Music of the Warao of Venezuela: Song People of the Rain Forest

Cultural tragedy often accompanies the death of biological species in the South American rain forests. As fragile as the ecosystem is the culture of the Warao Native Americans continues to thrive. In this lively blend of musicology, anthropology, and environmental awareness, Dale Olsen shows that music holds together much of their existence. Hardback published in 1996.

• Winner of the 1997 Alan P. Merriam Prize for "Most Outstanding Book in Ethnomusicology" by the Society for Ethnomusicology

Ethnomusicology as Advocacy • Warao image gallery •
Audio Examples (same as enclosed CD) • University Press of FL • Purchase Book

Musics of Many Cultures: Study Guide & Workbook, Fourth Edition

Musics of Many Cultures is designed to guide students through the diverse chapters of Elizabeth May's textbook, Musics of Many Cultures, for college and university world music classes. The workbook helps both music and non-music majors more clearly understand the materials in the text; it will also aid in preparations for exams. 

Audio Examples • Kendall/Hunt • Purchase Book

Music of El Dorado: The Ethnomusicology of Ancient South American Cultures

In the first comprehensive synthesis of Andean musical instruments, Dale Olsen breathes life and humanity into the music making of pre-Hispanic cultures in the northern and central Andes. He assesses three decades' worth of anthropological findings from diverse collections, museums, tombs, and temples. Hardback published in 2002; paperback version published in 2004.

Audio Examples • University Press of FL • Purchase Book

The Chrysanthemum and the Song: Music, Memory, and Identity in the South American Japanese Diaspora

Music helps form and nurture ethnic identity for large populations of people of Japanese descent in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Peru, and Paraguay. In a story never before told, Dale Olsen offers a musical history and ethnography of this vibrant Asian diaspora, the largest population of overseas Japanese in the world and one of the most successful subcultures in South America. Hardback published in 2004.

Audio Examples • University Press of FL • Purchase Book

The Garland Handbook of Latin American Music, Second Edition

coedited with Daniel E. Sheehy

The Garland Handbook of Latin American Music is comprised of essays from The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: Volume 2, South America, Mexico, Central America, and the Carribean (1998). Revised and updated, the essays offer detailed, regional studies of the different musical cultures of Latin America and examine the ways in which music helps to define the identity of this particular area. Second paperback edition published in 2008.

Audio Examples (enclosed CDs only) • Routledge • Purchase Book

Popular Music of Vietnam: The Politics of Remembering, The Economics of Forgetting

Based on the author’s research in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, other urban areas in Vietnam, this study of contemporary Vietnamese popular music explores the ways globalization and free market economics have influenced the music and subcultures of Vietnamese youth, focusing on the conflict between the politics of remembering, nurtured by the Vietnamese Communist government, and the politics of forgetting driven by the capitalist interests of the music industry. Hardback published in 2008; paperback version published in 2010.

Audio Examples (none) • Routledge • Purchase Book

World Flutelore: Flutes in Folktales, Myths, and Other Stories of Magic and Power 

This book (under contract by the University of Illinois Press) is about the cultural significance of flute-type aerophones (edge breath instruments), their players, and their music from around the world. It is a scholarly yet readable study in which the author combines methodologies from folklore/mythology, anthropology, ethnomusicology, and organology. Mostly, however, the author draws upon folktales (narratives or stories). The flute is one of the most ubiquitous musical instruments in the world, and information about its use is vast in almost every culture that has been studied. This book includes many folktales, and each chapter is organized according to topics, such as  "Flutes and Gender Roles," "Flutes, Sexuality, and Love Magic," "Flutes and the Animal Kingdom," "Flutes and Nature," "Flutes and Protective Power," "Flutes and the Casting of Spells that Cause Death," and many more. Forthcoming in 2013.