- Dept. of Music Theory
Jacobs School of Music
Indiana University
200 S Eagleson Ave
Bloomington, IN 47405
Noriko Manabe
Indiana University, Department of Music Theory, Faculty Member
- Japanese Language And Culture, Mobile Media, Music, Music and Language, Music Theory, Ethnomusicology, and 33 morePopular Music Studies, Musicology, Media Studies, Music and social movements, Protest Music, Protest, Japanese Studies, Japanese Popular Music, Japanese music history, Popular Music, Digital Culture, Mobile and Location-Based Media, Music analysis, Music Industry, Latin American Music, Digital Business, Music Business, Zarzuela, Cuban Music and Dance, Music and Ringtones, Nueva Trova, Silvio Rodriguez, Music and Politics, New Media, Popular Culture, Sound studies, Asian American Studies, Ethnomusicology of cyberspace, Public Space, Antinuclear Movement, Fukushima nuclear disaster, Cultural Musicology, and Identity (Culture)edit
- I am Professor of Music Theory at Indiana University, Jacobs School of Music. I was previously standing faculty at Te... moreI am Professor of Music Theory at Indiana University, Jacobs School of Music. I was previously standing faculty at Temple University and Princeton University; I have also taught at the University of Pennsylvania and CUNY. I hold a Ph.D. with a double concentration in ethnomusicology and music theory (CUNY Graduate Center, 2009). My methods blend musical analysis with ethnography, and I draw from theories of the social sciences, literary studies, and linguistics.
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My work centers on 1) music and social movements; 2) interactions of text, language, music, and meaning; 3) global popular music; and 4) technology and the music industry. I was previously an Institutional Investor-ranked analyst of Japanese technology and media, and this experience informs my research on the music business.
My monograph, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Protest Music After Fukushima (Oxford University Press), addresses the role of musicians in (self-)censored environments and the ways they convey their political messages through music in four different performance spaces—cyberspace, demonstrations, festivals, and recordings. It won the 2018 BFE Book Prize from the British Forum for Ethnomusicology, the 2017 John Whitney Hall Book Prize for best book on Japan from the Association for Asian Studies, Honorable Mention for the 2016 Alan Merriam Award for best book in ethnomusicology from the Society for Ethnomusicology, and the Book Subvention Award from the Society for Ethnomusicology’s Diversity Committee in 2013. My second monograph, Revolution Remixed: Intertextuality in Protest Music (under contract with Oxford, forthcoming), constructs a classification of intertextuality as it pertains to protest songs and analyzes cases drawn from global movements as well as the Japanese antinuclear movement. Other ongoing projects include one on the development of Japanese children’s songs from the Meiji Era to the Allied Occupation, and another on Japanese club musics (hip hop, reggae, techno) in transnational perspective, including production and reception in Japan, Jamaica, Brazil, and Europe.
I am co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of Protest Music (with Eric Drott, under contract), and Nuclear Music: Sonic Responses to War, Disaster, and Power (with Jessica Schwartz, under contract).
My article, "We Gon’ Be Alright? The Ambiguities of Kendrick Lamar’s Protest Anthem," on Music Theory Online 25.1, won the Outstanding Publications Award from the Society for Music Theory (SMT) and the Outstanding Publication Award from the Popular Music Interest Group of SMT. Other published articles and book chapters address music and the Japanese antinuclear movement; music reflecting the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; the impact of the Japanese language on rap; the aesthetics of hip-hop DJs; the differences in the online radio markets in the United States and Japan; propaganda in Japanese children’s songs; and the interaction of text and music in the songs of Cuban singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez. My articles have appeared in Ethnomusicology, Popular Music, Music Theory Online, Twentieth Century Music, Music and Politics, Asian Music, Latin American Music Review, Transcultural Music Review, two Oxford Handbooks, and several edited volumes.
My research has been funded by the NEH Fellowship for Advanced Social Science Research on Japan, Kluge Fellowship, the Japan Foundation Fellowship, the SSRC/JSPS Fellowship, Temple, Princeton, and CUNY.
I am Series Editor for 33-1/3 Japan, a book series on Japanese popular music and an extension of the popular 33-1/3 series from Bloomsbury Publishing. I have served on the editorial or advisory boards of the journals, Journal of the American Musicological Society, Twentieth-Century Music, Music Analysis, and Music and Politics, and the book series, SOAS Musicology (Routledge) and Music and Politics (Routledge). I am a contributing editor for the Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. I have served as Treasurer, Council Member, and Chair of the Investment Committee for the Society for Ethnomusicology; as Chair of the Publication Awards Committee and as a member of the Program, Investment, and Race and Ethnicity Committees for the Society for Music Theory; the Finance Committee for the Association for Asian Studies; and Board of Trustees for the Society for Japanese Studies.edit
OUP webpage: http://bit.ly/1PpNXq0 Amazon webpage: http://amzn.to/1LJF8rz 2017 John Whitney Hall Book Prize, Association for Asian Studies Honorable Mention, 2016 Alan Merriam Prize, Society for Ethnomusicology Despite widespread... more
OUP webpage: http://bit.ly/1PpNXq0
Amazon webpage: http://amzn.to/1LJF8rz
2017 John Whitney Hall Book Prize, Association for Asian Studies
Honorable Mention, 2016 Alan Merriam Prize, Society for Ethnomusicology
Despite widespread apprehension of nuclear power following the Fukushima disaster, Japan remains a difficult place to express antinuclear views: the media largely avoids presenting antinuclear positions, and the culture discourages people from voicing controversial opinions. In such an environment, music emerged quickly as a mode of oppositional expression, encapsulating the people’s anxieties.
Drawing from the author’s ethnography of the movement since 2011, musical analysis, and concepts from the social sciences, this book examines the ways in which music of social movements is shaped by the stature of the musician and the performance space. In contrast to American or British musicians who typically attract attention to causes, Japanese musicians are highly discouraged from engaging in politics, particularly the antinuclear movement. They adjust their political behavior depending on their position in the music industry, the space in which they are playing, and political conditions at the time. According to these parameters, they change the type of audience participation, political frame of the message, and technique of communicating the message.
Extending Lefebvre’s conception of space as perceived, conceived, and lived in, the book analyzes the interactions of music and musicians with citizens under the constraints and opportunities of the four spaces of political music performance—cyberspace, demonstrations, festivals, and recordings. Anonymity in cyberspace—more prevalent in Japan than many other countries—initially helped citizens to overcome fear and participate in the movement. The “sound demonstration,” featuring musicians on top of trucks rolling along ahead of protesters, has evolved in intent and in performance style according to political circumstances. Rappers changed from performing prepared songs to improvising calls and responses with protesters as the movement shifted from raising awareness to mobilizing citizens. The urban landscape and soundscape change the performance and reception of protests; activists plan, and musicians perform, accordingly. Political music festivals range between two types of communication approaches: informational, where arguments are presented, or experiential, where an immersive environment opens one’s mind to different points of view. On commercial recordings, which are industry-censored, major-label musicians rely on allegories, metaphors (both textual and musical), and metonyms; they purposefully mis-set and mispronounce words to express their antinuclear sentiments. These patterns of protest have been retained in subsequent movements in Japan, such as the movement against the Secrecy Law and Prime Minister Abe’s reinterpretation of the Peace Constitution.
Amazon webpage: http://amzn.to/1LJF8rz
2017 John Whitney Hall Book Prize, Association for Asian Studies
Honorable Mention, 2016 Alan Merriam Prize, Society for Ethnomusicology
Despite widespread apprehension of nuclear power following the Fukushima disaster, Japan remains a difficult place to express antinuclear views: the media largely avoids presenting antinuclear positions, and the culture discourages people from voicing controversial opinions. In such an environment, music emerged quickly as a mode of oppositional expression, encapsulating the people’s anxieties.
Drawing from the author’s ethnography of the movement since 2011, musical analysis, and concepts from the social sciences, this book examines the ways in which music of social movements is shaped by the stature of the musician and the performance space. In contrast to American or British musicians who typically attract attention to causes, Japanese musicians are highly discouraged from engaging in politics, particularly the antinuclear movement. They adjust their political behavior depending on their position in the music industry, the space in which they are playing, and political conditions at the time. According to these parameters, they change the type of audience participation, political frame of the message, and technique of communicating the message.
Extending Lefebvre’s conception of space as perceived, conceived, and lived in, the book analyzes the interactions of music and musicians with citizens under the constraints and opportunities of the four spaces of political music performance—cyberspace, demonstrations, festivals, and recordings. Anonymity in cyberspace—more prevalent in Japan than many other countries—initially helped citizens to overcome fear and participate in the movement. The “sound demonstration,” featuring musicians on top of trucks rolling along ahead of protesters, has evolved in intent and in performance style according to political circumstances. Rappers changed from performing prepared songs to improvising calls and responses with protesters as the movement shifted from raising awareness to mobilizing citizens. The urban landscape and soundscape change the performance and reception of protests; activists plan, and musicians perform, accordingly. Political music festivals range between two types of communication approaches: informational, where arguments are presented, or experiential, where an immersive environment opens one’s mind to different points of view. On commercial recordings, which are industry-censored, major-label musicians rely on allegories, metaphors (both textual and musical), and metonyms; they purposefully mis-set and mispronounce words to express their antinuclear sentiments. These patterns of protest have been retained in subsequent movements in Japan, such as the movement against the Secrecy Law and Prime Minister Abe’s reinterpretation of the Peace Constitution.
Research Interests: Social Movements, Japanese Studies, Censorship, Festivals and music, Ethnomusicology, and 13 moreProtest Music, Music and Politics, Non Violent Demonstration, Metaphor, Hip-Hop/Rap, Music Industry, Japanese Popular Music, Cyberspace, Antinuclear Movement, Self-Censorship, Fukushima nuclear disaster, Fukushima, and Demonstrations
Continuing Stephen Lett’s (2023) argument that pedagogy was undervalued by SMT at its inception, this essay considers the signs and implications of continued marginalization of teaching. While position statements can influence the... more
Continuing Stephen Lett’s (2023) argument that pedagogy was undervalued by SMT at its inception, this essay considers the signs and implications of continued marginalization of teaching. While position statements can influence the atmosphere of a society, they are peripheral to its operations, which determine who is included or excluded. SMT could help expand the pipeline for women and minoritized groups and identities by formulating and reinforcing ethical guidelines, not just at SMT events but in the music theory profession as a whole. A set of questions is provided for assessing the potential for harmful behaviors in institutional gatekeeping, from teaching to graduate admissions and programs, faculty searches, and tenure and promotion. Deeper engagement by SMT and its membership—through the formation of guidelines for searches and tenure processes, the formation of an ethics committee tasked with review and adjudication, and mentorship for job candidates and junior faculty—should help to broaden the demographics.
Research Interests:
In May 2009, when the Japanese LDP government was in a weakened position, Kuwata Keisuke, lead singer of popular rock band Southern All Stars, performed a parody of the Beatles’ Abbey Road on his weekly television show. Backed by a band... more
In May 2009, when the Japanese LDP government was in a weakened position, Kuwata Keisuke, lead singer of popular rock band Southern All Stars, performed a parody of the Beatles’ Abbey Road on his weekly television show. Backed by a band performing an uncanny cover of the album, he rewrote the lyrics into commentary on corruption in Japanese politics, fiscal problems, the death penalty, and other political issues.
