  This first chapter intends to review and analyze the powerful new Harmony
Search (HS) algorithm in the context of metaheuristic algorithms. I will first
outline the fundamental steps of Harmony Search, and how it works. I then try
to identify the characteristics of metaheuristics and analyze why HS is a good
meta-heuristic algorithm. I then review briefly other popular metaheuristics
such as par-ticle swarm optimization so as to find their similarities and
differences from HS. Finally, I will discuss the ways to improve and develop
new variants of HS, and make suggestions for further research including open
questions.
