"Music, Space and Place" examines the urban and
rural spaces in which music is experienced, produced and
consumed. The editors of this collection have brought
together new and exciting perspectives by international
researchers and scholars working in the field of popular
music studies. Underpinning all of the contributions is
the recognition that musical processes take place within
a particular space and place, where these processes are
shaped both by specific musical practices and by the
pressures and dynamics of political and economic
circumstances. Important discourses are explored
concerning national culture and identity, as well as how
identity is constructed through the exchanges that occur
between displaced peoples of the world's many diasporas.
Music helps to articulate a shared sense of community
among these dispersed people, carving out spaces of
freedom which are integral to personal and group
consciousness. A specific focal point is the rap and hip
hop music that has contributed towards a particular
sense of identity as indigenous resistance vernaculars
for otherwise socially marginalized minorities in Cuba,
France, Italy, New Zealand and South Africa. New
research is also presented on the authorial presence in
production within the domain of the commercially driven
Anglo-American music industry. The issue of authorship
and creativity is tackled alongside matters relating to
the production of musical texts themselves, and
demonstrates the gender politics in pop. Underlying
Music, Space and Place, is the question of how the
disciplines informing popular music studies - sociology,
musicology, cultural studies, media studies and feminism
- have developed within a changing intellectual climate.
The book therefore covers a wide range of subject matter
in relation to space and place, including community and
identity, gender, race, 'vernaculars', power,
performance and production.
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