From the Editor

Historical time, whether viewed synchronically or diachronically, continues to be a factor in the development of our field and an analytical frame for the research that we do. Ethnomusicology, particularly in the first half of the twentieth century and in North America, often described itself in contrast to historical musicology as the study of music production of an ethnographic present rather than of music production and icons of a materially documented past. Although this essentialized binary appeared to exclude historical method for the field, it was actually decontextualized—historical methodologies were integrated into a constellation of tools that was becoming increasingly interdisciplinary. The consideration of history became just one of a diverse set of tools used by ethnomusicologists. In more recent decades such categories as "historical ethnomusicology" and "music archeology" have emerged, evidence of an ongoing engagement with historical approaches, sometimes in highly innovative ways. The four major articles and four of the six print reviews reflect the ways history informs our field.

"In Search of Asylum: Solitary Singing Practice in Koin Norae-Bang by Contemporary Korean Young People" by Jayoung Joo considers historical changes in the short term for karaoke performance. Although it began as a populist, group-oriented, and social practice, Joo examines the way in Korea a practice of the solitary singer who sings for himself or herself has emerged. There are implications for intent and certainly reception. The history of karaoke is short so that questions of process become all the more intriguing.

In contrast, Richard Miller in his essay "Capturing Sound or History? Understanding the 1928 Minzoku Geijutsu Transcription Debate" provides a case study of a historical point in Japanese musicology that focused on a "universal" concern about musical transcription and its implications for the study of any music. Miller, from a historical and geographical remove, problematizes transcription in staff notation as one of the central tools of our field. At the same time he gives us insight into another perspective in scholarly analysis.

Using the locational binary of the urban city and the pastoral, nomadic rural, as metaphors for the present and an ongoing past, Sunmin Yoon provides a number of historical threads in the study "Mobilities, Experienced and Performed, in Mongolia's Urtyn Duu Tradition." The article examines the genre as practice, practitioners of the genre, and the author's research experiences in a historical frame, locating the theme of mobility in a number of different domains.

The final article illustrates the usefulness of sound technology for the understanding of musical practice. In "Sound Spectrum Analysis: Ryūteki and Hichiriki Techniques as Performers of Structure and Mode in Etenraku," Amy D. Simon subjects recorded performances of gagaku that span an entire century (1903–2003) to sound spectral analysis. These yield significant information on stability and change in such details as intonation, bending pitches, and breath pauses. For gagaku as a genre that is iconically historical and intentionally emphasizes continuity, Simon provides evidence for the degree of success in this endeavor.

Four of the book reviews are historical in their focus: Music of Azerbaijan: From Mugham to Opera, by Aida Huseynova; Beyond "Innocence": Amis Aboriginal Song in Taiwan as an Ecosystem, by Shzr Ee Tan; The Fighting Art of Pencak Silat and Its Music: From Southeast Asian Village to Global Movement, edited by Uwe U. Paetzold and Paul H. Mason; and Sonic Modernities in the Malay World: A History of Popular Music, Social Distinction, and Novel Lifestyles (1930s–2000s), edited by Bart Barendregt. Although Southeast Asia is heavily represented in this set of book reviews, the entire issue provides a diversity of regions: West Asia and East Asia as well as Southeast Asia.

To close with a historical event of our own, this year we celebrate volume 50 of Asian Music and mark it with our first cover photograph printed in color.