Neapolitan Postcards

Repertoires are traditionally studied in relation to their native habitat. Much as that is needed, it does not tell us the whole story. That's because many of them, in time, develop transnational dimensions. An understanding of how, when, and why that happens yields extraordinary insights into the nature of the music itself, and that of the people who, for any number of reasons, choose to establish a relationship with a repertoire which should in principle be foreign to them. This book, devoted to the Neapolitan song tradition, is a brilliant example of this new approach, one that will hopefully set both a standard and a trend. -- Marcello Sorce Keller, Institut für Musikwissenschaft, Universität Bern
Neapolitan Postcards announces a paradigm shift just as important as the one initiated by Paul Gilroy’s The Black Atlantic two decades ago. These sophisticated essays—themselves trans-Atlantic in origin—tell of a diasporic intimacy centered on Neapolitan music’s Mediterranean, African, Arab, and circum-Atlantic creolized sound. I cannot recommend this book too highly. -- John Gennari, associate professor, University of Vermont, author of Flavor and Soul and Blowin’ Hot and Cool