FOLK SONGS OF THE AMERICAS (First edition, first printing)

First printing of the true first edition - published for the International Folk Music Council. International Folk Song Anthologies. ***Near fine in dark-brown cloth-covered boards with gilt titles to the spine and front board. The gilt is still beautifully clean, having been protected by the dustwrapper. The boards are clean and unmarked. Head and tail of spine slightly creased. Corners sharp. No reading lean to the binding. Spine tight. Page block edges clean. Internally also near fine with no inscriptions - just a light violet ink stamp - 'Blessed John Southworth R.C. Secondary Boys School Manchester 10' - to the front free endpaper. Pages clean. No foxing. No creases or tears. ***In a near fine original beige printed dustwrapper, which has not been price-clipped, retaining the original publisher's price of 20s net. The dustwrapper is complete, with virtually no faults - just the lightest rubbing to the edges, and some light handling marks to the pale beige colour, mainly on the back panel. The dustwrapper presents very well. (please see scans) ***276 pages 220mm x 150mm. ***'xThe traverse from the snows of Canada to the squalls of Patagonia passes through many climates with diverse human conditions and a protean array of cultures. To attempt to contain within a modest-sized book even a sampling of the many folk song traditions to be encountered on a long journey, is a task that has caused wiser men than the present Editor to quail. Roughly, the songs in this book belong to three great areas of musical culture. First is the North America area, having European-based melody, though with a powerful Negro addition in its southern region. Next is the so-called Antillean area (though its influence extends at least as far south as Rio), in which the music is aprt-European, part-African. Third is the Andean area (again, the name is misleading, for the territory stretches to the River Plate) where the melodic repertory is made up of varying mixtures of European and Indian elements. (Quote taken from the editor's foreword) ***'Isabel Aretz (14 April 1909 - 2 June 2005) was an Argentine-Venezuelan researcher, writer, ethnomusicologist and composer. After completing her initial studies, Aretz became a senior lecturer at the National Conservatory and began work as an ethnomusic researcher and composer. In 1937 her orchestral work Punto premiered at the Teatro Cervantes. In the next decade, she collected and recorded traditional music, traveling in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Bolivia and Peru. In 1947 she married Venezuelan musician and writer Luis Felipe Ramón y Rivera.She was asked that same year to organize the music section of the Folklore Research Service established in Venezuela, and she continued her research on folk music there. In 1966 she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to record native melodies in Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador and Central America. Aretz-Thiele founded the American Institute of Ethnomusicology and Folklore (INIDEF) in Venezuela and chaired the institution from 1990 and 1995. She became a professor of ethnomusicology at the School of Arts, Central University of Venezuela, and at Indiana University in the United States. She was also a guest lecturer at other universities in Mexico and Colombia. ***A first printing of the true first edition - a fascinating study of the folk music of the Americas. The book is arranged by country, and includes musical scores on each page to accompany the chosen song lyrics. ***For all our books, postage is charged at cost, allowing for packaging: any shipping rates indicated on ABE are an average only: we will reduce the P & P charge where appropriate - please contact us for postal rates for heavier books and sets etc.…