Transported by Song: Corsican Voices from Oral Tradition to World Stage

(You may have heard Corsican sacred polyphony on recordings by Marcel Pérès's Ensemble Organum or remember the all-female polyphony group from Corsica that opened the 1992 Winter Olympics.) The book's subtitle, "Corsican Voices from Oral Tradition to World Stage," might imply that Corsican vocal music has made a one-way trip from the craggy cradle of Corsica to the cosmopolitan and commercial world music arena. Detailed but not excessively encyclopedic, the context provided here is relevant to understanding the conclusions Bithell draws about Corsica's contemporary music scene in later chapters.\n She argues that singing polyphony has provided a new way for women to perform their identity as Corsicans and participate in the island's musical life. The book could easily have indulged in a mournful narrative of decline or a naive celebration of musical longevity here, but after ten years spent attending concerts, reading the local press, conducting historical research and, most importantly, listening to singers discuss their art, Bithell concludes that "the two poles of archaism and innovation" are in Corsica often "embodied in the same individuals" (261).