This performance was highly unusual: Japanese recording artists rarely engage in politics. The recording and broadcast industries disallow lyrics on controversial topics, and management discourages artists from engaging in politics. Kuwata staged his rebellious gesture as a “mishearing” of a well-known album.
Kuwata transformed Abbey Road into political parody through linguistic sleight of hand. Kuwata chose Japanese lyrics with similar vowels and consonants (as demonstrated by their proximities on the International Phonetic Alphabet) to make them sound like the original English lyrics. By presenting his acrid commentary as a parody of this much-loved album and thus framing it as humorous entertainment, Kuwata was able to publicly criticize Japanese politicians.
This performance was highly unusual: Japanese recording artists rarely engage in politics. The recording and broadcast industries disallow lyrics on controversial topics, and management discourages artists from engaging in politics. Kuwata staged his rebellious gesture as a “mishearing” of a well-known album.
Kuwata transformed Abbey Road into political parody through linguistic sleight of hand. Kuwata chose Japanese lyrics with similar vowels and consonants (as demonstrated by their proximities on the International Phonetic Alphabet) to make them sound like the original English lyrics. By presenting his acrid commentary as a parody of this much-loved album and thus framing it as humorous entertainment, Kuwata was able to publicly criticize Japanese politicians.
Research Interests:
Winner, Outstanding Publication Award, Society for Music Theory, Popular Music Interest Group, 2019. The best-known track on Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly, “Alright” has come to be regarded as a protest anthem, fueled by Lamar’s... more
Winner, Outstanding Publication Award, Society for Music Theory, Popular Music Interest Group, 2019.
The best-known track on Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly, “Alright” has come to be regarded as a protest anthem, fueled by Lamar’s charged performances of the song at the BET Awards and the Grammys, and by accolades from the press that cite its political importance. This article argues that the actual musical track is ambiguous and open to several interpretations. To support this idea, I first explore the process through which the track came into being and how this process may have contributed to the song’s ambiguity. I then examine the message of “Alright,” contextualizing its place in the concept album and in the music video. I closely examine the musical track, analyzing its accent patterns using the metrical preference rules of Lerdahl and Jackendoff (1983) and David Temperley (2001). This analysis of the track implies a 3+5 or 3+2+3 beat reading of the meter in addition to a straight 44. Using the linguistic tool Praat, I analyze the ways in which rappers Fabolous (who originally recorded on the track) and Lamar respond to this meter in their stresses, rhythms, and rhymes. I examine the well-known hook, which Pharrell Williams raps with a striking rise in pitch. This rise lends itself to several possible interpretations, due to differences in intonation between African American English and standard American English, coupled with Williams’s fluency in both. Finally, I analyze the ways that protesters have performed and interpreted the hook differently from the recording, as an illustration of the multivalent nature of the work.
The best-known track on Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly, “Alright” has come to be regarded as a protest anthem, fueled by Lamar’s charged performances of the song at the BET Awards and the Grammys, and by accolades from the press that cite its political importance. This article argues that the actual musical track is ambiguous and open to several interpretations. To support this idea, I first explore the process through which the track came into being and how this process may have contributed to the song’s ambiguity. I then examine the message of “Alright,” contextualizing its place in the concept album and in the music video. I closely examine the musical track, analyzing its accent patterns using the metrical preference rules of Lerdahl and Jackendoff (1983) and David Temperley (2001). This analysis of the track implies a 3+5 or 3+2+3 beat reading of the meter in addition to a straight 44. Using the linguistic tool Praat, I analyze the ways in which rappers Fabolous (who originally recorded on the track) and Lamar respond to this meter in their stresses, rhythms, and rhymes. I examine the well-known hook, which Pharrell Williams raps with a striking rise in pitch. This rise lends itself to several possible interpretations, due to differences in intonation between African American English and standard American English, coupled with Williams’s fluency in both. Finally, I analyze the ways that protesters have performed and interpreted the hook differently from the recording, as an illustration of the multivalent nature of the work.
Research Interests:
Participating in the Women’s March in New York in 2017, this author was struck by how quiet the march seemed, relative to Japanese protests. This essay considers the ways in which policing shapes the sound of protests. In Japan, heavy... more
Participating in the Women’s March in New York in 2017, this author was struck by how quiet the march seemed, relative to Japanese protests. This essay considers the ways in which policing shapes the sound of protests. In Japan, heavy policing renders protests less visible, compelling Japanese protesters to use sound to make their claims known; chanting, recognized as important in building solidarity, is often led and planned. The Women’s March in New York was privileged by light policing; it didn’t need sound to be seen. The leaderless atmosphere of the Women’s Marches led to a high rate of innovation in chanting. Drawing from ethnography and videos of thirty protests, the essay analyzes the chants of the first six months of the Resistance. Using a combination of humor, references to recent events, interaction with popular music, and intertextuality with historical protest culture, these chants and songs engage protesters and issues in memorable fashion. Aiding the construction of these new chants is their tendency to follow the familiar musical forms of sentences or periods, and their frequent use of pre-existing text patterns. The essay ends with a critique of the decline in intersectionality seen in the 2018 Women’s March in New York and a call for agonistic democracy.
Research Interests:
Since the early 2000s, many Japanese demonstrations have featured drum corps and "sound trucks," upon which musicians perform, amplified by large sound systems, as the truck rolls down the street with the protesters. This article analyzes... more
Since the early 2000s, many Japanese demonstrations have featured drum corps and "sound trucks," upon which musicians perform, amplified by large sound systems, as the truck rolls down the street with the protesters. This article analyzes the music of antinuclear demonstrations since the Fukushima disaster and the conflicting philosophies regarding the use of music for political purposes. Adopting Thomas Turino (2008)’s categorization of presentational vs. participatory performance, the article traces the shift in performance style on sound trucks. In the demonstrations of Shirōto no Ran in 2011, rappers, reggae singers, and bands performed prepared pieces. By the Metropolitan Coalition Against Nukes’ demonstrations of 2012, performances had become more participatory, with the majority of performance time spent on calls and responses of Sprechchor (slogans) between rappers and protesters, in time to the beats. This shift in style coincided with a change in emphasis within the antinuclear movement from the diagnostic frame of informing the population, to the motivational one of encouraging citizens to make their views heard. It reflects Charles Tilly (2008)’s theory that contentious repertoires change incrementally with shifts in political opportunities and personal connections.
Winner of Waterman Prize, Society for Ethnomusicology, Popular Music Section
Winner of Waterman Prize, Society for Ethnomusicology, Popular Music Section
Research Interests:
"Based on ethnographic interviews, this paper examines how Japanese hip-hop DJs distinguish themselves in the global marketplace in ways that reflect on Japan’s two self-images: its impenetrable uniqueness and its adeptness at... more
"Based on ethnographic interviews, this paper examines how Japanese hip-hop DJs distinguish themselves in the global marketplace in ways that reflect on Japan’s two self-images: its impenetrable uniqueness and its adeptness at assimilating other cultures (cf. Ivy, Iwabuchi). Following the autoexoticist strategies of Takemitsu and Akiyoshi, DJ Krush and Shing02 draw on Japanese uniqueness by integrating Japanese instruments (e.g. shakuhachi, shamisen, taiko), genres (biwa narrative), and aesthetics (ma, imperfection) into their works; Evis Beats takes a more parodic approach. At the DMC World Championships, Japanese DJs including DJ Kentarō have competed on the basis of eclecticism and originality in assimilating multiple sound sources. While countering the stereotype of the Japanese as imitators, this emphasis on originality may place some contestants too far from prevailing trends, putting them at a disadvantage. Both strategies imply that Japanese artists experience anxieties regarding their authenticity, necessitating strategies to differentiate themselves."
Research Interests:
Since the early 2000s, many Japanese demonstrations have featured drum corps and "sound trucks," upon which musicians perform, amplified by large sound systems, as the truck rolls down the street with the protesters. This article analyzes... more
Since the early 2000s, many Japanese demonstrations have featured drum corps and "sound trucks," upon which musicians perform, amplified by large sound systems, as the truck rolls down the street with the protesters. This article analyzes the music of antinuclear demonstrations since the Fukushima disaster and the conflicting philosophies regarding the use of music for political purposes. Adopting Thomas Turino (2008)’s categorization of presentational vs. participatory performance, the article traces the shift in performance style on sound trucks. In the demonstrations of Shirōto no Ran in 2011, rappers, reggae singers, and bands performed prepared pieces. By the Metropolitan Coalition Against Nukes’ demonstrations of 2012, performances had become more participatory, with the majority of performance time spent on calls and responses of Sprechchor (slogans) between rappers and protesters, in time to the beats. This shift in style coincided with a change in emphasis within the antinuclear movement from the diagnostic frame of informing the population, to the motivational one of encouraging citizens to make their views heard. It reflects Charles Tilly (2008)’s theory that contentious repertoires change incrementally with shifts in political opportunities and personal connections.
Winner of Waterman Prize, Society for Ethnomusicology, Popular Music Section
Winner of Waterman Prize, Society for Ethnomusicology, Popular Music Section
Research Interests:
This article explains the significance of the No Nukes 2012 concert for the antinuclear movement in Japan following the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in 2011. Organized by Japanese composer Sakamoto Ryuichi, the concert... more
This article explains the significance of the No Nukes 2012 concert for the antinuclear movement in Japan following the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in 2011. Organized by Japanese composer Sakamoto Ryuichi, the concert featured 18 groups, including rock stars Asian Kung-Fu Generation and Saito Kazuyoshi. Like ordinary Japanese citizens, many Japanese entertainers have been inhibited from voicing their antinuclear views, as doing so often damages their careers. By holding this concert, Sakamoto encouraged entertainers to express their views and use their position as public figures to encourage ordinary citizens, in turn, to raise their own voices. The concert employed multiple methods to stimulate dialogue on nuclear power, including taped interviews of antinuclear activists, information booths, and books sold at concession stands.
Research Interests:
As a genre without the distraction of a melody but a well-defined beat, rap offers an opportunity to explore the rhythmic and musical aspects of a language, yet this area remains neglected in hip-hop studies. An interesting case is... more
As a genre without the distraction of a melody but a well-defined beat, rap offers an opportunity to explore the rhythmic and musical aspects of a language, yet this area remains neglected in hip-hop studies. An interesting case is Japanese rap, which has completely different syntax, vocabulary, accent patterns, and phonemes from English. While rhymes and stress accents punctuate the rhythm in American rap, Japanese verbal arts have traditionally not emphasized rhyming, and the language lacks stress accents. A combination of interviews with rappers, transcription, and analysis supports this exploration of the problems that Japanese rappers initially faced in rhyming and rhythm, the solutions they have applied, and the innovations they have made. Japanese rappers capitalize on their rich vocabulary of Chinese, Japanese, and Western-sourced words to form rhymes, and the pitch accents of the Japanese language and the rhythms of certain moras to create a melodious flow. Language is thus a key factor in adapting a global genre and in the process by which imitation leads to innovation.
A conference paper based on this article won the Hewitt Panteleoni Prize from the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Society for Ethnomusicology.
