Folk Music of China: Living Instrumental TraditionsText and CD

by Stephen Jones

This book opens the door on the magnificent living traditions of folk music in rural China. Instrumentalists performing in Chinese villages today are still practising traditions handed down from the temples and courts of imperial times. Stephen Jones's book illustrates the beauty and variety of these folk traditions, from the plangent shawm bands of the rugged north to the more mellifluous string ensembles of the southeastern coast. Working closely with the Music Research Institute in Beijing, Stephen Jones has used his fieldwork in China to write a book offering a rare insight into the riches of these traditions. He does much to dispel our image of Chinese music as consisting largely of revolutionary opera and kitsch urban professional arrangements of folk music, and looks beyond official culture to the true folk traditions.

458 pages, Paperback

First published November 9, 1995

About the author

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Stephen Jones has been documenting living traditions of ritual and music in rural China since 1986, going on to hold research posts at SOAS while working as a violinist in London early music ensembles. He is also author of Folk Music of China, Plucking the Winds, Ritual and Music of North China (2 vols., with DVDs), and In Search of the Folk Daoists of North China.