The reggae sound system has exerted a major influence on music and popular culture. Out on the streets of inner city Kingston; Jamaica; every night; sound systems stage dancehall sessions for the crowd to share the immediate; intensive and immersive visceral pleasures of sonic dominance. Sonic Bodies concentrates on the skilled performance of the crewmembers responsible for this signature sound of Jamaican music: the audio engineers designing; building and fine-tuning the hugely powerful "sets" of equipment; the selectors choosing the music tracks to play; and MCs(DJs) on the mic hyping up the crowd.Julian Henriques proposes that these dancehall "vibes" are taken literally as the periodic motion of vibrations. He offers an analysis of how a sound system operates - at auditory; corporeal and sociocultural frequencies. Sonic Bodies formulates a fascinating critique of visual dominance and the dualities inherent in ideas of image; text or discourse. This innovative book questions the assumptions that reason resides only in a disembodied mind; that communication is an exchange of information; and that meaning is only ever representation.
#1458215 in eBooks 2009-04-16 2009-04-16File Name: B00LVX0W76
Review
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful. A unique and captivating tributeBy Midwest Book ReviewSam Mendes At The Donmar: Stepping Into Freedom by London theatre critic and arts correspondent Matt Wolf is a close chronicle of first decade of the Donmar Warehouse; the site of unforgettable play performances which ranged from classics of live theatre to the works of contemporary playwrights such as Samuel Beckett; Brian Friel; and Harold Pinter. Celebrating The Donmars tenth anniversary as a theater (and doubling as a farewell to Sam Mendes who has left the theater to further his career on the silver screen); Sam Mendes At The Donmar is a unique and captivating tribute enhanced throughout with black-and-white photographs and thought-provoking quotations.
