Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 November 2008
Popular music is sometimes discussed from a rather ethnocentric viewpoint, lacking awareness of, or not acknowledging, influences assimilated from non-Western musics, while in the field of ethnomusicology, issues such as the preservation of traditional styles (see Baumann 1992, pp. 11–15) remain important, but there is an increased interest in the processes of change and the effects of technology (see, for example, Wallis and Malm 1984). As Western and traditional styles interact, changes occur, and as Frith puts it: ‘popular music study rests on the assumption that there is no such thing as a culturally “pure” sound’ (1989, p. 3).