Sound Tracks: Popular Music Identity and Place

Soundtrackstraces the relationships between music, space and identity-from inner city 'scenes' to the music of nations-to give a wide-ranging perspective on popular music. It examines the influence of cultures, economics, politics and technology on the changing structure and geographies of music at local and global levels. Taking music from its role as an expression of local culture in indigenous societies to its gradual evolution towards a global music industry, this work pays particular attention to the complex spread of world music from reggae to zouk and beyond. Containing an impressive and comprehensive range of global case studiesSoundtrackstakes an innovative approach to the complex and changing relationships between music and space to provide a genuine global assessment of the power and pleasure of popular music in its many forms.

John Connell is Professor of Geography and Head of the School of Geosciences at the University of Sydney.