Music Traditions, Cultures, and Contexts is a tribute to the ethnomusicologist Beverley Diamond in recognition of her outstanding scholarly accomplishments. The volume includes essays by leading ethnomusicologists and music scholars as well as a biographical introduction.
The book’s contributors engage many of the critical themes in Diamond’s work, including musical historiography, musical composition in historical and contemporary frameworks, performance in diverse contexts, gender issues, music and politics, and how music is nested in and relates to broader issues in society. The essays raise important themes about knowing and understanding musical traditions and music itself as an agent of social, cultural, and political change. Music Traditions, Cultures, and Contexts will appeal to music scholars and students, as well as to a general audience interested in learning about how music functions as social process as well as sound.

Robin Elliott taught at University College Dublin for six years before assuming the Jean A. Chalmers Chair in Canadian Music at the University of Toronto in 2002. He has edited several books, including , with Gordon E. Smith, Istvan Anhalt: Pathways and Memory (2001) and with Friedemann Sallis and Kenneth DeLong, Centre and Periphery, Roots and Exile: Interpreting the Music of Istvan Anhalt and György Kurtág (WLU Press, 2009).

Gordon E. Smith is a professor of ethnomusicology at Queen’s University. Formerly director of the School of Music, he is currently Associate Dean in the Faculty of Arts and Science. His recent publications include Istvan Anhalt: Pathways and Memory (with Robin Elliott), Folk Music, Traditional Music, Ethnomusicology: Canadian Perspectives, Past and Present (2007); and Marius Barbeau: Modelling Twentieth-Century Culture (2008).

Robin Elliott's profile page

Gordon E. Smith is a professor of ethnomusicology at Queen’s University. Formerly director of the School of Music, he is currently Associate Dean in the Faculty of Arts and Science. His recent publications include Istvan Anhalt: Pathways and Memory (with Robin Elliott), Folk Music, Traditional Music, Ethnomusicology: Canadian Perspectives, Past and Present (2007); and Marius Barbeau: Modelling Twentieth-Century Culture (2008).

Gordon E. Smith's profile page

The volume is both interesting and informative.... I recommend Music Traditions, Cultures, and Contexts to those interested in music and identity, cultural contexts of music, popular, and traditional music. Libraries boasting collections on said topics should consider purchasing this title, as it contributes to the discourse and provides additional insights into contemporary ethnomusicology.

Joe C. Clark, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, Fontes Artis Musicae, 60/1, 2014 January

The editors have done an excellent job drawing together significant essays to honour Diamond. This festschrift is a valuable compilation that belongs in all music collections.

Elaine Keillor, Carleton University, CAML Review, Vol 39, #1, 2011, 2011 May