And the Roots of Rhythm Remain

Joe Boyd

$81.95

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

ZE Books
10 September 2024

Music; Music reviews & criticism; Reggae; World music

Series: ZE

"From the legendary producer of Nick Drake, R.E.M., Toots and the Maytals, and Pink Floyd and author of White Bicycles: Making Music in the 1960s comes a riveting, world-spanning tour de force illuminating the artists, histories, controversies, and collaborations that shaped global music.

Paul Simon told Joe Boyd that when he first heard the accordion flourish that would open his multi-platinum album Graceland, it seemed to proclaim, ""You haven't heard this before!"" Yet the 1980s ""world music"" boom that Simon's album helped usher in had roots that extended back through the decades and across continents: tango on the eve of World War I, Latin dance across the '30s, '40s and '50s, reggae in the '70s, pre-War samba and pre-Beatles bossa nova, Eastern European ensembles filling capitalist concert halls during the Cold War, Indian ragas changing rock and roll in the 1960s, the folk music-inspired classical composers of the 19th and 20th centuries.

In this sweeping history compiled from more than a decade of travel, research, interviews, and deep listening, Boyd sets out to explore centuries of fascinating backstories to these sounds. He shows how personalities, events, and politics in places such as Havana, Lagos, Budapest, Kingston, and Rio are as colorful and momentous as anything that took place in New Orleans, Harlem, Laurel Canyon, or Liverpool. And, moreover, how jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock 'n' roll would never have happened if it weren't for the notes and rhythms emanating from over the horizon. The one-of-a-kind result is And the Roots of Rhythm Remain: a glorious, symphonic celebration of the music that shapes our world."

By: Joe Boyd
Imprint: ZE Books
Volume: 6
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
ISBN: 9798988670025
Series: ZE
Pages: 916
Publication Date: 10 September 2024
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Joe Boyd is a record producer and writer, known for his acclaimed memoir, White Bicycles. Artists he has produced include Nick Drake, R.E.M., Toots and the Maytals, Richard Thompson, Pink Floyd, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, and �Cubanismo! among many others over the course of a nearly sixty-year career. After graduating from Harvard in 1964, he tour-managed Muddy Waters, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto, and others before serving as production manager for the historic 1965 Newport Folk and Jazz Festivals. He then moved to London to open Elektra Records' office and started the famous UFO club, which became the center of London's psychedelic revolution. In 1979 he launched his own label, Hannibal Records, which was at the forefront of bringing global artists to western audiences. As a film producer, his credits include Amazing Grace, Scandal, and Jimi Hendrix. A gifted raconteur, he appears frequently on radio, podcasts and documentaries.

Reviews for And the Roots of Rhythm Remain

"""Joe Boyd has an acute ear for music and an astute eye for talent that has led him around the world, recording and returning with music that has been and will be an indelible and fascinating part of our culture. Here he reveals the searching intellect, the generous spirit, and the deep heart beneath his extraordinary life's work."" --T Bone Burnett ""What an amazing book! Joe Boyd has distilled decades of experience and observation of how musical ideas interbreed, and how culture is formed, into a tumultuous, gripping and dramatic story. I doubt I'll ever read a better account of the history and sociology of popular music than this one."" --Brian Eno"