Based on the author's field and archival research over a fifteen year period, this fascinating handbook shows how the musical culture of northeast Brazil emerged and evolved, exploring the interrelated traditional musical styles that helped give the regionóand ultimately the Brazilian nationósuch a distinctive cultural identity.

Moving from broad comparative overviews to specific types of music, the book looks at the social contexts, performance practices, musical structures, and cultural meanings that lie behind the music and provides up-close encounters with contemporary musicians creating and maintaining the area's traditions. Additionally, the book examines the role of music and dance traditions in shaping racial identities in Brazil (blackness, whiteness, mulattoness. The accompanying CD, loaded with both commercial and field recordings, brings the book's ideas and discoveries vividly to life.