable contribution to the social history of music." --Michael Christoforidis, Associate Professor, Musicology, Melbourne Conservatorium of Music (Parkville), The University of Melbourne "Samuel Llano's fascinating study presents fresh, thought provoking, insights into Spanish music. This book is a must-read for scholars of Spanish music and will be of great interest to historians and sociologists studying Spanish urban culture." --William Craig Krause, Associate Professor of Music, Hollins University, co-author (with Walter Clark), Federico Moreno Torroba, A Musical Life in Three Acts, Oxford University Press, 2013 "A fascinating discussion of how the labeling of certain forms of music as noise in nineteenth and early twentieth-century Madrid contributed to the discourses (and practice) of social control. A major contribution to the emerging field of Spanish sound studies." --Jo Labanyi, New York University