~Vibes – The IASPM D-A-CH Series

This contribution examines the nexus between ‘the political’ and popular music from an interdisciplinary perspective. Using Rammstein’s highly provocative single “Deutschland” (2019) as an example, this case study showcases multiple different and often contradictory readings of the band’s work with a view to its textual, visual, sonic and performative dimensions. Overall, this contribution suggests that the political in Rammstein oscillates between self-reference and historical reference, between deconstruction and marketability, and between scandalous irony and ambiguous sincerity.

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„Transformations of the National —Rammstein’s “Deutschland” as a Provocation of German History“ weiterlesen

Among the people arriving in the European Union during the long summer of migration in 2015/16 and in the immediate years before were also musicians who positioned themselves within genres of popular music. In this article, I re-construct the musical developments of three selected musicians/bands, who fled the civil war in Syria, after their arrival in Austria or Germany: the rock band Khebez Dawle خبز دولة, the pop band Basalt, and the rapper Enana Alassar. Discussing the ways of settling in and adapting to a new life situation gives insights into the individual musical developments and the musicians’ agency to negotiate and perform their surroundings and new life situation in their music, including a handling of categorizations as musicians from Syria or “refugee” musicians in media and on stages within the activities of the so-called Welcome Culture. Furthermore, it points to general transformations in regard to music-making by Syrians and the intertwining of political and social transformations and individual music-making choices.

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„Popular Music, Forced Migration from Syria, and Welcome Culture in Germany and Austria“ weiterlesen

Manuel Troike talks to the Swiss ethnomusicologist Dr. Thomas Burkhalter about his music documentary Contradict – Ideas for a New World. Together with Peter Guyer, Burkhalter gives six musicians from Ghana a chance to speak, to look at the changing values of our time from the African continent, and to show how trends, ideas and visions are increasingly decentralised in a globalised world.

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„Contradict – Ideas for a New World. A Talk between Thomas Burkhalter and Manuel Troike about the Documentary Film Contradict“ weiterlesen

Der Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit dem wissenschaftlich peripher behandelten, jedoch komplexen Bereich des Popmusikjournalismus. Es wird gefragt, inwiefern sich umfassendere soziale, wirtschaftliche, mediale, musikalische und (musik-)technologische Transformationen der Gesellschaft besonders in dem Bereich von Popmusikjournalismus, und zwar seiner Produktion, Gestaltung, Distribution und Archivierung, ablesen lassen. Neben einer popkultur-, medien- und kommunikationswissenschaftlichen Rahmung vereint der Beitrag drei Fallstudien mit eigenen Schreibweisen. Dieser multiperspektivische Ansatz dient dazu, in die Black Boxes des Popmusikjournalismus und seine zentralen Transformationen zu schauen und die Ebene des Designs integrieren zu können.

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„Hoffnung POP: Publizistisch-gestalterische Arbeits- und Lebensmodelle im postdigitalen Zeitalter unter Berücksichtigung der transformierenden Rahmenbedingungen. Drei beobachtend-teilnehmende Fallstudien vor dem Hintergrund einer gemeinsamen Forschungsperspektive.“ weiterlesen

The Vermona Formation 1 (1981) was a classical combo organ produced at the VEB Klingenthaler Harmonikawerke in the “Musikwinkel” region of Saxony. This paper tries to understand the instrument as the result of a specific production culture of state-owned enterprises in the GDR of the 1980s. The design team had to navigate the demands and instructions of several stakeholders, including the state and domestic and foreign trade organizations. At the same time, they had to work with limited resources – especially regarding advanced sound generation – to compete on the international market and satisfy west-oriented rock musicians in the GDR.

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„Socialism in the Wires? The Production of the Electronic Organ Vermona Formation 1 (1980)“ weiterlesen

While record collecting is an often acknowledged practice within popular music that is mainly attributed to male collectors, research on actual collections is rare. This article presents a forensic cultural studies research based on the record collection of a female collector who was a classically trained musician and LGBTQ+ activist in the 1970s and 1980s USA. Starting from the materiality of the collection, traces of gender, feminism and lesbian culture are revealed and connected with the collector´s biography. It becomes clear that through research on popular music archives alternative, marginalized popular music narratives become visible.

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„„Finally Real“. The Vinyl Record Collection of a lesbian Musician as an alternative Popular Music Narrative“ weiterlesen