A conference paper based on this article won the Hewitt Panteleoni Prize from the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Society for Ethnomusicology.
Research Interests:
Dengaryū, a rapper hailing from the rural town of Ichimiya in Yamanashi Prefecture, is one of the breakout rappers of 2012, thanks to his frank critique of economic marginalization, Japanese society following the 3.11 disaster, Japan's... more
Dengaryū, a rapper hailing from the rural town of Ichimiya in Yamanashi Prefecture, is one of the breakout rappers of 2012, thanks to his frank critique of economic marginalization, Japanese society following the 3.11 disaster, Japan's nuclear energy policy, and political apathy in addition to the catchiness of the music. This article explores the appeal of this artist, his manner of dealing with these issues, and his original attraction to hip-hop through interviews with the artist and musico-textual analyses.
Research Interests: Social Movements, Japanese Studies, Popular Music, Ethnomusicology, Ethnomusicology, and 12 moreJapanese Language And Culture, Japanese Ethnography, Modern and Contemporary Japan, Hip-Hop/Rap, Rural Poverty, Japan, Japanese Popular Culture, Japanese Popular Music, Protest Movements, Nuclear power, Antinuclear Movement, and Japanese Society
This study examines the impact of mobile technologies and the internet on the way music is consumed and marketed in Japan , drawing from interviews of executives from the music, telecommunications, and internet industries; it also... more
This study examines the impact of mobile technologies and the internet on the way music is consumed and marketed in Japan , drawing from interviews of executives from the music, telecommunications, and internet industries; it also compares the behavior of Japanese and American consumers, as determined by surveys conducted in late 2006 and early 2007. Japanese telecommunication carriers created an environment friendly to the development of mobile phone applications by offering low commission rates and settlement systems to content companies and incentives to upgrade handsets to consumers. Japanese record companies were initially skeptical of mobile downloads, but mastertone and full-track downloads quickly became important promotional tools and significant revenue streams. While both Japanese and American students listened to music on the go and used multiple ringtones, Japanese students were less likely to own PCs and more likely to own 3G-enabled phones; they were thus more likely to discover new songs on mobile portal sites and use phones to listen to music than American students. However, American students were more likely to express their feelings about themselves and their friends through their ringtones than Japanese students, who were more likely to use vibration or silent mode. Hence, this study shows how both corporate policies and cultural factors can impact the way consumers use devices, ultimately affecting how music is heard and acquired.
Research Interests:
"This article, which analyzes 136 of Silvio Rodríguez’s over 500 songs and provides a close reading of seventeen, highlights musical patterns that recur in songs with similar themes across three periods: 1967-1970, when Rodríguez was... more
"This article, which analyzes 136 of Silvio Rodríguez’s over 500 songs and provides a close reading of seventeen, highlights musical patterns that recur in songs with similar themes across three periods: 1967-1970, when Rodríguez was censured; 1971-1989, when nueva trova became institutionalized; and post-1990, in Cuba’s Special Period. Differing viewpoints and emotions are often set in different keys (“Debo partirme en dos” (1969)); songs with a political message are set in simple repeating patterns (“Resumen de noticias” (1969)); and many of his love songs are highly chromatic or harmonically unstable (“Ojalá” (1969)). Double-plagal progressions often signify fatalism and never-ending struggle (“Sueño con serpientes” (1974), “Reino de todavía” (1994)). Analyses are complemented by Rodríguez’s comments regarding his creative process.
A Spanish translation of the article can be found here:
http://www.sibetrans.com/trans/a161/amantes-y-gobernantes-lo-real-y-lo-surrealista-metaforas-armonicas-en-las-canciones-de-silvio-rodriguez"
A Spanish translation of the article can be found here:
http://www.sibetrans.com/trans/a161/amantes-y-gobernantes-lo-real-y-lo-surrealista-metaforas-armonicas-en-las-canciones-de-silvio-rodriguez"
Research Interests:
Esta ponencia, que analiza 136 de las canciones de Silvio Rodríguez y proporciona un análisis detallado de diecisiete canciones, destaca los patrones musicales que se repiten en las canciones con temas similares a través de tres períodos:... more
Esta ponencia, que analiza 136 de las canciones de Silvio Rodríguez y proporciona un análisis detallado de diecisiete canciones, destaca los patrones musicales que se repiten en las canciones con temas similares a través de tres períodos: 1967-1970, cuando se censuraron a Rodríguez; 1971-1989, cuando la nueva trova se institucionalizaron; y después del año 1990, durante el período especial en Cuba. Los puntos de vista y las distintas emociones se ponen a menudo en tonos diferentes (“Debo partirme en dos” (1969)); las canciones con un mensaje político se ponen en los patrones de repeticiones simples (“Resumen de noticias” (1969)); y muchas de sus canciones del amor son muy cromáticas o inestables armónicamente (“Ojalá” (1969)). Las progresiones de doble-plagal significan a menudo el fatalismo y la lucha interminable (“Sueño con serpientes” (1974), “Reino de todavía” (1994)). Los análisis son complementados por los comentarios de Rodríguez con respecto a su proceso creativo.
Palabras claves - Silvio Rodríguez, nueva trova, análisis -- música popular, análisis - Schenker, etnomusicología, Cuba
Palabras claves - Silvio Rodríguez, nueva trova, análisis -- música popular, análisis - Schenker, etnomusicología, Cuba
Research Interests:
"This paper analyzes and compares the reinterpretations of the Cuban son by Nicolás Guillén in Motivos de son and their settings by Eliseo and Emilio Grenet, Alejandro García Caturla, and Amadeo Roldán. Their distinct interpretations... more
"This paper analyzes and compares the reinterpretations of the Cuban son by Nicolás Guillén in Motivos de son and their settings by Eliseo and Emilio Grenet, Alejandro García Caturla, and Amadeo Roldán. Their distinct interpretations reflect the composers' divergent conceptions of the Afrocubanismo movement of the 1920s and 30s. For the Grenets, Afrocubanismo was an exotic style to be incorporated into popular songs for the theater and the salon; their catchy melodies in Cuban rhythms camouflage the bitterness of Guillén's text. For Caturla, Afrocubanismo was a blend of modernism and respect for Afrocuban folklore; his "Bito Manué" features vocal patterns and rhythms more in keeping with the music of santería than the son, along with text setting and harmonies that defied conventions. Roldán set texts naturally and mixed modern harmonies with the form, texture, and polyrhythms of the son, thereby paying homage to this genre.
Resumen:
Esta ponencia examina las reinterpretaciones del son cubano por los poemas de Motivos de son de Nicolás Guillén y las canciones basadas en ellos por Eliseo y Emilio Grenet, Alejandro García Caturla y Amadeo Roldán. Sus interpretaciones distintas reflejan sus conceptos diversos de lo que era el afrocubanismo. Para Grenet, el afrocubanismo fue un estilo que se incorporó en las canciones populares para el teatro y el salón; sus melodías pegadizas en los ritmos cubanos camuflan la amargura del texto de Guillén. Para Caturla, el afrocubanismo era una mezcla del respeto por el folklore afrocubano y el modernismo; él dio a "Bito Manué" una melodía más en el estilo de la música de santería que del son, puesto al contrario a las convenciones de la armonía y de la declamación. Roldán mezcló los ritmos y armonías modernos con la forma, la instrumentación y los ritmos complejos del son, para hacer un homenaje a este género."
Resumen:
Esta ponencia examina las reinterpretaciones del son cubano por los poemas de Motivos de son de Nicolás Guillén y las canciones basadas en ellos por Eliseo y Emilio Grenet, Alejandro García Caturla y Amadeo Roldán. Sus interpretaciones distintas reflejan sus conceptos diversos de lo que era el afrocubanismo. Para Grenet, el afrocubanismo fue un estilo que se incorporó en las canciones populares para el teatro y el salón; sus melodías pegadizas en los ritmos cubanos camuflan la amargura del texto de Guillén. Para Caturla, el afrocubanismo era una mezcla del respeto por el folklore afrocubano y el modernismo; él dio a "Bito Manué" una melodía más en el estilo de la música de santería que del son, puesto al contrario a las convenciones de la armonía y de la declamación. Roldán mezcló los ritmos y armonías modernos con la forma, la instrumentación y los ritmos complejos del son, para hacer un homenaje a este género."
Research Interests:
This paper analyzes and compares the reinterpretations of the Cuban son by Nicolás Guillén in Motivos de son and their settings by Eliseo and Emilio Grenet, Alejandro García Caturla, and Amadeo Roldán. Their distinct interpretations... more
This paper analyzes and compares the reinterpretations of the Cuban son by Nicolás Guillén in Motivos de son and their settings by Eliseo and Emilio Grenet, Alejandro García Caturla, and Amadeo Roldán. Their distinct interpretations reflect the composers' divergent ...
Research Interests:
Sound—chanting, singing, playing, banging casseroles or drums by demonstrators—plays an important part in street protests. The mode or conception of this sonic participation changes according to circumstances. This article considers the... more
Sound—chanting, singing, playing, banging casseroles or drums by demonstrators—plays an important part in street protests. The mode or conception of this sonic participation changes according to circumstances. This article considers the factors that shape sonic participation in protests. Starting with ethnomusicologist Thomas Turino’s concept of performance as presentational or participatory, I examine the ways in which sociopolitical circumstances, policing, urban acoustics, and landscape shape protest performance and participation. Drawing from field work, I analyze an unusual feature of many Japanese protests: the sound demonstration (demo), featuring a sound truck, piled high with speakers and sound equipment, upon which DJs, rappers, and bands perform. The constraints placed by the police and the urban environment push Japanese protesters toward tactics that maximize visibility and participation—tactics that differ from those seen in U.S. protests.
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This article analyzes YouTube star Randy Rainbow's political parodies from the standpoint of D'Errico and Poggi (2016)'s concept of surface and deep parody, in which the prior relies on exaggeration of traits and the latter involves... more
This article analyzes YouTube star Randy Rainbow's political parodies from the standpoint of D'Errico and Poggi (2016)'s concept of surface and deep parody, in which the prior relies on exaggeration of traits and the latter involves recategorizations of targets according to their traits. "Braggadocious" (based on "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" from Mary Poppins) is explained as a surface parody, while "Very Stable Genius" (“I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General” from Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance) and "Spoonful of Clorox" ("Spoonful of Sugar" from Mary Poppins) are explained as deep parodies.
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In “Forum: Defining Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Music,” ed. David Clarke, Twentieth-Century Music 14/3 (2017), 411–462. My excerpt is on 448–452. Explains the continuities and discontinuities between twentieth-century models of... more
In “Forum: Defining Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Music,” ed. David Clarke, Twentieth-Century Music 14/3 (2017), 411–462. My excerpt is on 448–452. Explains the continuities and discontinuities between twentieth-century models of music distribution and the contemporary, digitized one. Argues that the digitization of music and its transformation into a product for data capture is a fundamental dividing line between the twentieth and twenty-first centuries in the history of music.
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Why protest music today differs from that of the 1960s-70s. Recent protest music.
