Dried millet breaking, " sung by the bard at the end of one episode ofthis Woi epic of the Kpelle people of Liberia, represents a formula that breaks theflow of events and introduces the epic's complex temporal scaffolding. Examining thesinging, narration, dramatic performance, instrumental accompaniment, and timing ofthe Woi epic, Ruth M. Stone reveals that the Kpelle show time flux through changingtimbres, motion, and spatial metaphors in ways fundamentally different from those ofmuch Western art music. In this illuminating study Stone moves beyond typical genrestudies of African music to shed light on broader questions of music's relationshipto areas of culture often ignored.