“¡Tengo gloria bendita!”: pitching and the sonic production of place atmospheres under increasing marketplace regulation

Abstract

This paper studies the sonic production of weekly markets through an analysis of the acoustic tactics employed by both authorized and unauthorized traders in two street markets of Catalonia. A three-fold typology of pitchers – the Repeaters, the Influencers and the Silenced – is presented to illustrate the different levels of creativity at play in contesting marketplace regulations that prohibit this “noisy” form of advertising. The paper builds on Jacques Attali’s1 idea of the control of sound and noise being inscribed in the panoply of power; a noisy market is thus understood as a statement against the authorities and as a failure to orchestrate a harmonious public space atmosphere. It is argued that as a professional skill and a cultural practice that is illegitimized by market regulations that aim to invoke civic behavior and stage representational place atmospheres, pitching contests dominant place narratives by involving creativity, affect and a political desire of recognition of difference. As such, pitching can shape more diverse marketplace atmospheres where the meanings of order and control are not unequivocal.