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History tends to memorialize the stars and leaders, yet both musical and social movements are also made possible by people who work in the background, organize, seed trends, and otherwise help make things happen. The Japanese rap pioneer... more
History tends to memorialize the stars and leaders, yet both musical and social movements are also made possible by people who work in the background, organize, seed trends, and otherwise help make things happen. The Japanese rap pioneer and activist ECD, who passed away on January 24, 2018, was neither the earliest nor most commercially successful rapper, and he would have eschewed calling himself a leader of any protest group. Nonetheless, he was what Gramsci would have called an organic intellectual of the working class. The frankness of his music, writing, and performances touched his audiences at an affective level, connecting them to the movements in which he participated. This article looks back at his life, which embodied the worlds of hip-hop, contentious politics, and the working class. It also examines his songs, which not only convey a vivid account of his life, but also reflect his personal and political concerns as well as the ambience of street protests. ECD was a key figure in the development of the underground hip-hop scene, organizing events that allowed it to take root and be lifted into commercial viability. He was on the front lines of several Japanese social movements—anti-Iraq War, anti-nuclear power, anti-racist, pro-democracy, and anti-militarization. He wrote protest anthems, inspired Sprechchor, performed at protests, and helped to establish a new mode of participatory performance, which engaged protesters more fully. His sheer presence at demonstrations, constant and reliable, energized and reassured protesters. Part I describes his years as a hip-hop pioneer, and Part II portrays his role in Japanese social movements of this century.
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Since December 2013, many activists and musicians engaged in the Japanese antinuclear movement have shifted their energies toward opposing the policies of the Abe administration. In particular, they are alarmed about two policies that... more
Since December 2013, many activists and musicians engaged in the Japanese antinuclear movement have shifted their energies toward opposing the policies of the Abe administration. In particular, they are alarmed about two policies that have been passed despite opposition by a majority of the public and without sufficient public discussion: 1) the Secrecy Law, which makes inquiring about a state secret a criminal act (even though one will not know what is a state secret in advance), and 2) the Cabinet's reinterpretation of the Peace Constitution, which allows Japan to wage war in "collective defense" of allied nations. Many activists fear that democracy in Japan is endangered. The movement opposing these policies is engaging youth in contentious politics for the first time in decades.
This article discusses the sights and sounds of this movement, as performed in street demonstrations, music festivals, and recordings, and the emergent engagement of youth in politics through music. As Charles Tilly would predict, these contentious performances show continuity with pre-established networks and performance practices, notably from the antinuclear movement post-Chernobyl and post-3.11. Musicians adjust their messages and behavior depending on the censorial environment and risks inherent in these spaces. Through a mixture of continuity with past practice, homage to political and cultural forbears, and innovation, they are giving voice to deep anxieties at this turning point in Japanese history.
This article discusses the sights and sounds of this movement, as performed in street demonstrations, music festivals, and recordings, and the emergent engagement of youth in politics through music. As Charles Tilly would predict, these contentious performances show continuity with pre-established networks and performance practices, notably from the antinuclear movement post-Chernobyl and post-3.11. Musicians adjust their messages and behavior depending on the censorial environment and risks inherent in these spaces. Through a mixture of continuity with past practice, homage to political and cultural forbears, and innovation, they are giving voice to deep anxieties at this turning point in Japanese history.
Research Interests:
In the 2016 Upper House election in Japan, campaign discourse and media coverage generally steered away from constitutional revision, yet the potential implications for freedom of speech in the latter are profound. The article explores... more
In the 2016 Upper House election in Japan, campaign discourse and media coverage generally steered away from constitutional revision, yet the potential implications for freedom of speech in the latter are profound. The article explores the lack of discourse and its potential impact on the outcome.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident on March 11, 2011, one citizen realized that mothers and children needed better information than what they were getting from officials. This author created Monju-kun, a character that... more
Following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident on March 11, 2011, one citizen realized that mothers and children needed better information than what they were getting from officials. This author created Monju-kun, a character that represented the Monju Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR), a key node of Japan's nuclear cycle, as a helpless and sickly boy. The physical weakness personified by Monju-kun is one component of the cuteness aesthetic that dominates popular culture. Propaganda, public service announcements, and advertisements have often drawn on tropes from children’s culture, which had played a large role in naturalizing nuclear power since the 1960s. Even commercial anime and manga such as Astro Boy and Doraemon contained references to nuclear power, which helped to naturalize it. Through the character of Monju-kun, his creator could explain radiation, the collusion between industry and government, and alternative energy solutions using childlike language and a sense of humor. His storyline and characterization held elements in common with Nobita of Doraemon and Astro Boy, making the Monju-kun character seem familiar. Monju-kun appealed at an affective level to a population long enamored with such characters, enabling his creator to communicate complex, taboo issues.
[The published article can be accessed for free here:
https://www.luminosoa.org/site/chapters/10.1525/luminos.40.n/ ]
[The published article can be accessed for free here:
https://www.luminosoa.org/site/chapters/10.1525/luminos.40.n/ ]
Research Interests: Social Movements, Japanese Studies, Japanese Language And Culture, Japanese Anime, Children's Literature & Culture, and 9 moreChildren's Media, Japanese Popular Culture, Japanese Popular Music, Protest Movements, Antinuclear Movement, Fukushima nuclear disaster, Nuclear Power Plants, Characters, and FAST BREEDER REACTORS
Although Japan led the world in the adoption of mobile-phone consumer culture (e.g., ringtones) in the 1990s to late-2000s, it now lags in the adoption of streaming formats. Why has streaming music been slower to catch on in Japan?... more
Although Japan led the world in the adoption of mobile-phone consumer culture (e.g., ringtones) in the 1990s to late-2000s, it now lags in the adoption of streaming formats. Why has streaming music been slower to catch on in Japan? Pre-existing conceptions of old media, such as a Japanese tendency to listen to radio less often, and radio stations that do not specialize in a particular genre, made Pandora-style, DJ-less online radio a less compelling format; naming an online streaming service “radio” did not familiarize the new media as in the U.S. Growth was further inhibited by a lack of statutory licenses, so that streaming services had to negotiate rights with record companies, and record companies were reluctant to supply streaming companies with Japanese content, including current chart toppers and back catalogue. Finally, smartphones took a longer time to catch on in Japan, as mid-2000s flip phones were so advanced that the iPhone did not look that groundbreaking at its launch. While recent entrants like Awa (a joint venture of Avex and Cyberagent) and Line Music (Line and Sony Music) have enjoyed better take-up than predecessors, and improving mobile connectivity (through wider diffusion of 4G and Wifi) will likely help the industry, the Japanese-music catalogue available for streaming would need to expand considerably to become comparable to catalogues in the U.S. or Europe.
Research Interests:
Since the mid-2000s, the focus of the Japanese hip-hop scene has shifted from pop-friendly groups like Rip Slyme to harder-edged rappers like Anarchy, Seeda, MSC, Shingo Nishinari, and Dengaryu. While this hardness has always existed in... more
Since the mid-2000s, the focus of the Japanese hip-hop scene has shifted from pop-friendly groups like Rip Slyme to harder-edged rappers like Anarchy, Seeda, MSC, Shingo Nishinari, and Dengaryu. While this hardness has always existed in Japanese hip-hop, the severe contraction in the Japanese economy since the mid-2000s has provided an authenticity to hard-edged tales and made them more sympathetic to a larger swath of youth. This chapter introduces some of the expressions of marginalization that have intensified during this period - a shift to hardcore rap, focus on the local, involvement in social movements, neo-nationalism, and moral panics. The chapter begins with a brief discussion of the scene's history and its aesthetic considerations, which are part of the localization process.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Cet article s’appuie sur un travail de terrain et des entretiens avec des militants et des musiciens datant de 2011. Il décrit les relations de pouvoir permettant à l’énergie nucléaire de rester en place au Japon. Il montre comment les... more
Cet article s’appuie sur un travail de terrain et des entretiens avec
des militants et des musiciens datant de 2011. Il décrit les relations de pouvoir permettant à l’énergie nucléaire de rester en place au Japon. Il montre comment les musiciens adaptent leur expression politique en fonction des relations de pouvoir qui gouvernent les différents espaces que nous avons définis. Parce qu’ils risquent d’être mis sur liste noire ou harcelés, les musiciens qui politisent leur musique adaptent leurs performances
à l’espace où ils évoluent. Les membres du public, eux aussi,
risquent d’être ostracisés et harcelés s’ils expriment ouvertement
leurs opinions politiques. Ils adaptent donc eux aussi leur façon de participer aux différents espaces. Dans la mesure où le cyberespace et les enregistrements fonctionnent comme des espaces de conservation pour la musique, nous nous concentrerons davantage sur l’analyse musicale dans les sections qui leur seront consacrées, tandis que nous mettrons l’accent sur les pratiques participatives quand nous aborderons les espaces vécus des festivals et des manifestations.
des militants et des musiciens datant de 2011. Il décrit les relations de pouvoir permettant à l’énergie nucléaire de rester en place au Japon. Il montre comment les musiciens adaptent leur expression politique en fonction des relations de pouvoir qui gouvernent les différents espaces que nous avons définis. Parce qu’ils risquent d’être mis sur liste noire ou harcelés, les musiciens qui politisent leur musique adaptent leurs performances
à l’espace où ils évoluent. Les membres du public, eux aussi,
risquent d’être ostracisés et harcelés s’ils expriment ouvertement
leurs opinions politiques. Ils adaptent donc eux aussi leur façon de participer aux différents espaces. Dans la mesure où le cyberespace et les enregistrements fonctionnent comme des espaces de conservation pour la musique, nous nous concentrerons davantage sur l’analyse musicale dans les sections qui leur seront consacrées, tandis que nous mettrons l’accent sur les pratiques participatives quand nous aborderons les espaces vécus des festivals et des manifestations.
Research Interests: Japanese Studies, Festivals and music, Popular Music, Protest Music, Metaphor, and 12 moreCyberspace, Sound Recording, Protest Movements, Japon, Antinuclear Movement, Fukushima nuclear disaster, Musique populaire, Demonstrations, Musique Et Musicologie, Mouvements Sociaux, Culture japonaise, and musiques populaires urbaines
"This article examines the songs that Japanese schoolchildren learned during World War II and their impact on children’s lives. These songs were filled with propaganda such as Japan’s superiority over other nations, the glory of dying for... more
"This article examines the songs that Japanese schoolchildren learned during World War II and their impact on children’s lives. These songs were filled with propaganda such as Japan’s superiority over other nations, the glory of dying for the country, and the joys of working in weapons factories. The study addresses questions such as: what values were these songs reinforcing? What behaviors were being encouraged? What legacy did they leave in the minds of the children who sang them, after the war had ended? Personal stories were obtained from individuals who attended elementary school during World War II. It is shown that the children who grew up during the war internalized the values promoted by these wartime songs and acted upon them as adults; they also passed it on to their own children.
