EOL 3: Editor's introduction

I remember vividly the ambiance of the meeting where these papers were first read. In the historical city of Molfetta (Bari), Italy, on June 28, 1996, we gathered in the cool medieval grotto of the Sala dei Templari (Hall of the Templars) with the waves of the Adriatic softly lapping at the shore outside the open window in counterpoint to the musical examples playing inside the room.

Three authors (Svanibor Pettan, Tullia Magrini, Amnon Shiloah) from that day at the Hall of the Templars and keynote speaker Philip Bohlman from the previous day's session in Bari kindly accepted my invitation to publish their articles in a number of EOL devoted to the Mediterranean. The organizer and moderator of that session, Professor Tullia Magrini, generously agreed to be Co-Editor of this number, her duties including vetting and editing the fifth article by me (all EOL articles are peer-reviewed). Magrini's selections produced a range of views from the most abstract to the most specific.

Bohlman's opening keynote essay offers a majestic, lyric overview of Mediterranean history and myth. He includes historical and modern maps, scores, and recordings.

Shiloah zooms in one level to consider Muslim and Jewish music of the Mediterranean. He includes recordings from his extensive personal archive.

Pettan moves in closer to examine the controversial question of Croatian identity in Croatia and as far abroad as Australia. He includes music and video samples.

Magrini traces the changing musical identitities of one Greek musician, Kostas Papadakis, from Crete to Athens to America and back to Crete. She includes transcriptions, many historic and modern photographs, and many recordings.

I constructed a web of my own three essays, interlinked with each other and with the other authors in this issue. One raises the ethnomusicological problem of full disclosure. The second is an audio essay on Mediterranean musicians in America samples with my own recordings, the third is an audio essay on 78 rpm recordings of Mediterranean musicians in America, with graphics.

Continuing the Mediterranean theme, we include a multiple review of four compact discs of Sardinian music with photographs and recorded samples. An obituary announces the sad news of the passing of noted ethnomusicologist Marcia Herndon and includes a recent color photograph of her in Malta.

Color photographs accompany biographies of the authors. We took advantage of the Web format to offer non-linear paths of the user's choice; all articles cross-link themes with the other articles, and some to other online articles outside EOL.

All of us are grateful to "Musicisti del Mediterraneo -- Storia e antropologia" ("Musicians in the Mediterranean -- History and Anthropology") conference organizer Dinko Fabris for invitations to Italy, the conference and festival, and permission to publish these articles.

As Assistant Editors, Prof. John Murphy of Western Illinois University and Joseph Getter of Wesleyan University assisted mightily in preparation of media elements, and formatting and proofreading. As Review Editor, Prof. Janet Sturman of the University of Arizona prepared the reviews for publication.

Corrections, compliments and criticism, and especially discussion of anything in this number of EOL are welcome. Each Web page has a Comments link at the bottom for email which will be forwarded to the author, editor, or public discussion.