The Great (Danish) Dance Ball: Post-National Tendencies in Communal Singing Since the 1990’s, social theorists have identified a number of so-called post-national tendencies which show how the concept of the nation-state have been challenged due to, among other things, the advert of globalization. The article argues that such tendencies have also affected the culture of communal singing in Denmark during the 21st century. Even though the act of singing national songs together is still very much alive to this day, it seems that a growing number of Danish citizens have experienced a growing unease or even embarassment related to the celebration of the nation through national songs (”fædrelandssange”). Taking its departure from various approaches to communal singing, such incidents are registered and discussed in the article. This is also the case for a number of identifiable counter-tendencies, revealing a gap between the two practices of, respectively, celebrating the nation in song and distancing oneself from it. Finally, the article askes whether post-national phenomenons will prove able to challenge and perhaps alter the hegemonic nation-building discourse of communal singing in the future.
”Despite its deficiencies, I like the country I live in”: The Advent of ”Denmark-Songs” and the Breakaway from National Songs as a Discursive Phenomenon This article identifies and explores a trend in Danish popular music as well as communal singing which arose during the early 1970’s as an antidote to the long-established national songs and songs about the nation. The trend revealed a rather new way of thematizing national identification matters in which a critical attitude towards the country was explicit, although the songs always reflected a deep devotion as well. In this way, the songs in question established a counter-narrative to the national songs which was apparent from the early 1970’s to the mid-1980’s, but was resumed again in the early 2000’s. By analyzing three distinct ”Denmark songs” by, respectively, No Name (”Fødelandssang”, 1972), Trille (”Danmark”, 1979) and Gnags (”Danmark”, 1986), the article points to three different ways in which such critical yet loving attitudes could be implemented. It is argued that this counter-narrative, which focused on elements of discontinuity, was a function of a self-conscious and critical folk and rock movement during the 1970’s and 1980’s in which the distancing involved was a result of the breakdown of the ”great” narratives of Denmark as a unified nation, fueled by the heated debate prior to the country’s incorporation into the EU in 1973.
Rock ‘n’ roll may not have toppled the USSR, but it definitely rumbled through its foundations. Unlike the often-saccharine pop music sanctioned by the Soviet state, Ukrainian punk musicians of the 1980s Kyiv underground adapted ideologies of rock to roast the absurdities of late Soviet life, to articulate new ways of being Ukrainian, and to celebrate the cathartic pleasures of collective gatherings organized around musical performances. This book tells the story of Tantsi (Dances) a 1989 semi-official cassette release by the now-legendary Ukrainian punk band Vopli Vidopliassova, known to fans simply as VV (pronounced “Ve-Ve”). Their disruptive musical sounds, ironic lyrics, use of language, and propulsive performances toyed with the distinctions between official and unofficial Soviet culture. VV's Tantsi exemplifies how Soviet musical cultures existed within an ecosystem of contradictions as entrenched state infrastructures collided with emergent youth subcultures on the quicksand of late Soviet life. Today, Tantsi continues to invite us to dance while we laugh (or cry) at the absurdities of everyday life.
The Dead C’s Clyma est mort (1993) is the record of a live gig for one person. Tom Lax was running the Siltbreeze label in Philadelphia and had come to New Zealand to meet the artists he was releasing. He heard The Dead C at their noisy, improvised best, turning rock music on its head with a free-form style of blaring, loosely organised sound. Leading a second wave of music from Dunedin, New Zealand, The Dead C were an assault against the kind of jangly pop that had made the Dunedin Sound famous during the 1980s. This book uses The Dead C and in particular their album Clyma est mort (1993) to offer insights into the way the best of rock music plays vertigo with our senses, illustrating a sonic picture of freedom and energy. It places the album into the history of independent music in New Zealand, and into an international context of independent labels posting, faxing and phoning each other.
The voice of Amália Rodrigues (1920-1999), the “Queen of Fado” and Portugal’s most celebrated diva, was extraordinary for its interpretive power, soul wrenching timbre, and international reach. Amalia à l’Olympia (1957) is an album made from recordings of her first performances at the fabled Olympia Music Hall in Paris in 1956. This album, which was issued for multiple national markets (including: France; USA; Japan; Britain; the Netherlands) catapulted Amália Rodrigues into the international limelight. During its time, this album held the potential for international listeners, outside of Portugal, to represent Portugal, while also standing in for cosmopolitanism, the glamorous city of Paris, and to present a sonorous voyage in sound. This book introduces readers to the voice of Amália Rodrigues and to the genre of the Portuguese fado, offering a primer in how to listen to both. It unpacks this iconic album and the voice, sound, style, and celebrity of Amália Rodrigues. It situates this album within a historical context marked by cold war Atlanticist diplomacy, Portugal’s dictatorial regime, and the emergence of new forms of media, travel, and tourism. In so doing, it examines processes that shaped the internationalization of peripheral popular musics and the making of female vocal stardom in the mid-20th century. The voice of Amália Rodrigues (1920-1999), the “Queen of Fado” and Portugal’s most celebrated diva, was extraordinary for its interpretive power, soul wrenching timbre, and international reach. Amalia à l’Olympia (1957) is an album made from recordings of her first performances at the fabled Olympia Music Hall in Paris in the spring of 1956. This album, re-issued for multiple national markets (including: USA; France; Italy; The Netherlands; Great Britain; South Africa; Japan), catapulted Amália Rodrigues into the international limelight. The venue of the Olympia was key to the shaping of international musical stardom during the mid-twentieth century. During its time, this album held the potential for international listeners, outside of Portugal, to stand in for Portugal while also standing in for cosmopolitanism, the glamorous city of Paris, and to present a sonorous voyage in sound. This book uses this album as a prism through which to explore interlinked media, processes and networks which shaped the internationalization of peripheral popular musics, the formation of cosmopolitan musical publics, and the performance of female vocal celebrity in the mid-twentieth century. It situates this album within a historical context marked by cold war Atlanticist diplomacy, the Portuguese Estado Novo regime, and the emergence of new forms of media, travel, and tourism. At the same time, it offers a primer in how to listen to the genre of the Portuguese fado and to the voice of Amália Rodrigues.
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