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"In 2013, online radio reached 45% of the US population but only 13% of the Japanese population (Arbitron 2013; RIAJ 2013). Why had the development of online radio and music streaming followed divergent trajectories in these two... more
"In 2013, online radio reached 45% of the US population but only 13% of the Japanese population (Arbitron 2013; RIAJ 2013). Why had the development of online radio and music streaming followed divergent trajectories in these two countries? Based on interviews with media executives, consumer surveys, and strategic analysis, this chapter posits that differences in the conception of traditional radio, as well as business practices, led to higher acceptance of online radio and music streaming in the US than in Japan. In the US, the existing culture of listening to radio as a passive music player, coupled with rapid diffusion of the smartphone, fueled the growth of services such as Pandora and Slacker. As recounted by Pandora founder Tim Westergren and Slacker vice president Jonathan Sasse, these two services operated under different conceptions of online radio—the former as a way to discover music of similar attributes, the other as a curated experience—which were reflected in their marketing and their methods for building playlists. In Japan, the diffusion of smartphones lagged that in the US, as they were initially not so attractive for either cell phone carriers, who found feature phones more profitable, or consumers, who already enjoyed high functionality on their feature phones. Radio was not as popular a medium in Japan as in the US, and music programs on radio were more focused on talk than in the US. The lack of statutory licenses for online radio and the reluctance of record companies to provide music to streaming services also hampered growth. The chapter is based on research in 2009–10, with a postscript on conditions in 2013.
A short conference paper that summarizes the findings and updates them can be seen at https://www.academia.edu/6879626/Online_Radio_How_Markets_in_Japan_and_the_US_Hear_Things_Differently .
A short conference paper that summarizes the findings and updates them can be seen at https://www.academia.edu/6879626/Online_Radio_How_Markets_in_Japan_and_the_US_Hear_Things_Differently .
Research Interests:
This chapter chronicles the development of the mobile internet and cell-phone music in Japan, taking into account the role of telecommunications infrastructure and strategy in encouraging diffusion, the differing and evolving strategies... more
This chapter chronicles the development of the mobile internet and cell-phone music in Japan, taking into account the role of telecommunications infrastructure and strategy in encouraging diffusion, the differing and evolving strategies of record companies, and the impact on the listening and purchasing habits of consumers. As among the global leaders of cellular phone technologies, Japanese carriers have often implemented consumer applications several years ahead of North America and Europe. Ringtones and the mobile internet were prime examples, where Japan was ahead of North America by about three years. The history of ringtones from push-button melodies to single track downloads is recounted, describing the role of polyphonic ringtones and chaku-uta (sampled ringtones, or ringtunes/mastertones) in stimulating growth in mobile internet usage and the adoption of 3G (broadband mobile internet). The chapter explains how chaku-uta changed the behavior of consumers and how record companies and portal operators responded with different strategies regarding availability of product, distribution, and pricing. Using a combination of analysis of business strategies and interviews with corporate executives and users, the chapter provides an assessment of how the new technology influenced what music was heard, how it was heard, how it was marketed, and who profited from music sales. The findings reflect on the impact of corporate strategy and technological infrastructure, alongside cultural circumstances, on consumer behavior.
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Research Interests:
Research Interests:
ECD, a Japanese rap pioneer and activist, passed away in January 2018. This blog post gives some highlights of his life in hip hop and activism. Oxford University Press Blog, April 17, 2018.
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Shorter version of Asia-Pacific Journal article, "Japanese elections: the ghost of constitutional revision and campaign discourse."
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Explains the legacy of the Japanese anti-nuclear movement: the shutting down of all nuclear plants for two years, slower restarts, and a renewed culture of protest.
Research Interests:
Transcriptions (in musical notation) of protest chants and music heard in street marches, demonstrations, and rallies since the inauguration.
Research Interests:
Abstract The surge in anti-Asian violence since the start of the pandemic has spurred a rise in Asian American activism. This activity recalls the history of Asian American resistance and the ways in which music and sound have channeled... more
Abstract
The surge in anti-Asian violence since the start of the pandemic has spurred a rise in Asian American activism. This activity recalls the history of Asian American resistance and the ways in which music and sound have channeled Asian American stories. One challenge for the Asian American movement is that as education on Asian American history has been limited, particularly at secondary levels, the movement has been left without broadly recognized iconic figures, events, and ideologies to which activists can turn and be readily understood. Many activists see telling the history of Asian America as a key goal of activism. As Fernandes explains, movements often call on individual stories to personalize the message, and these stories are often shaped into movement narratives over time. This panel observes that process through four case studies in Asian America, demonstrating the role of sonic storytelling in Asian American social justice movements. The first paper discusses the recent Stop Asian Hate movement, focusing on how hip hop has reflected the ideologies and fissures within the Asian American community and educated listeners of past anti-Asian American discrimination. The second paper considers the 1970s Asian American songwriting circle called Yokohama, California, which served as a site for processing political knowledge and expanded the Asian American repertoire of protest music. The third paper considers the international consciousness that is inherent in the Asian American movement through the performative speech acts of elderly Cambodian women who fled the Khmer Rouge in the late 1970s and their efforts to support Afghan refugees. The fourth paper presents oral histories of taiko practitioners in North America during the pandemic, considering how taiko and taiko players have engaged with Asian American community in a time of racism, violence, and artistic precarity. Together, these papers demonstrate how music serves as a site of discourse and experimentation for Asian American activism, as well as the power of sonic storytelling in communicating the history of immigration, violence, and resistance that has characterized the Asian American experience.
Presentations of the Symposium
"Telling my story": Asian American rap in a time of anti-Asian racism
Noriko Manabe (Temple University)
While Asian American hip-hop artists have been successful as DJs or dancers, they have been less visible as rappers. As Wang, Hisama, Wong, Kajikawa, and others have reflected, many Asian American rappers have historically been excluded from the mainstream music industry, while hip hop has remained a site for playing out interracial fascination and tension. Nonetheless, rap’s ethos of personal authenticity, coupled with its appeal to a wide swath of Asian Americans representing diverse ethnicities and social classes, has made Asian American rap an intriguing window into the discourse on anti-Asian American discimination and violence.
This paper explores the ways in which Asian American rap reflects and complicates the discourses inherent in movements against anti-Asian hate. I explore case studies of Asian American rap addressing two events: Japanese American incarceration during World War II and #StopAsianHate, the movement against anti-Asian violence in the wake of the pandemic.
Applying theories of storytelling (Jackson, Fernandes), I analyze tracks on wartime incarceration by Japanese American rappers Key Kool and Mike Shinoda, who each recount their grandfathers’ experiences as internees and bear witness to an often-neglected aspect of US history. Recorded in 1995 and 2005 respectively, they demonstrate the routinization (Alexander, Hung) over time of the narrative on internment and redress. I then analyze the lyrics, music, and visuals of a corpus of 40 songs that reference #StopAsianHate, using ethnographic interviews combined with discourse analysis, Peircean semiotics, and intertextual methods. Combined with the musicians’ activities at rallies, performances, interviews, and social media, this music serves what many activists forward as movement goals: to teach the history of anti-Asian discrimination in the US, debunk Asian American stereotypes, and promote interracial unity. Some tracks also present fissures and diversities of opinion, such as visions of violent revenge. A soundtrack to the discourse, these tracks provide an outlet for the expression of “minor feelings” (Hong), a tool for political mobilization, and evidence of dissensus among Asian Americans.
Crafting Empathy, Speaking Solidarity
Brian Sengdala (Cornell University)
How do Asian Americans practice interethnic solidarities through our activism? What do we learn about strategies of solidarity through minor stories told under the umbrella of Asian American?
When news broke of the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul, many stories sprang up both publicly in articles and intimately in conversation from Khmer refugees who fled the Khmer Rouge coup on 12 April 1975. The Cambodian American journalist Putatsa Reang published an article on August 2021 which opens, “My mother called on Monday to ask if I was watching the news. ‘It’s so scary… All the Afghan people fleeing, running this way and that way. Everyone so desperate to escape. That was us.’” Cambodia and Afghanistan share parallel histories in that both experienced US military forces leaving the country, followed swiftly by a fear-inducing regime change. Listening to the recollection and call to action of Reang’s mother and the other yeays—the Khmer honorific and kinship term for elderly women—like her, this paper attends to the reported conversations within crafting circles made up of elderly Khmer women from the Center for Empowering Refugees and Immigrants (CERI) in Oakland, California. Through a Khmer performativity wherein to speak of something calls it into being, I argue that these yeays show how Asian American activism must always be—as it has always been conceived (Maeda)—interethnic.
These women are a part of a specific refugee class of Asian Americans who were made a part of the United States. With newer modes of agency, they reassert the formation of a transnationally attuned Asian American identity whose conditions of resettlement continue to be the result of multiple Usonian strategies (imperialism, militarism, pollution). Among discourses of Asian American studies, the foundling, but growing field of critical refugee studies is rewriting our understandings of racialized and collectivized activisms in its transnational approach. This paper, through an even smaller subset of Cambodian critical refugee studies as it is met with the potentials of sound studies and performance studies, furthers our understanding of how we speak into being and practice an activism to make our place in the world.
The Project of Asian America: Conversations about Taiko drumming with North American Taiko Practitioners
Lei Ouyang (Swarthmore College)
How has the escalation of anti-Asian violence and anti-Asian racism during the ongoing global pandemic impacted North American taiko practitioners? How can ethnomusicologists engage with the project of Asian America (Yellow Horse & Nakagawa 2020) to bring visibility to the invisible and complicate the hypervisibility of Asian American artists and Asian American performing arts?
This paper centers oral histories of taiko practitioners across the United States and Canada to present nuanced and critical engagement with Asian American artists, their work, and their lived experiences amidst a context that includes racial reckonings, acts of violence, and the global pandemic. Supervised by a faculty advisor, the oral histories are undergraduate student projects developed as part of an engaged pedagogical process. Students and faculty work together in discussion and collaboration with a local Asian American Arts organization off campus (located in a Chinatown of a nearby major US city).
Taiko scholar Deborah Wong writes, “performance is never only about performing” (2019: 207) and that “taiko tells a story about immigration, violence, resistance, and politicization. Taiko teaches skills that have urgent new relevance” (206). What then might we learn from collaborative engagement across Asian American communities on the topics of taiko, violence, racism, inequality, care, and artist life during the global pandemic? As Karín Aguilar-San Juan writes, “Asian America is Dead, Long Live Asian America!” (2021: 289). Conversations about Taiko drumming with taiko practitioners across North America provide an opportunity to explore with care and intention the ongoing tensions within Asian American communities and Asian American Studies. This paper aims to provide one example of how the interdisciplinary work of Ethnomusicology might intersect with the interdisciplinary work of Asian American Studies. Moreover, the collaborative project combining the work of students, faculty, artists, and community partners showcases the humanities as a site for civic engagement and innovative pedagogy to address race and inequality in Asian American communities today.
The surge in anti-Asian violence since the start of the pandemic has spurred a rise in Asian American activism. This activity recalls the history of Asian American resistance and the ways in which music and sound have channeled Asian American stories. One challenge for the Asian American movement is that as education on Asian American history has been limited, particularly at secondary levels, the movement has been left without broadly recognized iconic figures, events, and ideologies to which activists can turn and be readily understood. Many activists see telling the history of Asian America as a key goal of activism. As Fernandes explains, movements often call on individual stories to personalize the message, and these stories are often shaped into movement narratives over time. This panel observes that process through four case studies in Asian America, demonstrating the role of sonic storytelling in Asian American social justice movements. The first paper discusses the recent Stop Asian Hate movement, focusing on how hip hop has reflected the ideologies and fissures within the Asian American community and educated listeners of past anti-Asian American discrimination. The second paper considers the 1970s Asian American songwriting circle called Yokohama, California, which served as a site for processing political knowledge and expanded the Asian American repertoire of protest music. The third paper considers the international consciousness that is inherent in the Asian American movement through the performative speech acts of elderly Cambodian women who fled the Khmer Rouge in the late 1970s and their efforts to support Afghan refugees. The fourth paper presents oral histories of taiko practitioners in North America during the pandemic, considering how taiko and taiko players have engaged with Asian American community in a time of racism, violence, and artistic precarity. Together, these papers demonstrate how music serves as a site of discourse and experimentation for Asian American activism, as well as the power of sonic storytelling in communicating the history of immigration, violence, and resistance that has characterized the Asian American experience.
