Full Description
This volume examines the transnational character of popular music since the Cold War era to the present. Bringing together the cross-disciplinary research of native scholars, Eastern European Popular Music in a Transnational Context expands our understanding of the movement of physical music, musicians and genres through the Iron Curtain and within the region of Eastern Europe. With case studies ranging from Goran Bregović, Czesław Niemen, the reception of Leonard Cohen in Poland, the Estonian punk scene to the Intervision Song Contest, the book discusses how the production and reception of popular music in the region has always been heavily influenced by international trends and how varied strategies allowed performers and fans to acquire cosmopolitan identities. Cross-disciplinary in nature, the investigations are informed by political, social and cultural history, reception studies, sociology and marketing and are largely based on archival research and interviews.
Contents
1. Introduction: Crossing National and Regional Borders in Eastern European Popular Music, Ewa Mazierska and Zsolt Győri.- Part 1: Bringing Foreign Music to the European East.- 2. Loopholes in the Iron Curtain: Obtaining Western Music in State Socialist Czechoslovakia in the 1970s and 1980s, Adam Havlik.- 3. Quiet Fanaticism: The Phenomenon of Leonard Cohen's Popularity in Poland, Ewa Mazierska and Xawery Stańczyk.- 4. Authenticity and Orientalism: Cultural Appropriations in Polish Alternative Music Scene in the 1970s and 1980s, Xawery Stańczyk.- 5. Eastern Europe as Punk Frontier, Aimar Ventsel.- Part 2: Eastern European Music Crossing the Borders.- 6. Success, Failure, Splendid Isolation: Czesław Niemen's Career in Europe, Mariusz Gradowski.- 7. Yugo-Polish: The Uses of Yugoslav Music by Polish Musicians, Ewa Mazierska.- 8. Balkan High, Balkan Low: Music Production between Hybridity and Class Struggle, Slobodan Karamanić and Manuela Unverdorben.- Part 3: Liminal Spaces of Eastern European Music Festivals.- 9. The Intervision Song Contest: A Commercial and Pan-European Alternative to the Eurovision Song Contest, Dean Vuletic.- 10. Between Utopia and the Marketplace: The Case of the Sziget Festival, Zsolt Győri.- 11. A Tale of Two (Or #EverMore) Festivals: Electronic Music in a Transylvanian Town, Ruxandra Trandafoiu.
