★And the Roots of Rhythm Remain: A Journey Through Global Music. Joe Boyd. ZE Bks. Sept. 2024. 960p. ISBN 9798988670025. $50. MUSIC

Longtime record producer Boyd (White Bicycles: Making Music in the 1960s) presents an in-depth social history of the genre of world music, focusing in particular on eight subcategories that have made a global splash. He starts with the Zulu mbaqanga of South Africa, which was used in the anti-apartheid liberation movement and became popular in the U.S. through Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela, and Paul Simon’s Graceland. To highlight drum-heavy Afro Cuban sounds, the book discusses the introduction of rhythmic patterns like son and rumba to the U.S. by bebop jazz, Miguelito Valdés, Tito Puente, and the Buena Vista Social Club. Boyd shows the progression that led from Jamaican ska to rock steady and then reggae and dub, which became staples for American listeners through Jimmy Cliff and Bob Marley. He also discusses the Indian music that inspired the Beatles, John Coltrane, and John McLaughlin, as well as the rise of Brazilian samba and bossa nova with crossover artists such as Antônio Carlos Jobim and Sérgio Mendes. The book ends with the Argentine tango, Eastern European folk music, and Fela Kuti. VERDICT Boyd’s treasure trove of information about the global impact of world music (particularly on the United States) is a tour de force that will fascinate music lovers.