Presentations of the Symposium
"Telling my story": Asian American rap in a time of anti-Asian racism
Noriko Manabe (Temple University)
While Asian American hip-hop artists have been successful as DJs or dancers, they have been less visible as rappers. As Wang, Hisama, Wong, Kajikawa, and others have reflected, many Asian American rappers have historically been excluded from the mainstream music industry, while hip hop has remained a site for playing out interracial fascination and tension. Nonetheless, rap’s ethos of personal authenticity, coupled with its appeal to a wide swath of Asian Americans representing diverse ethnicities and social classes, has made Asian American rap an intriguing window into the discourse on anti-Asian American discimination and violence.
This paper explores the ways in which Asian American rap reflects and complicates the discourses inherent in movements against anti-Asian hate. I explore case studies of Asian American rap addressing two events: Japanese American incarceration during World War II and #StopAsianHate, the movement against anti-Asian violence in the wake of the pandemic.
Applying theories of storytelling (Jackson, Fernandes), I analyze tracks on wartime incarceration by Japanese American rappers Key Kool and Mike Shinoda, who each recount their grandfathers’ experiences as internees and bear witness to an often-neglected aspect of US history. Recorded in 1995 and 2005 respectively, they demonstrate the routinization (Alexander, Hung) over time of the narrative on internment and redress. I then analyze the lyrics, music, and visuals of a corpus of 40 songs that reference #StopAsianHate, using ethnographic interviews combined with discourse analysis, Peircean semiotics, and intertextual methods. Combined with the musicians’ activities at rallies, performances, interviews, and social media, this music serves what many activists forward as movement goals: to teach the history of anti-Asian discrimination in the US, debunk Asian American stereotypes, and promote interracial unity. Some tracks also present fissures and diversities of opinion, such as visions of violent revenge. A soundtrack to the discourse, these tracks provide an outlet for the expression of “minor feelings” (Hong), a tool for political mobilization, and evidence of dissensus among Asian Americans.
Crafting Empathy, Speaking Solidarity
Brian Sengdala (Cornell University)
How do Asian Americans practice interethnic solidarities through our activism? What do we learn about strategies of solidarity through minor stories told under the umbrella of Asian American?
When news broke of the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul, many stories sprang up both publicly in articles and intimately in conversation from Khmer refugees who fled the Khmer Rouge coup on 12 April 1975. The Cambodian American journalist Putatsa Reang published an article on August 2021 which opens, “My mother called on Monday to ask if I was watching the news. ‘It’s so scary… All the Afghan people fleeing, running this way and that way. Everyone so desperate to escape. That was us.’” Cambodia and Afghanistan share parallel histories in that both experienced US military forces leaving the country, followed swiftly by a fear-inducing regime change. Listening to the recollection and call to action of Reang’s mother and the other yeays—the Khmer honorific and kinship term for elderly women—like her, this paper attends to the reported conversations within crafting circles made up of elderly Khmer women from the Center for Empowering Refugees and Immigrants (CERI) in Oakland, California. Through a Khmer performativity wherein to speak of something calls it into being, I argue that these yeays show how Asian American activism must always be—as it has always been conceived (Maeda)—interethnic.
These women are a part of a specific refugee class of Asian Americans who were made a part of the United States. With newer modes of agency, they reassert the formation of a transnationally attuned Asian American identity whose conditions of resettlement continue to be the result of multiple Usonian strategies (imperialism, militarism, pollution). Among discourses of Asian American studies, the foundling, but growing field of critical refugee studies is rewriting our understandings of racialized and collectivized activisms in its transnational approach. This paper, through an even smaller subset of Cambodian critical refugee studies as it is met with the potentials of sound studies and performance studies, furthers our understanding of how we speak into being and practice an activism to make our place in the world.
The Project of Asian America: Conversations about Taiko drumming with North American Taiko Practitioners
Lei Ouyang (Swarthmore College)
How has the escalation of anti-Asian violence and anti-Asian racism during the ongoing global pandemic impacted North American taiko practitioners? How can ethnomusicologists engage with the project of Asian America (Yellow Horse & Nakagawa 2020) to bring visibility to the invisible and complicate the hypervisibility of Asian American artists and Asian American performing arts?
This paper centers oral histories of taiko practitioners across the United States and Canada to present nuanced and critical engagement with Asian American artists, their work, and their lived experiences amidst a context that includes racial reckonings, acts of violence, and the global pandemic. Supervised by a faculty advisor, the oral histories are undergraduate student projects developed as part of an engaged pedagogical process. Students and faculty work together in discussion and collaboration with a local Asian American Arts organization off campus (located in a Chinatown of a nearby major US city).
Taiko scholar Deborah Wong writes, “performance is never only about performing” (2019: 207) and that “taiko tells a story about immigration, violence, resistance, and politicization. Taiko teaches skills that have urgent new relevance” (206). What then might we learn from collaborative engagement across Asian American communities on the topics of taiko, violence, racism, inequality, care, and artist life during the global pandemic? As Karín Aguilar-San Juan writes, “Asian America is Dead, Long Live Asian America!” (2021: 289). Conversations about Taiko drumming with taiko practitioners across North America provide an opportunity to explore with care and intention the ongoing tensions within Asian American communities and Asian American Studies. This paper aims to provide one example of how the interdisciplinary work of Ethnomusicology might intersect with the interdisciplinary work of Asian American Studies. Moreover, the collaborative project combining the work of students, faculty, artists, and community partners showcases the humanities as a site for civic engagement and innovative pedagogy to address race and inequality in Asian American communities today.
Research Interests:
Panel on the Women's March, Society for Ethnomusicology, with Ben Tausig, Maria Sonevytsky, Shayna Silverstein, Benjamin Harbert, and Noriko Manabe. I contributed the paper, "The Sounds of Post-Inauguration Protests: Memory, Circulation,... more
Panel on the Women's March, Society for Ethnomusicology, with Ben Tausig, Maria Sonevytsky, Shayna Silverstein, Benjamin Harbert, and Noriko Manabe. I contributed the paper, "The Sounds of Post-Inauguration Protests: Memory, Circulation, Innovation."
Research Interests:
47-minute talk and Q&A about the book, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Protest Music After Fukushima, addressing the constraints to free political expression that musicians work under, and the ways in which they work with or... more
47-minute talk and Q&A about the book, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Protest Music After Fukushima, addressing the constraints to free political expression that musicians work under, and the ways in which they work with or overcome these constraints in the four spaces of protest performance: cyberspace, public demonstrations, festivals, and recordings. Some musical examples have been muted for copyright reasons.
Research Interests:
By disseminating information and facilitating discussion, the internet has helped to counter the spiral of silence (Noelle-Neumann), or kūki, which restrains citizens from speaking against official or majority views. Two characteristics... more
By disseminating information and facilitating discussion, the internet has helped to counter the spiral of silence (Noelle-Neumann), or kūki, which restrains citizens from speaking against official or majority views. Two characteristics of the Japanese internet have supported this function. First, the preponderance of mobile internet usage has aided intensive tweeting, twitcasting, and U-Streaming of antinuclear protests and performances as they happen, broadening participation to those not present and making the protest music repertoire familiar to demonstrators. Second, the Japanese covet anonymity in cyberspace to a much greater degree than other nationalities (Ishii). Many antinuclear songs are uploaded anonymously to avoid reprisals. Pseudonymous antinuclear avatars populate Twitter, the most successful of which is Monjukun—a cherub-faced cartoon personifying the accident-prone Monju reactor, and a parody of yuru-kyara (local mascot). With a personality and life story that bear similarities to Japanese anime Astro Boy and Doraemon, Monjukun has grown a franchise that includes several books and regular newspaper columns, delivering useful information on nuclear power and radiation with cuteness and bite. His songs—a unique take on protest songs—pithily describe his premise, in keeping with the spirit of anime songs. He also appears live at music festivals and demonstrations, where his friendly presence alone sends an antinuclear message. Finally, musicians choose to release recordings in cyberspace to eschew music-industry censorship or copyright issues. Hence, cyberspace allows musicians and citizens to air their views and connect with like-minded people—but it also facilitates vicious attacks and the propagation of false rumors.
The link to an archived webcast of the live presentation is at http://www.indiana.edu/~video/stream/launchflash.html?folder=video&filename=SEM_2014_Annual_Meeting_AM_20141114.mp4. This paper runs from about 81:00 to 111:00. The papers in the panel are:
1. Michael Frishkopf, "Technological factors conditioning the socio-political power of music in cyberspace"
2. Adriana Helbig, "Cyber-mobilization, Informational Intimacy, and Musical Frames in Ukraine’s EuroMaidan Protests"
3. Noriko Manabe, "Countering spirals of silence: Protest music and the anonymity of cyberspace in the Japanese antinuclear movement"
4. Farzaneh Hemmasi, "Living (and Dying) the Rock and Roll Dream: Alternative Media and the Politics of 'Making It' as an Iranian Underground Musician"
The link to an archived webcast of the live presentation is at http://www.indiana.edu/~video/stream/launchflash.html?folder=video&filename=SEM_2014_Annual_Meeting_AM_20141114.mp4. This paper runs from about 81:00 to 111:00. The papers in the panel are:
1. Michael Frishkopf, "Technological factors conditioning the socio-political power of music in cyberspace"
2. Adriana Helbig, "Cyber-mobilization, Informational Intimacy, and Musical Frames in Ukraine’s EuroMaidan Protests"
3. Noriko Manabe, "Countering spirals of silence: Protest music and the anonymity of cyberspace in the Japanese antinuclear movement"
4. Farzaneh Hemmasi, "Living (and Dying) the Rock and Roll Dream: Alternative Media and the Politics of 'Making It' as an Iranian Underground Musician"
Research Interests:
Brief summary of chapter, "A Tale of Two Cities: Online Radio in the US and Japan," in Oxford Handbook of Mobile Music Studies, Vol. 1, with updated material.... more
Brief summary of chapter, "A Tale of Two Cities: Online Radio in the US and Japan," in Oxford Handbook of Mobile Music Studies, Vol. 1, with updated material.
https://www.academia.edu/6698600/A_Tale_of_Two_Countries_Online_Radio_in_the_United_States_and_Japan
https://www.academia.edu/6698600/A_Tale_of_Two_Countries_Online_Radio_in_the_United_States_and_Japan
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
"Despite Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan has pursued a program of expanding nuclear power, enabled by tight relationships among the electric power companies, central and local governments, and the media that go back to the beginning of the... more
"Despite Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan has pursued a program of expanding nuclear power, enabled by tight relationships among the electric power companies, central and local governments, and the media that go back to the beginning of the Cold War. Since Fukushima, public opposition to nuclear power has grown widespread in the face of the perceived lack of trustworthy, timely information on radiation from officials. Nonetheless, the mainstream media has carried little non-official information and ignored protests, while some antinuclear figures have suffered consequences. Under these circumstances, music—in sound demonstrations, performances, and cyberspace—has emerged as an important conduit for the voicing of antinuclear sentiments.
