In this book, Byrne lays out a compelling narrative on music. At first glance, it may come across as an autobiography about his music career; but, in fact, this book imparts a good chunk of knowledge on music theory, anthropology, history, even ethnomusicology—provided that we understand the latter is a combination of many other disciplines.

Byrne discusses various musical forms, ranging from acoustic and recording technology to the earth-sky case in music while describing the interrelationship between Balinese gamelan with the worship of the Omnipotent God and tribal African ecstatic rhythms, both of which became modern world music.

Similarly to Byrne's efforts in documenting world music, Vincent Moon, in my opinion, is another brilliant ethnomusicologist.

He may have never ordained himself as an ethnomusicologist, but the filmmaker’s videography contains documentation of music videos from various parts of the world, from exotic samba, the mystical jathilan from Java, the God-summoning ritual à la Senyawa to the retro movement of White Shoes & The Couples Company in the urban landscape. Previously Moon was known for his takeaway-show style in La Blogotheque, a holy grail for indie music aficionados.

In his TED presentation, Moon stated the reason why he finally felt deserving of the ethnomusicologist title: ”I just want my next generation to know that there is a traditional music of our ancestors that is no less cool than Beyoncé.”

Moon presents his videos in an engrossing manner. In my opinion, the Tumblr-ish feel of his documentation appeals to the tastes of today’s youth, while also demonstrating the cool factor of ancestral and traditional music.

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