BRD – ~Vibes – The IASPM D-A-CH Series

26. September 2024 von Sarah Chaker, Michael Huber, Sean Prieske und Ralf von Appen

„Parallelgesellschaften“ in populärer Musik? Ausgangsposition – Begriffsgeschichten – pop-kulturelle Bezüge

This chapter is intended both as an introduction to the conference proceedings and as a necessary framing of the conference topic, designed to illuminate different interpretations of and references to the term “parallel societies”. In accordance with our intention to initiate a joint conference of the two supposedly parallel associations for popular music research / popular music studies in German-speaking countries, a topic was chosen for the 2022 annual conference in Vienna that would make it possible to address this relationship and to undertake a critical-reflective examination of the claimed or perceived divergences in popular music and its research and mediation. This article presents the genesis and development of the contested term “parallel societies”, as well as the term’s independent existence, which deviates from academic definitions due to its often one-sided, abbreviated and exclusionary use in the mass media and in political and public debate. It reveals how a targeted connotation is established by referencing ethnicity or religious affiliation, while significant formative factors such as school education, income and social background are often ignored. Corresponding applications of the term derived from incidents in world politics are presented, as are the worrying social effects that these narratives entail for the designated people and social groups. A link is then made to pop cultural practices and how they reference the effects of “parallel societies”; finally, there is an examination of the thematisation of parallel (music) worlds as a result of digitalisation. Moreover, the chapter contains an overview of the contributions to this anthology.

[Download PDF-Version]

26. September 202426. September 2024 von Susanne Binas-Preisendörfer und Dietmar Elflein

Echokammern der Differenz. Autoethnographische Perspektiven auf und aus Parallelgesellschaften

Drawing on the autobiographies of the two authors, this chapter explores how different concepts and institutionalizations of the study of popular music in Germany came into being. The focus is on the history, representatives and professional image of two existing associations: GFPM and IASPM D-A-CH. Taking up the theme of the „Parallel Societies“ conference directly, we allow ourselves to be inspired by its general meaning and by the shifts in the social discourse. The history of institutionalized pop music research in both East and West Germany begins in the early 1980s, where the first generation of popular music researchers became reference points for research networks, figures of thought and methodologies. In this dialogue, we trace these constellations in the academic world of German-language popular music studies and explore from an auto-ethnographic perspective the historical, social and cultural conditions and experiences that guide the production of knowledge in popular music studies, as well as the meanings that are assigned to criteria of difference in this context.

[Download PDF-Version]

26. September 2024 von Cornelia Lund und Holger Lund

Grenzziehungen – zum Umgang mit türkischer Popmusik in Deutschland von den 1960er-Jahren bis heute

The treatment of Turkish music and especially Turkish pop in the Federal Republic of Germany has been characterized by various mechanisms of demarcation since the 1960s – that is, since the arrival of a strong Turkish presence due to the recruitment agreement. In this chapter, we would like to explore the questions of where these mechanisms take effect, by whom they are argued and in what ways, as well as how they have changed over the period from the 1960s to the present. Since demarcation is not a purely musical phenomenon, but has to take related social aspects into account, we will first look at the phenomena of social and cultural demarcation in German society, especially with regard to migrant communities. Subsequently, we pursue a series of core questions concerning Turkish music and its audience, its musical functions and the music market, as well as the respective evaluations of Turkish music in Germany. Answers to our core questions led to a critique of the music-related aspects of German migration policy and the institutional treatment of Turkish music in Germany. One of the biggest problems, from our point of view, which is clearly shown by the phenomenon of self-exclusion, is the lack of discourse, historiographical transmission and structured access to migrant cultural expressions. Using a discourse-analytical approach that draws primarily on statements from politics, academia, journalism and musical practice, this chapter analyses the workings of the mechanism that has excluded Turkish music throughout the decades.

[Download PDF-Version]

26. September 2024 von Utku Öğüt und Sean Prieske

Goethe Going Pop. Von musikalischer Repräsentation zu musikbezogener Interaktion in der Musikarbeit der Goethe-Institute in der Türkei

This chapter evaluates the musical activities of the Goethe Institutes in Turkey, focusing on their concerts organized in Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir from the late 1950s to the 2000s. Starting with concerts of mainly European art music, the musical activities in these cities underwent several style changes. Eventually, they expanded into more popular genres such as jazz, rock, alternative, electronica and even experimental music. This chapter focuses on the interactions between the political, economic and social transformations taking place in Germany, Turkey and the globalized world and the music events at the three Turkish Goethe Institutes. Based on archival research focusing on brochures, flyers and program notes, this chapter maps the events related to popular music, as exemplified by case examples that highlight certain developments in the Instituteʼs music policy. This analysis also serves as an overview of the forms of cultural exchange between Germany and Turkey, as demonstrated by the musical and cultural activities of the Goethe Institute.

[Download PDF-Version]

26. September 202426. September 2024 von Dietmar Elflein

Über Sieben Brücken. Anmerkungen zu den Parallelen west- und ostdeutscher Popgeschichte

This essay describes the connecting elements and simultaneities in the appropriation of US pop music in East and West Germany, using R&B soul, funk and disco as examples. The author argues that the focus of German pop historiography has so far been on what separates East and West. This argument is supported by an examination of the literature on the subject, including three recent anthologies on German pop music in English. Special attention is paid to Philly Soul from the GDR, as well as the bi-national hit „Über sieben Brücken mußt Du gehn“ and the networks of studio musicians associated with it.

[Download PDF-Version]

26. September 2024 von Marcus Bühler

„Ästhetisch schön, aber völlig geschichtslos“. Politisierende Argumentationsstrategien im bundesdeutschen Folk-Revival 1975-1985

[1] This chapter explores the debate over the political commitment and role of Deutsch Folk (German folk) music in the West German folk revival movement from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, focusing on its parallel structures. Based on a discourse analysis of a large corpus of historical sources, particularly contemporary magazines from folk revival and popular music protagonists as well as academic publications, this chapter presents the different core themes that shape this discourse. These include the folk revival‘s reference to the ideas of Hanns Eisler and Bertold Brecht, the progressive reframing of the term „people,“ the legitimation of German folk music in the face of conservative readings as well as the former Nazi usurpation and the dispute around how to adopt (German) folklore, with an emphasis on criticizing rock music (influences) and sentimental music genres such as Schlager. By the mid to late 1970s, this discourse increasingly focused on the popular so-called Deutsch Folkbands, arguing over them and denying them a progressive and grassroots democratic commitment. In return, these bands claimed these attributes for themselves and their music, referencing the communicative and therefore democratic nature of folk music. At the same time, they emphasized a historical responsibility towards a more progressive reading of folk and a historically evolved democratic repertoire of German folk music (as gathered by the East German ethnologist Wolfgang Steinitz), making the same arguments as their magazine peers.

[Download PDF-Version]