The book is based on 13 years of research work-by the author and starts from the basis of the contemporary
situation in Austria.
The musical styles of autochthonous minorities in rural and urban setting, as well as the music of immigrant
communities. The work is a monographic synopsis which deals moreover methodological questions and also with
non-musical backgrounds, especially the definition of the term, minoritiy, as well as the history of origins of
minorities and the historical, political and sociological settings. Such a topic needs this interdisciplinary point of
view.
The central fifth chapter deals with the musical styles themselves, beginning with the autochthonous groups in rural
settings and continues with those in urban centers. Completeness could not be achieved because of the lack of
sources and material. The musical styles of immigrant communities were divided into those being practiced in
public and those used in the "ghetto". Five individuals from the so-called "Multi-Kulti-Scene", who perform in
public, were selected for research because they represent different segments of musical practice. The internal music
making of immigrant societies, is represented by three groups: Alevi, Yugoslav Roma and Bosnian refugees. They
can be seen as representatives of the biggest immigrant communities in Austria from the former Yugoslavia and
from Turkey.
Although certain musical styles are presented one after the other, they are not seen as isolated items. Relationships
are important: on the one hand there is the relationship towards the majority which appears in the phenomena of
acculturation and assimilation; on the other hand there are points of contact between the minority musical styles.
For this reason the metaphor of a mosaic was chosen, to illustrate how these many colours, big and small pieces,
side by side yet still related to each other, can form a whole picture which is then put into a territorial, historical
and
political frame: Austria. I
The book is contains 93 figures und 95 musical examples, which illustrate the contents. We hope to publish a CD
together with the book, thus enabling the reader the to hear the music examples.