In the first comprehensive synthesis of Andean musical instruments, Dale Olsen breathes life and humanity into the music making of pre-Hispanic cultures in the northern and central Andes. He assesses three decades' worth of anthropological findings from diverse collections, museums, tombs, and temples.

Recognizing music as a vital social and cultural force, each volume of this set of book on geographical areas of world music focuses on a single region and examines the role of music in the lives, arts and culture of its people. This volume describes the essential fabric of South and Central America and then explores the traditions, performance practices, and themes that bind the music together into a dynamic tapestry of art and daily life. The coverage provides an overview of the region, reviews its music heritage and scholarship, and describes specific musical cultures, genres, and...

In many places around the world, flutes and the sounds of flutes are powerful magical forces for seduction and love, protection, vegetal and human fertility, birth and death, and other aspects of human and non-human behavior. This book explores the cultural significance of flutes, flute playing, and flute players from around the world as interpreted from folktales, myths, and other stories--in a word, "flutelore." A scholarly yet readable study, World Flutelore: Folktales, Myths, and Other Stories of Magical Flute Power draws upon a range of sources in folklore, anthropology, ethnomusicology,...