Perspectives on a 21st century comparative musicology. An introduction

This essay concerns a radical rethinking - at a theoretical and epistemological level - of the history of ethnomusicology, due to the profound transformation of the object of study. What perspectives may a comparative musicology have in the tweny-frst century? Are the theories and methods of investigation so far employed by ethnomusicologists still effective and useful? How can ethnomusicology be freed of the mith and ideology of its past history and its general funcion in the present reality be redefined? Does the label ethnomusicology still effectively identify our discipline? In the volume several distinguished scholars (coming from different parts of the world, and from different fields of study) implicitly or explicitly react to the theoretical issues presented in this introductory essay