Music, Space and Place: Popular Music and Cultural Identity (Ashgate Popular And Folk Music) - Softcover

'The cultural detour through the spaces of identity has produced some interesting insights, and this book exemplifies many of these.' European Journal of Communication '... within the wide variety of disciplines the essays cover, the book adds to the literature in some discerning ways and would be of interest not only to scholars of popular music but to anyone interested in cultural studies, socio-linguistics, and issues of power and gender relations who wish to extend their reference material into the field of musicology.' Popular Music '... a very interesting collection of articles... provides highly refreshing insights on larger themes.' Year's Work in Critical and Cultural Theory 'The essays in this anthology form an impressive body of work pertaining to the importance of local manifestations of musical forms that may have broader regional and even international significance...the essays [...] are highly recommended to cultural geographers and others interested in popular music, spatial identities, and cultural resistance.' Journal of Cultural Geography 'a valuable and original contribution to the study of music and culture.' Space and Culture

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.