Protest songs, by their very nature, are highly intertextual; they refer to current issues either directly (e.g., through lyrics that quote officials) or obliquely through metaphors. In addition, they often refer to historical movements, thereby accessing the listener’s feelings about that movement and compounding the songs’ power through semantic snowballing (cf. Turino). Classifying types of intertextuality would be useful for analyzing how musicians choose to convey their messages, and how they are received.
Using Genette’s classification of transtextuality as a starting point (with references to Lacasse), I formulate a typology of intertextuality for protest songs. These types include hypertextual covers (with changed lyrics), remakes and reinterpretations, mash-ups, metaphors, and allegories; intertextual quotations; paratextual uses of promotional or concessionary materials; and architextual adaptations of style for strategic purposes. In order to analyze reception, I overlay Peircean models of how signs take on meaning and are interpreted. My analytical process considers signifying parameters (e.g., texts, music, performance, visuals), referred events, and dynamic responses.
I apply this process to analyze the music of the Japanese antinuclear movement post-Fukushima, overlaying findings from interviews with artists and protesters, to describe the methods by which musicians deliver their antinuclear messages. Through writing new lyrics to existing songs, quoting hip-hop classics by Gil Scott-Heron and Public Enemy, performing satirically as electric-power officials, adapting light-hearted matsuri (festival) styles, or using metaphors (e.g., Godzilla), musicians comment on nuclear policy and draw parallels between this movement and World War II, antiwar protests, and African American struggles.
[Abstract pages from conference are attached]
Protest songs, by their very nature, are highly intertextual; they refer to current issues either directly (e.g., through lyrics that quote officials) or obliquely through metaphors. In addition, they often refer to historical movements, thereby accessing the listener’s feelings about that movement and compounding the songs’ power through semantic snowballing (cf. Turino). Classifying types of intertextuality would be useful for analyzing how musicians choose to convey their messages, and how they are received.
Using Genette’s classification of transtextuality as a starting point (with references to Lacasse), I formulate a typology of intertextuality for protest songs. These types include hypertextual covers (with changed lyrics), remakes and reinterpretations, mash-ups, metaphors, and allegories; intertextual quotations; paratextual uses of promotional or concessionary materials; and architextual adaptations of style for strategic purposes. In order to analyze reception, I overlay Peircean models of how signs take on meaning and are interpreted. My analytical process considers signifying parameters (e.g., texts, music, performance, visuals), referred events, and dynamic responses.
I apply this process to analyze the music of the Japanese antinuclear movement post-Fukushima, overlaying findings from interviews with artists and protesters, to describe the methods by which musicians deliver their antinuclear messages. Through writing new lyrics to existing songs, quoting hip-hop classics by Gil Scott-Heron and Public Enemy, performing satirically as electric-power officials, adapting light-hearted matsuri (festival) styles, or using metaphors (e.g., Godzilla), musicians comment on nuclear policy and draw parallels between this movement and World War II, antiwar protests, and African American struggles.
[Abstract pages from conference are attached]
Research Interests:
Interview by Dennis Pohl on anger and resistance in popular culture for Spex: Magazin für Popkultur, No. 375 (July/August 2017), “Schwerpunkt: Wut & Widerstand: Anger Is an Energy.” This link is the full script; an excerpt, translated... more
Interview by Dennis Pohl on anger and resistance in popular culture for Spex: Magazin für Popkultur, No. 375 (July/August 2017), “Schwerpunkt: Wut & Widerstand: Anger Is an Energy.” This link is the full script; an excerpt, translated into German, appears in the print version of the magazine.
Research Interests:
Interview by Ian Martin, Japan Times, on The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Protest Music After Fukushima.
Research Interests:
Noriko Manabe’s new book is a compelling analysis of the content, performance style, and role of music in social movements in contemporary Japan. Paying special attention to the constraints that limit and censor people–both ordinary... more
Noriko Manabe’s new book is a compelling analysis of the content, performance style, and role of music in social movements in contemporary Japan. Paying special attention to the constraints that limit and censor people–both ordinary citizens and musicians–from speaking out on sensitive political issues, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Protest Music After Fukushima (Oxford University Press, 2015) focuses on the music of post-Fukushima antinuclear protests. Manabe looks carefully at the roles and motivations of musicians in Japan who have become involved in protest movements and demonstrations that reach across a range of physical and virtual spaces. This book will be of interest to any readers eager to learn more about modern Japan, protest movements, music, and the histories of nuclear power and its discontents.
Make sure to check out the companion website, which includes lots of multi-media materials that articulate with the chapters of the book!
--Carla Nappi
Make sure to check out the companion website, which includes lots of multi-media materials that articulate with the chapters of the book!
--Carla Nappi
Research Interests:
Interview by Eleni Psaltis for "Japan in Focus," ABC News Radio, ABC Australia, March 21, 2016. In my segment, which runs from 4:30 to 10:30 on the recording, I speak about the impact of music on the antinuclear movement. Clips of Saitō... more
Interview by Eleni Psaltis for "Japan in Focus," ABC News Radio, ABC Australia, March 21, 2016. In my segment, which runs from 4:30 to 10:30 on the recording, I speak about the impact of music on the antinuclear movement. Clips of Saitō Kazuyoshi's "It Was Always a Lie" and Rankin Taxi's "You Can't See It, You Can't Smell It Either," are heard.
Research Interests:
Interview by Nathan Wooley for Sound American, Issue 11, on music and ritual. I speak about the festive quality of some Japanese antinuclear protests and the changes in musical style in protests in line with the stage of the antinuclear... more
Interview by Nathan Wooley for Sound American, Issue 11, on music and ritual. I speak about the festive quality of some Japanese antinuclear protests and the changes in musical style in protests in line with the stage of the antinuclear movement.
Research Interests:
Academia.edu helps academics follow the latest research.
Research Interests:
Now online: https://books.openedition.org/ms/863
With Elsa Grassy (ed.).
Selected proceedings of the Strasbourg conference.
With Elsa Grassy (ed.).
Selected proceedings of the Strasbourg conference.
Research Interests:
Published: http://www.lespressesdureel.com/ouvrage.php?id=4483&menu=2 "Conference organizers Alenka Barber-Kersovan, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Arbeitskreis Studium Populärer Musik, Germany Elsa Grassy, Université de... more
Published: http://www.lespressesdureel.com/ouvrage.php?id=4483&menu=2
"Conference organizers
Alenka Barber-Kersovan, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Arbeitskreis Studium Populärer Musik, Germany
Elsa Grassy, Université de Strasbourg, International Association for the Study of Popular Music-branche francophone d’Europe, France
Jedediah Sklower, Université Catholique de Lille, Éditions Mélanie Seteun / Volume! the French journal of popular music studies, France
Keynote speakers
Martin Cloonan, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
Dietrich Helms, University of Osnabrück, Germany
Provisional scientific committee
Ralph von Appen, University of Giessen, Germany
Esteban Buch, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, France
Hugh Dauncey, University of Newcastle, United Kingdom
André Doehring, University of Giessen, Germany
Gérôme Guibert, University of Paris III, Sorbonne Nouvelle, France
Patricia Hall, University of Michigan, United States
Olivier Julien, University of Paris IV, Sorbonne, France
Dave Laing, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom
David Looseley, University of Leeds, United Kingdom
Rajko Muršič, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Rosa Reitsamer, University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, Austria
Deena Weinstein, DePaul University, United States
Sheila Whiteley, University of Salford, United Kingdom
The Conference
Popular Music scholars have devoted considerable attention to the relationship between music and power. The symbolic practices through which subcultures state and reinforce identities have been widely documented (mainly in the field of Cultural, Gender and Postcolonial Studies), as has the increasingly political and revolutionary dimensions of popular music. Most studies have focused on the genres and movements that developed with and in the aftermath of the 1960’s counterculture. Yet little has been written about how the politics of popular music has reflected the social, geopolitical and technological changes of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, after the fall of Communism. Still, the music of the Arab Spring or of the Occupy and Indignados movements have been scarcely commented upon while they attest to significant changes in the way music is used by activists and revolutionaries today.
This international conference therefore aims to explore the new political meanings and practices of music and to provide an impetus for their study. Broadly the themes of the conference are divided into five main streams:
1. Music as a Political Weapon
The history of popular music cannot be divorced from that of social, cultural and political movements, and yet the question remains: if music is politically efficient, how can we measure its impact? It is not clear what role music plays in the struggle for political, ideological and social change. While musical practices and the writing of songs can strengthen existing activist groups, can it also truly change minds or upset the established order and destabilize it? If there are such things as soundtracks for rebellions and revolutions, do they merely accompany fights or can they quicken the pace and bring about change themselves?
Of course it would be naïve to think of the political impact of music only in progressive terms; participants are encouraged to pinpoint the ambiguities and contradictions at work in the relationship between music and power. Popular music artists and whole genres can refuse to meddle in politics – and the non-referentiality of music makes it an ill-suited medium for the diffusion of clean-cut messages. It would therefore be ill-advised to consider popular music genres and artists as falling either into the political or apolitical categories. Music can also be violent in less political ways, and even carry nihilistic undertones – it can ignore or even mock its own alleged political power. This should lead us to a re-evaluation of subcultural politics.
2. Political Change, Musical Revolution? The Question of Artistic Legacy
The musical styles that accompany social and political change are part of a musical continuum. This prompts the question of originality and relation to tradition. Has the new historical context shaken up the old codes for protest music? What are the new politically conscious forms and genres of today, and how do they relate to older protest movements? The covering of songs from the Civil Rights era and the Great Depression in the aftermath of Katrina and the participation of singers from the 1960s counterculture in the Occupy Wall Street movement raises the issue of correspondences between groups of artists and activists. We will also look at how contemporary movements connect with one another. Can it be said that protest music is globalized today? How does the music of the Arab Spring compare to the songs of the Occupy Wall Street movement or of the Maple Spring protesters?
3. Music, Identity and Nationalism
Popular music has a hand in the building and solidification of (sub)cultural communities. Songs have expressed the emergence of new group identities in fall of Communism, the breakup of Yugoslavia and during other political schisms in Latin American countries more recently. People sing and play the old regimes away, or they use music to connect with fellow migrants or refugees in an upset political landscape. Songs serve as a bridge between past and present by pairing traditional patterns to new instruments, new technology, and new media – by associating nostalgia with the wish for change. They can also smooth out the transition to a new life and a new identity as individuals and groups assimilate into another culture. Reversely, they can reflect new cultural antagonisms and class conflicts and follow the radicalization of group identities. In the Balkans, Eastern Europe and Russia, nationalist movements have their own anthems, too.
