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„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.

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„„Parallelgesellschaften“ in populärer Musik? Ausgangsposition – Begriffsgeschichten – pop-kulturelle Bezüge“ weiterlesen
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Pop vs. the people? Spaltungsdiagnosen und Moralisierungskritiken

Using the examples of three recent songs (and the discourses surrounding them) from Germany and the UK – DJ Robin & Schürze’s „Layla“, Frank White and Bass Sultan Hengzt’s „Cancel Culture Nightmare“ and FKA Twigs’s „Don’t Judge Me“ – this chapter investigates how pop musicians comment upon and contribute to discussions of today’s cultural and sociopolitical „cleavages“ with implicit or explicit statements about the role that morality should play in popular entertainment and politics. It argues that contemporary pop culture is characterized by a tension between the habitual anti-moralism of informal life and a critical politicization of the seemingly private and mundane. Situating these matters within a neo-Gramscian „war of position,“ this chapter shows that the often-described opposition between anti-moralists and moralizers is too simplistic. Rather, we find different types of pop-cultural anti-moralism implying different ethical and political positions with radically different consequences: The traditionalist (often hedonistic, sometimes sociological and self-described „realist“) variant opposes critique and interventions based on „universalistic“ morality, ethics or politics, whereas the anti-traditionalist (antiracist, feminist) version detects and scandalizes sedimented moral normativity. Both forms of anti-moralism share traits and have specific ambiguities, as this analysis shows, but they contribute to different hegemonic projects and draw different „frontier“ lines (Laclau). On a conceptual level, this chapter shows that the notion of the popular (in its different German translations as popular and populär) is indispensable because it contains the tensions that come to the fore in conflictual cultural negotiations like these.

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„Pop vs. the people? Spaltungsdiagnosen und Moralisierungskritiken“ weiterlesen
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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.

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„Echokammern der Differenz. Autoethnographische Perspektiven auf und aus Parallelgesellschaften“ weiterlesen
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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.

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

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

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

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„„Ästhetisch schön, aber völlig geschichtslos“. Politisierende Argumentationsstrategien im bundesdeutschen Folk-Revival 1975-1985“ weiterlesen
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In dubio pro arte? Zur Kollision und Korrelation von Gangsta-Rap und Justiz im Lichte der Kunstfreiheit

Gangsta rap is currently being taken up as a „parallel society“ in jurisprudential research. What is ignored, however, is that gangsta rap and the law have numerous connections, starting in the late 1980s, when criminal activities were linked to rap music for the first time. Today, evidence of criminal authenticity (whether real or fictitious) is the basis for a gangsta rapperʼs reception. The core task of the judiciary is to recognize unlawful behavior, to work it out in court proceedings and, if necessary, to make special or general preventive judgments. Individuals who publicly endorse unlawful conduct or commit drug infractions, for example, must be punished. This chapter examines the current approaches to the phenomenon of gangsta rap from a jurisprudential perspective. The interpretation of the concept of art and the accompanying consideration of artistic freedom poses new challenges for the judiciary that can only be resolved with the involvement of experts.

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„In dubio pro arte? Zur Kollision und Korrelation von Gangsta-Rap und Justiz im Lichte der Kunstfreiheit“ weiterlesen
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Zwischen den Stühlen. Zur (Nicht-)Erforschung von Jazz-Pop-Fusionen

Fusions of jazz and popular music have been popular for several decades. These fusions have given rise to numerous genres „in between“, such as jazz rock, acid jazz, jazz rap and electro swing, just to name a few. However, there has been almost no comprehensive research on most of these genres, in neither jazz nor popular music studies. This may be due to the parallel development of jazz and popular music studies in recent decades. Although there are numerous overlaps between jazz and popular music, certain historical developments in academia have caused the formation of two largely separated fields with their own study programs, journals, book series and scholarly communities. One possible consequence of these developments is that scholars in neither field have comprehensively investigated the musical repertoires „in between“. The aim of my chapter is to examine certain aspects of this historical separation by analyzing previous academic work on fusions of jazz and popular music. In doing so, I present the results of a content analysis of academic articles on these genres published in both jazz and popular music studies. The results of this content analysis make it clear that previous research on this topic has been very homogeneous in terms of the musical repertoires investigated and the methodological approaches. The example of jazz-pop fusions clearly illustrates how historical developments in academia can cause blind spots regarding research objects that lie in between alleged parallel worlds.

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Konzepte von Authentizität in der Hamburger Open Mic-Community

This chapter examines how open mic events are connoted with concepts of artistic authenticity. As part of a larger field study, it is based on qualitative interviews with people involved in the singer-songwriter open mic community in Hamburg, Germany. Open mics are events held in small venues like bars, community centers or small theaters, which provide short slots of stage time for everyone who wishes to perform. In Hamburg, several venues host open mic events, including those for singer-songwriters and those that are open for all kinds of performances. Singer-songwriters are often connoted with concepts of authenticity, as their songs are seen as intimate expressions of the artistʼs feelings and personality. Many regular guests and participants of open mics in Hamburg see this type of event as one in which the authenticity of the acts is particularly ensured, because the presented art is not filtered: people can just show up and perform their songs as they mean them to be. In this spirit, open mics are idealized by many of their proponents as spheres of artistic freedom where the demands of music industries, fashions and social media trends are mostly absent or at least ignored. Nevertheless, for ambitious artists, playing open mics is seen as a starting point that needs to be left behind one day in favor of full concerts. For some, this transition is fraught with the danger of loss of authenticity.

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