POPULAR MUSIC IN GEOGRAPHICAL ANALYSES by LILY KONG
DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE
10 KENT RIDGE CRESCENT SINGAPORE 0511
PROGRESS IN HUMAN GEOGRAPHY 1995
Vol. 19, pp 183-98.
I've been seeing this lady's name everywhere since I started this venture, and now I know why. The last 17 years of studies involving place and music and identity owe Lily Kong for much of their vision and legitimacy. She outlines in a very thorough way what has been done and what needs to be done, and so constructs the theoretical framework for analyzing popular music from a human/cultural geography perspective. I have extracted the main points of this paper.
Why pop music?
Pervasiveness - every culture has popular music woven into its popular culture
Thus, it can be used to assist in understanding the character and identity of places. "Whatever you feel from the music is what it feels like to be there." - David Thomas, quoted in Jarvis, 1985:121.
It is a medium through which people convey environmental experiences - creating social systems - and is also the outcome of environmental experience - recreating social systems.
5 trends in the literature up through '95
1. Concern with spatial distribution of musical: forms, activities, performers, personalities.
2. Musical hearth and diffusion: contagion, relocation, hierarchical diffusion
3. Delimitating areas that share certain musical traits: global, regional
4. Character and identity of places gleaned from: lyrics, melody, instrumentation, general "feel"
5. Thematic analysis of lyrics
4 shortcomings of the literature up through '95
1. No engagement with social and political contexts
2. No recognition of space and experienced space as social constructions, or how music might affect or contribute to such constructions
3. Little sense of music as an object of consumption, or how the consumption of music might transform the music
4. Importance of music as a contributor to social identities largely ignored
4 suggestions for research directions
1. Analysis of symbolic meanings
2. Music as cultural communication
3. Cultural politics of music
4. Musical economies
Music constructs and deconstructs identities through:
musical texts
rhythm
lyrics
distinctive styles
intertexts
posters
videos
T-shirts
Fashion
local activities
band practice
competitions
karaoke
Suggested methods:
examine and analyze musical texts, intertexts, and activities
interview, interview, interview - especially those who produce music and who are responsible for "bringing it all together" (DJs, etc.)
look at it from a "consumption" point of view:
physical
emotional
cognitive
look at it from an "involvement" point of view:
exposure
consumption
use
participant observation is key, completely indispensable. Attend concerts, parties, or go crazy and join the band (a la Keila Diehl).
This article opened my mind in a big way to the possibilities and directions I can go. Now the hard part is choosing some to focus on... Thankfully, I don't have to commit too hard until I get in the field and see what the situation is in Bylakuppe.
Party on, Garth.
DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE
10 KENT RIDGE CRESCENT SINGAPORE 0511
PROGRESS IN HUMAN GEOGRAPHY 1995
Vol. 19, pp 183-98.
I've been seeing this lady's name everywhere since I started this venture, and now I know why. The last 17 years of studies involving place and music and identity owe Lily Kong for much of their vision and legitimacy. She outlines in a very thorough way what has been done and what needs to be done, and so constructs the theoretical framework for analyzing popular music from a human/cultural geography perspective. I have extracted the main points of this paper.
Why pop music?
Pervasiveness - every culture has popular music woven into its popular culture
Thus, it can be used to assist in understanding the character and identity of places. "Whatever you feel from the music is what it feels like to be there." - David Thomas, quoted in Jarvis, 1985:121.
It is a medium through which people convey environmental experiences - creating social systems - and is also the outcome of environmental experience - recreating social systems.
5 trends in the literature up through '95
1. Concern with spatial distribution of musical: forms, activities, performers, personalities.
2. Musical hearth and diffusion: contagion, relocation, hierarchical diffusion
3. Delimitating areas that share certain musical traits: global, regional
4. Character and identity of places gleaned from: lyrics, melody, instrumentation, general "feel"
5. Thematic analysis of lyrics
4 shortcomings of the literature up through '95
1. No engagement with social and political contexts
2. No recognition of space and experienced space as social constructions, or how music might affect or contribute to such constructions
3. Little sense of music as an object of consumption, or how the consumption of music might transform the music
4. Importance of music as a contributor to social identities largely ignored
4 suggestions for research directions
1. Analysis of symbolic meanings
2. Music as cultural communication
3. Cultural politics of music
4. Musical economies
Music constructs and deconstructs identities through:
musical texts
rhythm
lyrics
distinctive styles
intertexts
posters
videos
T-shirts
Fashion
local activities
band practice
competitions
karaoke
Suggested methods:
examine and analyze musical texts, intertexts, and activities
interview, interview, interview - especially those who produce music and who are responsible for "bringing it all together" (DJs, etc.)
look at it from a "consumption" point of view:
physical
emotional
cognitive
look at it from an "involvement" point of view:
exposure
consumption
use
participant observation is key, completely indispensable. Attend concerts, parties, or go crazy and join the band (a la Keila Diehl).
This article opened my mind in a big way to the possibilities and directions I can go. Now the hard part is choosing some to focus on... Thankfully, I don't have to commit too hard until I get in the field and see what the situation is in Bylakuppe.
Party on, Garth.
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