4. Aesthetics, digital practices and political significations
The increased use of computing technology in musical practices as well as the advent of social networks has opened new aesthetic vistas (with the increasing use of sampling, mashups, or shreds), as well as changed the way music is shared, advertised and composed. How do those technical changes affect the political uses of music and its weight? Of course while these changes have led to a wave of increased artistic creativity, they might also obliterate symbolic legacies and political meanings. When do reference and reverence turn into betrayal? New technologies might have opened a new battleground where political awareness competes with cultural emancipation.
5. Marching to a Different Beat? Censorship, Propaganda and Torture
The political weight and the mobilizing capacities of popular music can be gauged by how authorities react to them. Some states consider them a threat to their stability and to an established order in which the voice of the people is seldom heard – and never listened to. In the 21st century, popular music is still censored and repressed all over the world. From the ban of irreverent songs after 9/11 to the violence directed against emos in Iraq and the trial against Pussy Riot more recently, the regimes contested by deviants and/or protesters can take musical criticism and anticonformist artists very seriously.
Political and moral authorities with a sense of how powerful music can be may also use it for their benefit, as propaganda. Soldiers’ moral and psychological states can also be altered by listening to aggressive playlists during military operations. Music is never further away from its role in political struggles than when it is meant to numb the will of individuals, subdue or even torture. This might constitute the most extreme way in which its emancipatory power can be subverted."
Schedule
Friday 7 June 2013
12:00: Lunch
13:00-13:30: Conference opening, MISHA conference hall: Alenka Barber-Kersovan, Elsa Grassy, Jedediah Sklower
13:30-14:15: Dietrich Helms intervention
14:15 -14:30: Coffee break
14:30-16:00: Panels I
1. The democratic agency of protest music I: music, society & political change
2. Scenes I: the politics of indie music
3. Hijacking popular music I: persuasion & propaganda
16:00-16:15: Coffee break
16:15-17:45: Panels II
4. The democratic agency of protest music II: performing activist soundscapes
5. Scenes II – racial and postcolonial issues in glocal popular music
6. Hijacking popular music II: Star politics, influence & the masses
18:00-20:00: Visit of Strasbourg’s historical center
19:00-20:00: Visit of Strasbourg by “bateau mouche”
20:30: Dinner at the Maison Kammerzell
Saturday 8 June 2013
9:30-11:00: Panels III
7. The democratic agency of protest music III: struggling with commitment
8. Scenes III: glocal hip-hop & the politics of authenticity
9. Identity polemics I: assessing the political past
11:00-11:15: Coffee break
11:15-12:45: Panels IV
10. The democratic agency of protest music IV: political movements & strikes
11. Hijacking popular music III: State policies & propaganda
12. Identity polemics II: the polysemic recycling of popular music
12:45-14:30: “Buffet” at the MISHA conference hall, and short concert within the Jazzdor Strasbourg-Berlin festival
14:30-15:15: Martin Cloonan presentation
15:15-15:30: Coffee break
15h30-17:00: Panels V
13. The democratic agency of protest music V: revolutionary soundtracks?
14. Scenes IV: politics, ethics & aesthetics
15. Identity polemics III: tributes & national myths in the United States
17:00-17:15: Coffee break
17:15-18:00: Conference conclusion & debate
Abstracts
"Conference organizers
Alenka Barber-Kersovan, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Arbeitskreis Studium Populärer Musik, Germany
Elsa Grassy, Université de Strasbourg, International Association for the Study of Popular Music-branche francophone d’Europe, France
Jedediah Sklower, Université Catholique de Lille, Éditions Mélanie Seteun / Volume! the French journal of popular music studies, France
Keynote speakers
Martin Cloonan, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
Dietrich Helms, University of Osnabrück, Germany
Provisional scientific committee
Ralph von Appen, University of Giessen, Germany
Esteban Buch, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, France
Hugh Dauncey, University of Newcastle, United Kingdom
André Doehring, University of Giessen, Germany
Gérôme Guibert, University of Paris III, Sorbonne Nouvelle, France
Patricia Hall, University of Michigan, United States
Olivier Julien, University of Paris IV, Sorbonne, France
Dave Laing, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom
David Looseley, University of Leeds, United Kingdom
Rajko Muršič, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Rosa Reitsamer, University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, Austria
Deena Weinstein, DePaul University, United States
Sheila Whiteley, University of Salford, United Kingdom
The Conference
Popular Music scholars have devoted considerable attention to the relationship between music and power. The symbolic practices through which subcultures state and reinforce identities have been widely documented (mainly in the field of Cultural, Gender and Postcolonial Studies), as has the increasingly political and revolutionary dimensions of popular music. Most studies have focused on the genres and movements that developed with and in the aftermath of the 1960’s counterculture. Yet little has been written about how the politics of popular music has reflected the social, geopolitical and technological changes of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, after the fall of Communism. Still, the music of the Arab Spring or of the Occupy and Indignados movements have been scarcely commented upon while they attest to significant changes in the way music is used by activists and revolutionaries today.
This international conference therefore aims to explore the new political meanings and practices of music and to provide an impetus for their study. Broadly the themes of the conference are divided into five main streams:
1. Music as a Political Weapon
The history of popular music cannot be divorced from that of social, cultural and political movements, and yet the question remains: if music is politically efficient, how can we measure its impact? It is not clear what role music plays in the struggle for political, ideological and social change. While musical practices and the writing of songs can strengthen existing activist groups, can it also truly change minds or upset the established order and destabilize it? If there are such things as soundtracks for rebellions and revolutions, do they merely accompany fights or can they quicken the pace and bring about change themselves?
Of course it would be naïve to think of the political impact of music only in progressive terms; participants are encouraged to pinpoint the ambiguities and contradictions at work in the relationship between music and power. Popular music artists and whole genres can refuse to meddle in politics – and the non-referentiality of music makes it an ill-suited medium for the diffusion of clean-cut messages. It would therefore be ill-advised to consider popular music genres and artists as falling either into the political or apolitical categories. Music can also be violent in less political ways, and even carry nihilistic undertones – it can ignore or even mock its own alleged political power. This should lead us to a re-evaluation of subcultural politics.
2. Political Change, Musical Revolution? The Question of Artistic Legacy
The musical styles that accompany social and political change are part of a musical continuum. This prompts the question of originality and relation to tradition. Has the new historical context shaken up the old codes for protest music? What are the new politically conscious forms and genres of today, and how do they relate to older protest movements? The covering of songs from the Civil Rights era and the Great Depression in the aftermath of Katrina and the participation of singers from the 1960s counterculture in the Occupy Wall Street movement raises the issue of correspondences between groups of artists and activists. We will also look at how contemporary movements connect with one another. Can it be said that protest music is globalized today? How does the music of the Arab Spring compare to the songs of the Occupy Wall Street movement or of the Maple Spring protesters?
3. Music, Identity and Nationalism
Popular music has a hand in the building and solidification of (sub)cultural communities. Songs have expressed the emergence of new group identities in fall of Communism, the breakup of Yugoslavia and during other political schisms in Latin American countries more recently. People sing and play the old regimes away, or they use music to connect with fellow migrants or refugees in an upset political landscape. Songs serve as a bridge between past and present by pairing traditional patterns to new instruments, new technology, and new media – by associating nostalgia with the wish for change. They can also smooth out the transition to a new life and a new identity as individuals and groups assimilate into another culture. Reversely, they can reflect new cultural antagonisms and class conflicts and follow the radicalization of group identities. In the Balkans, Eastern Europe and Russia, nationalist movements have their own anthems, too.
4. Aesthetics, digital practices and political significations
The increased use of computing technology in musical practices as well as the advent of social networks has opened new aesthetic vistas (with the increasing use of sampling, mashups, or shreds), as well as changed the way music is shared, advertised and composed. How do those technical changes affect the political uses of music and its weight? Of course while these changes have led to a wave of increased artistic creativity, they might also obliterate symbolic legacies and political meanings. When do reference and reverence turn into betrayal? New technologies might have opened a new battleground where political awareness competes with cultural emancipation.
5. Marching to a Different Beat? Censorship, Propaganda and Torture
The political weight and the mobilizing capacities of popular music can be gauged by how authorities react to them. Some states consider them a threat to their stability and to an established order in which the voice of the people is seldom heard – and never listened to. In the 21st century, popular music is still censored and repressed all over the world. From the ban of irreverent songs after 9/11 to the violence directed against emos in Iraq and the trial against Pussy Riot more recently, the regimes contested by deviants and/or protesters can take musical criticism and anticonformist artists very seriously.
Political and moral authorities with a sense of how powerful music can be may also use it for their benefit, as propaganda. Soldiers’ moral and psychological states can also be altered by listening to aggressive playlists during military operations. Music is never further away from its role in political struggles than when it is meant to numb the will of individuals, subdue or even torture. This might constitute the most extreme way in which its emancipatory power can be subverted."
Schedule
Friday 7 June 2013
12:00: Lunch
13:00-13:30: Conference opening, MISHA conference hall: Alenka Barber-Kersovan, Elsa Grassy, Jedediah Sklower
13:30-14:15: Dietrich Helms intervention
14:15 -14:30: Coffee break
14:30-16:00: Panels I
1. The democratic agency of protest music I: music, society & political change
2. Scenes I: the politics of indie music
3. Hijacking popular music I: persuasion & propaganda
16:00-16:15: Coffee break
16:15-17:45: Panels II
4. The democratic agency of protest music II: performing activist soundscapes
5. Scenes II – racial and postcolonial issues in glocal popular music
6. Hijacking popular music II: Star politics, influence & the masses
18:00-20:00: Visit of Strasbourg’s historical center
19:00-20:00: Visit of Strasbourg by “bateau mouche”
20:30: Dinner at the Maison Kammerzell
Saturday 8 June 2013
9:30-11:00: Panels III
7. The democratic agency of protest music III: struggling with commitment
8. Scenes III: glocal hip-hop & the politics of authenticity
9. Identity polemics I: assessing the political past
11:00-11:15: Coffee break
11:15-12:45: Panels IV
10. The democratic agency of protest music IV: political movements & strikes
11. Hijacking popular music III: State policies & propaganda
12. Identity polemics II: the polysemic recycling of popular music
12:45-14:30: “Buffet” at the MISHA conference hall, and short concert within the Jazzdor Strasbourg-Berlin festival
14:30-15:15: Martin Cloonan presentation
15:15-15:30: Coffee break
15h30-17:00: Panels V
13. The democratic agency of protest music V: revolutionary soundtracks?
14. Scenes IV: politics, ethics & aesthetics
15. Identity polemics III: tributes & national myths in the United States
17:00-17:15: Coffee break
17:15-18:00: Conference conclusion & debate
Abstracts
Research Interests:
Since he announced his candidacy in 2015, Donald Trump has been a subject in music, much of it in the form of parodies, remixes, and mashups released on social media. This talk reviews this music of the Trump presidency (mostly from the... more
Since he announced his candidacy in 2015, Donald Trump has been a subject in music, much of it in the form of parodies, remixes, and mashups released on social media. This talk reviews this music of the Trump presidency (mostly from the Trump Resistance) and the rhetorical tactics employed. Topics considered include humor, intertextual meanings, and circulation between cyberspace and street protests.
Talk for Temple Library series, "Beyond the Notes," for a general audience.
Talk for Temple Library series, "Beyond the Notes," for a general audience.