Traditional Folk Song in Modern Japan

David Hughes is Senior Lecturer in Ethnomusicology at SOAS, University of London, where he served two periods as Head of the Department of Music. He has spent over nine years in Japan, much of it involved in the folk song world as researcher, but often also as performer and judge at song contests. His other main research interests and publications involve music transmission, oral mnemonics cross-culturally, Central Java (gamelan), traditional street musicians and grammars of music. Most recently, he has co-edited with Alison Tokita, and contributed to, The Ashgate Companion to Japanese Music (2007).

Professional and scholarly

Foreword; 1 Folk song in Japan: the background; 2 Song and music in the traditional village; 3 Folk song in transition; 4 The modern urban folk song world; 5 The modern countryside and the performing arts; 6 At the edges of the 'folk song world'; 7 Japanese folk song: retrospect, circumspect, prospect; Appendix 1: Texts of shin-min'yo and related popular songs; Appendix 2: Addresses related to min'yo; Appendix 3: A marketing guide for min'yo recordings; Bibliography; Audio-Videography; Glossary; Index of musical works; Notes to accompanying CD; General index