Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: The Cultural Politics of Singers Levi S. Gibbs

Part I. The Politics of Authenticity and Iconicity

Introduction  Jeff Todd Titon

1. Becoming a “Folk” Icon: Pete Seeger and Musical Activism  Anthony Seeger

2. An Ordinary Icon: Cassettes, Counternarratives, and Shaykh Imam Andrew Simon

3. Idolatry and Iconoclasm in K-Pop Fandom John Lie

Part II. Race, Gender, Ethnicity, and Class

Introduction  Eric Lott

4. All On They Mouth Like Liquor  Treva B. Lindsey

5. Compromise and Competition: The Musical Identities of Afro-Cuban Women SingersChristina D. Abreu

6. Challenging the Divide Between Elite and Mass Cultures: Opera Icon Beverly Sills  Nancy Guy

Part III. Multiplicities of Representations

Introduction  Ruth Hellier

7. Artful Politics of the Voice: “Queen of Romani Music” Esma Redžepova Carol Silverman

8. Teresa Teng: Embodying Asia’s Cold WarsMichael K. Bourdaghs

9. Women, Political Voice, and the South African Diaspora, 1959-2020 Carol A. Muller

Part IV. Singers and Songs as Interweaving Narratives

Introduction  Kwame Dawes

10. The Vocal Narratives of Lata Mangeshkar: Gender, Politics, and Nation in India  Natalie Sarrazin

11. Ya Toyour: One Song in Two Voices  Katherine Meizel

Afterword: The Power of Song   Elijah Wald

Contributors

Index

About the Author

Levi S. Gibbs is an associate professor of Asian societies, cultures, and languages at Dartmouth College. He is the author of Song King: Connecting People, Places, and Past in Contemporary China and the editor of Faces of Tradition in Chinese Performing Arts.

Reviews

“Social Voices resounds with memorable, personal, and prophetic stories of how singers shape our worlds. An expansive, versatile, and mind-opening volume.”--William Cheng, author of Queering the Field: Sounding Out Ethnomusicology "Social Voices recognizes the tremendous power of song to unify in ways that go far beyond the song itself, and to make connections that no other art form can." --Choice