Book Review: Ugandan Music in the Marketing Era: the branded arena

[...]Ugandan Music in the Marketing Era is a compelling case study of how musical practices considered 'traditional' are interlaced with very modern lives, with personal and collective aspirations, and with global marketing culture. David Pier examines how this takes place in the social interactions in planning and design meetings, in the dramaturgy of the events held in trading centres across the country, within the social organization of the competing groups, and in the music and dance they perform at the Extravaganza. The book will be of great value for readers with an interest in the relationship between popular culture, politics and the market, as Pier's careful analysis of traditional music pinpoints the branded arena with its changing forms of political agency and entwining values of traditional culture and consumer power in rural Uganda.