This is a volume dealing with the sound and music of Cheju Island, South Korea, with an ethnological or ethnographical approach. It centres on the Korean concept of sori, which, while meaning sound or voice, is also of a larger significance, including in its range of meaning musical and sound phenomena in general.<br>The book is divided into four sections: 1. the sounds of daily life; 2. ceremony and music; 3. song; and 4. issues associated with sound. These can be grouped into two parts: sections 1 to 3 are an ethnography of Cheju Island, while section 4 deals with sound as a universal phenomenon. The ethnography of Cheju island is based on the author's detailed fieldwork, undertaken on five occasions, at a village on the east coast of the island. The first two sections are an exhaustive study of the sounds of daily life. Section 1 makes no use of musical transcriptions, but relies solely on the power of words, a feature which will broaden its appeal to scholars in the fields of anthropology, geography, and the like. Section 2 makes use of some transcription, but not to a great extent. Its study of Confucian and shamanistic rites is of such detail as to make it of primary significance in this field. Section 3, dealing with song, is divided into three chapters: song in daily life; ceremony and play songs; and children's games and song. Each is based on detailed ethnographical data. The third of these chapters points out the influence of Japanese children's games on those of Korean children, which perhaps derives from the period of Japanese rule (1910-1945) when games were introduced by Japanese teachers. The author's hypothesis may have been more persuasive if the argument had been developed further with a few more concrete examples.<br>Section 4 deals with what appears to be the central theme of the volume. In its first chapter, the concept of ‘sori’ is explained, and linguistic comparison is made with the range of its synonyms, in an attempt to illustrate that the complete sound world of South Korea can be referred to by this concept. Chapter 2 deals with rhythm and melody in a concise manner; one may have wished for more detail. Chapter 3 deals with the social phases of ‘aural culture, ’ a term the author uses to refer to a concept embracing all expressions of sound. He identifies and defines five functions of music in the case of Cheju Island. A final chapter deals with changes in the music and its social context.<br>Although the issues dealt with in section 4 are extremely important and wide-ranging, the way in which the author has dealt with them seems almost too concise; again, it may have been more persuasive if the account had been expanded with reference to examples given in the earlier sections of the book. Be that as it may, this is a volume that will be of great benefit not only to ethnomusicologists, but also to scholars in the fields of anthropology and sociology. It is certain to become essential reading for those wishing to study Cheju Island.