This volume brings together a collection of 33 articles which have been published within the last 15 years in the journal the world of music. The original articles appeared as separate contributions to 45 different topical
issues of the journal. These reprints reflect a variety of ethnomusicological themes, methods, perspectives and viewpoints. The contributions portray a multifaceted panorama of ethnomusicological research and interest in questions related to music history, musical instruments, genres, and styles in regional and/or national contexts as well as in the creative tension of globalization and transculturalization. Utilizing distinct approaches and addressing a range of different subjects, the authors discuss a variety of topics with reference to the development of particular music traditions-traditions that are reconstructed, imagined, revived or transformed. The contributions show a broad range of interests in music and music developments in continuity, preservation, and intangible cultural heritage. The fields of inquiry range from musical meaning to musical listening, from the dynamic flow of local to those of global processes. Musicians, artifacts, performance practices, music and gender, biographies of musicians, ritual and drama enrich the topics, most of which are based on original field research, observation, and interpretation. All of these contributions are simultaneously involved in debates of selected theoretical issues referring either to the past, present or future of particular music traditions.