Publisher's Synopsis
The annual Music Issue features Karen Tongson on her namesake, Karen Carpenter, and how the particular whiteness of the Carpenters' sound took off in the Philippines; Michael Snyder on a territory in northeast India in which contemporary Christian gospel is effecting near-total cultural assimilation; Phillip Pantuso on Guyanese songbird smugglers; Stephanie Elizondo Griest on dancers who place art above everything else in their lives; and Sandi Rankaduwa on the evolution of female emcees. There will also be (among other things) a special section on unreliable songwriters; a visual examination of Italo Disco's map to humanity's apotheosis via glitter and robot sex; and interviews with Enya, the LA Phil's Deborah Borda, punk bassist Mike Watt, rapper and producer Lil B, and legendary rock muse Bebe Buell.