Soas Studies in Music

Presence Through Sound narrates and analyses, through a range of case studies on selected music of China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Tibet, some of the many ways in which music and 'place' intersect and are interwoven with meaning in East Asia. It explores how place is significant to the many contexts in which music is made and experienced, especially in contemporary forms of long-standing traditions but also in other landscapes such as popular music, in the design of performance spaces, and in environmentally-centred art music. It shows how music creates and challenges borders, giving significance to geographical and cartographic spaces at local, national and international levels, and illustrates how music is used to interpret relationships with ecology and environment, spirituality and community, and state and nation.

The volume brings together scholars from Australia, China, Denmark, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and the UK, each of whom explores a specific genre or topic in depth. Each nuanced account finds distinct and at times different aspects to be significant, and in demonstrating the ability of music to mediate the imaging of place, and how those who create and consume music use it to inhabit the intimate and project themselves out into their surroundings, points to interconnections across the region and beyond in respect to perception, conception, expression, and interpretation.

In Presence Through Sound, ethnomusicology meets anthropology, literature and linguistics, area studies, and - particularly pertinent to East Asia in the twenty-first century - local musicologies. It serves a broad academic readership and provides an essential resource for all those interested in East Asia.