For Christmas, a wealth of posts on Bach stephenjones.blog/2017/12/23/b...

And just as moving is Messiaen’s Vingt regards sur l’enfant-Jésus stephenjones.blog/2021/12/23/v...

Léon Theremin and his ethereal invention, divinely played by Clara Rockwell, against the background of the Russian Revolution, America’s Great Depression and the celebrities of the day, Stalin’s gulag, two world wars, the cold war, and perestroika stephenjones.blog/2021/08/16/t...

Part of my series on Bach stephenjones.blog/2017/12/23/b...

Mesmerising: Bach in an empty Japanese forest stephenjones.blog/2022/11/01/b...

My new film on the 1995 New Year's rituals in Gaoluo village south of Beijing!!! stephenjones.blog/gaoluo-the-f...

now with YouTube trailer too! stephenjones.blog/the-film/

Sport: ritual and gender stephenjones.blog/2020/05/29/s...

The great Ronnie O'Sullivan at 50 stephenjones.blog/2019/01/14/r...

Links to a wealth of articles on ritual and soundscape in the temples of old Beijing and amateur ritual associations on the plain just south stephenjones.blog/2018/04/25/b...

In the top menu, "Roundups" rubric leads to many themes

Late imperial Chinese artefacts: the riches of fieldwork on living regional traditions going back many generations, surpassing museum collections stephenjones.blog/2023/05/22/c...

Society and soundscape: a roundup of posts

For Holodomor Memorial Day stephenjones.blog/2022/03/27/s...

notably the GDR, on which I particularly admired Maxim Leo's Red Love stephenjones.blog/2021/03/05/r...

Roundup of posts on life behind the Iron Curtain stephenjones.blog/2019/11/10/l...

Links to my series on flamenco, one of the glories of European culture—based on the remarkable documentary series Rito y geografïa del cante, including cante jondo and palmas; gender, politics, wine, and deviance stephenjones.blog/2019/06/21/f...

What is "serious" music?! stephenjones.blog/what-is-seri...

The Li family Daoists: a misleading official name, and the Heritage shtick stephenjones.blog/rectifying-n...

Household Daoist ritual groups of Hunyuan county, Shanxi stephenjones.blog/hunyuan-daoi...

From my series of fieldnotes from the 1990s: village ritual associations of Xiongxian, Hebei stephenjones.blog/xiongxian-ri...

Absolutely shocking that the Chinese govt pressured a UK university to shut down research about forced labour in Xinjiang and the links to global supply chains. The work of Laura Murphy and her team had been instrumental in getting Chinese companies sanctioned. www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Today: annual köçek dancing with drum and shawm in Istanbul! stephenjones.blog/2021/11/09/k...

The qin zither under Maoism: five vignettes stephenjones.blog/2021/12/21/q...

Three baldies and a mouth-organ: roundup of posts on the ritual/music of Beijing temples and village associations stephenjones.blog/2018/04/25/b...

Collected posts on folk cultures of Europe stephenjones.blog/2024/07/14/f... complementing regional surveys on east Europe, Italy, Portugal, flamenco, Irish folk, and so on

A fabulously eclectic playlist of songs stephenjones.blog/2018/09/02/w...

Part of my Mahler series! stephenjones.blog/2022/09/06/m...

My current earworm: the 2nd movement of Mahler 5 stephenjones.blog/2019/12/04/m...

An online archive of Armenian culture on the eve of the 1915 genocide stephenjones.blog/2025/10/02/a...

Serendipitous courtesy stephenjones.blog/2025/09/29/s...

As well as this sketch of Shan Fuyi, another main source for our material on the early and modern history of Gaoluo stephenjones.blog/2019/09/25/v...

A village elder, before and after Liberation stephenjones.blog/2019/07/11/v... Part of my series on the modern history of Gaoluo

A new collection of essays on rebetika stephenjones.blog/2025/09/21/n...

In memory of the great ethnomusicologist David Hughes stephenjones.blog/2025/09/16/i...

Recopying the Li family Daoist ritual manuals stephenjones.blog/2018/12/31/r...

Li Qing’s Daoist uncle Li Peisen had already anticipated the ravages of Maoist campaigns by moving to the safety of his wife’s natal village, preserving the family ritual manuals—as explained in this post on Women of Yanggao stephenjones.blog/2017/06/13/w...

Nuances of Maoist society: the great Daoist Li Qing takes refuge from the famine by joining a state Arts Work Troupe stephenjones.blog/2019/01/19/d...

Since my film on the 1995 New Year's rituals in Gaoluo won awards at the Chinese Musics Ethnographic Film Festival in Shanghai, I reflect further on the gulf between ethnography and reified glamorisation, and issues in discussing politics stephenjones.blog/2025/09/11/g...

An upcoming international conference at Oxford in honour of Craig Clunas brings together leading scholars in the field of Ming studies and art history stephenjones.blog/2025/09/07/e...

2) for Gaoluo village, subject of my most detailed historical ethnography: stephenjones.blog/2025/04/30/d...

It's often been debated if Trump could pull off a fascist takeover of the United States, because he's clearly not very smart. I talked to @anneapplebaum.bsky.social about that for my newsletter

Djokovic's celebration reminds me to document some of the diverse ways of playing the violin stephenjones.blog/2024/08/31/w...

Survey of village ritual associations on the Hebei plain stephenjones.blog/sects-hebei/

Collected posts on Mahler, soundtrack to all the anguish and elation of the 20th century: symphonies, chamber arrangements, piano rolls, Alma and Anna... stephenjones.blog/2022/09/06/m...

Mahler at this year's Proms! stephenjones.blog/2025/08/26/m...

A noir plot suggested by a Japanese phrasebook! stephenjones.blog/2017/01/21/j...

*Don’t miss* the late lamented Nicolas Robertson's astounding series of anagram tales, based on composers’ names, Mozart operas, and so on!!! My index can only hint at the riches contained within them… stephenjones.blog/2021/08/30/a...

Ravel and Stravinsky at the Proms, with copious links—and a party game... stephenjones.blog/2025/08/16/p...