Musical Performance and the Changing City: Post-industrial Contexts in Europe and the United States

Description

A contribution to the field of urban music studies, this book presents new interdisciplinary approaches to the study of music in urban social life. It takes musical performance as its key focus, exploring how and why different kinds of performance are evolving in contemporary cities in the interaction among social groups, commercial entrepreneurs, and institutions. From conventional concerts in rock clubs to new genres such as the flash mob, the forms and meanings of musical performance are deeply affected by urban social change and at the same time respond to the changing conditions. Music has taken on complex roles in the post-industrial city where culture and cultural consumption have an unprecedented power in defining publics, policies, and marketing strategies. Further, changes in real estate markets and the penetration of new media have challenged even fairly modern music cultures. At the same time, new music cultures have emerged, and music has become a driver for cultural events and festivals, channeling the dynamics of a society characterized by the social change, media intensity, and the neoliberal forces of post-industrial urban contexts. The volume brings together scholars from a broad range of disciplines to build a shared understanding of post-industrial contexts in Europe and the United States. Most directly grounded in contemporary developments in music studies and urban studies, its broad interdisciplinary range serves to strengthen the relevance of urban music studies to fields such as anthropology, sociology, urban geography, and beyond. Offering in-depth studies of changing music culture in concert venues, cultural events, and neighborhoods, contributors visit diverse locations such as Barcelona, Berlin, London, New York, and Austin. Front Cover Musical Performance and the Changing City Copyright Page Contents List of Figures List of Tables Preface Introduction: Musical Performance and the Changing City Part I: Placemaking 1. “From the Big Dig to the Big Gig”: Live Music, Urban Regeneration, and Social Change in the European Capital of Culture 2008 2. Sounding Austin: Live Music, Race, and the Selling of a City 3. Sounding Out the Cuban Diaspora in Barcelona: Music, Migration and the Urban Experience 4. Destination “Three Days Awake”: Cultural Urbanism at a Popular Music Festival Outside the City Part II: Scenes and Venues 5. Digital Underground: Musical Spaces and Microscenes in the Postindustrial City 6. The Advent of Rock Clubs for the Gentry: Berlin, Copenhagen, and New York 7. Collectivities and Mixed-Mediations in Amsterdam’s Translocal Jazz Scene 8. The Quality of Mutuality: Jazz Musicians in the Athenian Popular Music Industry Part III: Nightlife 9. Crowd Solidarity on the Dance Floor in Paris and Berlin 10. The Sound Culture of Dubstep in London 11. The Networking Logic of the Postindustrial Music Milieu: A City of London Ethnographic Moment Contributors Index