This book will help you to appreciate one of the world's great religions and the Islamic way of life, to understand what it means to follow the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad — the Messenger of God, to recognize Islam's key practices and traditional beliefs, and to avoid faux pas in conversation, in travelling, and in personal relationships.Access the world's religions with Simple Guides: Religion a series of concise, accessible introductions to the world's majo...

Modern Moves traces the movement of American social dance styles between black and white cultural groups and between immigrant and migrant communities during the early twentieth century. Its central focus is New York City, where the confluence of two key demographic streams - an influx of immigrants from Eastern Europe and the growth of the city's African American community particularly as it centered Harlem - created the conditions of possibility for hybrid dance forms like blues...

The definitive account of the most famous music festival of all time: Woodstock."[A] vivid and lively account of those hectic and historic three days….The best fly-on-the-wall account, tantamount to having had a backstage pass to an iconic event."— New York PostThe Woodstock music festival of 1969 is an American cultural touchstone, and no book captures the sights, sounds, and behind-the-scenes machinations of the historic gathering better t...

Is this the right book for me?Whether you are an absolute beginner, a Strictly Come Dancing wannabe or simply want a fun way to get fit, Craig Revel Horwood's guide to ballroom dancing offers something for everyone. Learn how to become a ballroom babe or a Latin lover as Craig shows you all the basic moves in a fun, lively and straightforward way. Easy-to-follow instructions and illustrations will help you to learn numerous dances, including the traditional foxtrot...

The first official account of the iconic record label.An NME Book of the Year 2013A Rough Trade Book of the Year 2013A Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year 2013This Mortal Coil, Birthday Party, Bauhaus, Cocteau Twins, Pixies, Throwing Muses, Breeders, Dead Can Dance, Lisa Germano, Kristin Hersh, Belly, Red House Painters.Just a handful of the bands and artists who started out recording for 4AD, a record label founded by Ivo Watts-Russell and Pe...

Everything you could possibly know about Verdi and his operas, from the brilliant and humorous author of Wagner Without Fear.If you want to know why La traviata was actually a flop at its premiere in 1853, it's in here. If you want to know why claiming to have heard Bjorling's Chicago performance of Il trovatore is the classic opera fan faux pas, it's in here. Even if you just want to know how to pronounce Aida, or what the plot o...

Sinister Resonance begins with the premise that sound is a haunting, a ghost, a presence whose location is ambiguous and whose existence is transitory. The intangibility of sound is uncanny – a phenomenal presence in the head, at its point of source and all around. The close listener is like a medium who draws out substance from that which is not entirely there.The history of listening must be constructed from the narratives of myth and fiction, 'silent' arts such as painting, the ...

**" [An] endlessly fascinating and frankly addictive masterpiece of safety-pin journalism." -- Austin ChronicleAn oral history of the modern punk-revival's West Coast Birthplace**Outside of New York and London, California?s Bay Area claims the oldest continuous punk-rock scene in the world. Gimme Something Better brings this outrageous and influential punk scene to life, from the notorious final performance of the Sex Pistols, to Jello Biafra?s bid for may...

Why is Mozart the best known and most popular of all the great Western classical composers? As the 250th anniversary of his birth approaches, his reputation stands higher than ever before. This lively new Pocket Guide assesses what Mozart means to us today, and explores why his music is so enduringly valued by listeners.The Guide aims to tell the general reader and listener in concise form all they need to know in order to listen to and enjoy Mozart's music - it will introduce a ne...

What does a conductor actually do? How much effect does he or she have? Can the orchestra manage without one? Why don't the players look at the conductor more? Is it necessary for the conductor to play every instrument? What about interpretation? What happens at rehearsals? Why do some conductors "thrash around" more than others? Who's the boss in a concerto: the soloist or the conductor?These are some of the questions that receive lively andinformative answers in this book...

Rebel Dance, Renegade Stanceshows how community music-makers and dancers take in all that is around them socially and globally, and publicly and bodily unfold their memories, sentiments, and raw responses within open spaces designated or commandeered for local popular dance. Umi Vaughan, an African American anthropologist, musician, dancer, and photographer "plantao" in Cuba—planted, living like a Cuban—reveals a rarely discussed perspective on contemporary Cuban society during th...

Armed with an eighth-grade education, an inexhaustible imagination, and an innate talent for dancing, Hermes Pan (1909-1990) was a boy from Tennessee who became the most prolific, popular, and memorable choreographer of the glory days of the Hollywood musical. While he may be most well-known for the Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers musicals which he choreographed at RKO film studios, he also created dances at Twentieth Century-Fox, M-G-M, Paramount, and later for television, winning both the Osc...