Music matters

Author: Compiled by the Editorial Department of Network and Books
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-05-01
Features: From the original songs to the invention of musical instruments; from blues to rock music; from Walkman and MTV to the digitized iPod, the way of listening to music has been changing. This book discusses the power of music and how different genres of music move different people. Every era has its representative figures in popular music, and how have these figures influenced people culturally and socially in the past and today? How should today's creators embrace the next golden age of music? Reading is a kind of nourishment for the brain. After the 21st century, the nourishment of reading has undergone qualitative and quantitative changes! The "Network and Books" series, after four years of planning, gathers the participation of authors from both sides of the Taiwan Strait, as well as international authors, to propose—passion for reading and advocacy for reading! The book "Music Matters," published by "Network and Books" in December 2004, presents the musical perspective of Taiwanese cultural figures. Unlike the serene tone of mainland Chinese music books and magazines that discuss music as if talking about "past generations' stories," "Music Matters" reveals the restless face of music in the lives of contemporary people. The book covers topics such as The Beatles, Madonna, Li Jinhui, Luo Dayou, Cui Jian, blues, hip-hop, Chinese guqin, interviews with musicians, and interviews with music lovers, spanning a vast musical timeline. The topics interweave, showcasing the mixed and diverse colors of contemporary times. The book subtly tells people: the appreciation of music no longer revolves around classical music as its core, but music has become a "matter" in life. Every topic involves history, reality, classics, and non-classics, all of which inevitably become "matters" embedded in the personal lives of music appreciators. What is music, what it used to be, and what it is now—what is music as a "matter"? It's a topic that no single book can fully address. For different people and roles, the starting point is different, and the matter is distinct. In the eyes of The Beatles and Madonna, music is a tool to subvert traditional culture and a Tai Chi sword to achieve commercial success; for Li Jinhui, music was a personal fate entangled with history—a disaster. Similarly, Luo Dayou might say music is threatened by globalization, while hip-hop believes that the current overly commercialized pop music is timely, and music is merely a candy for entertainment. In contemporary times, music has indeed ceased to be a solemn palace governed by a complete divine hierarchy, but rather a bustling marketplace with loud calls and heroes vying for dominance. Since the identity of consumers on this earth has become the only habitual identity of today, is it better to lose oneself in music in a concert hall, forgetting time and space, or to sit in a café, lost in the blues—purely a personal choice. Consumers are welcome everywhere as long as they pay. Consumer culture undoubtedly uses money to flatten everything, silently making consumers only understand consumption and gradually forget the mysterious essence of the music object marked with a price. Consumption is bound to be lively, and it will inevitably strip away the bones and marrow, finding the golden ratio in the matters of music. Things sink, measured and grasped mathematically, all falling into the list of commodities. The relationship between the listener and music is no longer a long-lasting companionship with the depths of life, but a relationship of one-time and multiple-time consumption. Music becomes a matter, in the wind of consumption. Meanwhile, the person sitting upright in a concert hall and the one with earphones on the street—whose relationship better reflects the connection between humans and music? "Music Matters" suggests to readers that music, as a sound art, has become a commercial kaleidoscope in the era of reproduction. Music is like colorful shavings in a flowing river, not a god in a temple that people gaze upon. The former musical world, being vast, has become difficult for contemporary people to appreciate calmly and peacefully. The mystery of music will also be distorted by commercialized interpretations and explanations. "Music Matters" has two parts of information at the beginning and end of the book. One is a chronological chart of important historical points in music, and the other is a selection of fifty recommended music books chosen by the editors. These fifty books are divided into six categories: the history of music, music and the soul, culture, music and society, the creators of music, music guides, and music and literature. In the category of music and literature, novels like "Sandalwood Death" are included, and "opera" becomes a branch of "music."