Duet

A lush new history of music that transcends eras, borders, personalities, and genres by revealing how music is something seen, as well as heard.

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From France, India, Brazil, Guyana, Iraq, Italy, Turkey, Ethiopia, Egypt and Armenia, to Greece, China, Japan, Korea, Russia, Iran, the Netherlands, Germany, Wales, Nigeria, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States, Duet: An Artful History of Music reveals just how many connections and cross-pollinations there have been between art and music-making cultures over the centuries and across the globe. Music is interwoven into the fabric of our lives. We listen to it, some of us play it, but throughout history we have also attempted to capture it visually: from the musical images of Ancient Sumer to Frozen's Elsa standing on the side of a mountain, her voice making crystals in the air. In this harmonious tale of music and art, the reader embarks on visual journey through sound.

With the same wonder as Katherine Rundell’s Vanishing Creatures and the paradigm-shifting power of The Story of Art Without Men by Katy Hessell, this deep and winding exploration of music’s visual and material manifestations transforms our understanding of its story - to one built by communities and the every (wo)man, not just by the artists, performers, composers whose flame shines brightest.