Popular Music Research Articles

Female Dangdut Singers and the Politics of Representation: A Critical Discourse Analysis

This study examines how language constructs power and identity in the representation of women in dangdut music, focusing on song lyrics and stage performances. Using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), particularly Fairclough’s three-dimensional framework, the research investigates the linguistic and semiotic elements that shape the perception of female dangdut singers. Data were collected from popular dangdut songs and live performances, analyzing lexical choices, metaphors, and visual symbols. The findings reveal that Dangdut often portrays women through a dichotomy of empowerment and objectification. Lyrics frequently depict women as seductresses, reinforcing gender stereotypes, while performances emphasize bodily expressions that shape public perception. However, some modern interpretations challenge these narratives, offering alternative representations of female agency. This study highlights the intersection of language, ideology, and cultural discourse in Dangdut, emphasizing its role in shaping social norms and gender identity. The implications of this research contribute to discussions on gender representation in popular music and media discourse in Indonesia.

From the Streets of Cairo to St. Louis, Louis: Musical Print Culture and the Intermedial Travels of the Danse du Ventre

Abstract This essay discusses the danse du ventre—a Middle Eastern dance that proved controversial at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago—to explore how the social effects of a repertoire of corporeal motions, repeated across a range of venues and through a variety of media, can be amplified by remediation. First, I read contemporaneous accounts of the dance and efforts by Anthony Comstock and other “anti-vice” crusaders to censor its performances, showing how attempts to suppress the dance increased the audience for it and occasionally derailed the regulatory bodies that were mustered to stifle it. Then I track the dance’s treatment in popular songs and piano pieces of the era, including “The Streets of Cairo” and “Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis,” examining sheet music as a print-culture medium distinctly capable of evading censors’ authority at the turn of the twentieth century. In light of scholars’ recent assertions that literature can invite reading practices that resemble listening, I argue that attending to sheet music—where character-building, scene-setting, and narrative are approached not just through language and its sonically charged dimensions but also through musical elements and interactions between music and the written word—can enable us to be more precise about what we mean when we talk about aural reading practices.

Moni Da and Kabir Suman: Icons in Contemporary Popular Youth Music in Bengal

Music has been an integral part of any society – be it primitive or modern. It is a representative of everyday society – its values, beliefs as well as its crisis. And popular music does so more. The present research has focussed on an understanding of how Bengali young people have negotiated with the existing every day socio-cultural set up in order to create a new genre of music namely Bangla Band. In the process they had to undergo personal struggles and hardships which had shattered them only to give a renewed sense of courage and determination to pursue their dream of creating something novel and inspirational for the future generations to come. Here, in the paper, two case studies of popular musicians namely Gautam Chattopadhyay (popularly known as Moni da) and Suman Chattopadhyay, now Kabir Suman have been undertaken. The impact of these two musicians on Bangla Band music has been explored, understood and analysed.

The evolution of ticket pricing strategies in the North American concert industry: evidence from two decades of data

ABSTRACT This article examines changes in the ticket pricing strategies employed by popular musicians in the concert industry, with a particular focus on the use of second-degree price discrimination and its relationship with key concert outcomes; ticket revenue and capacity utilization. By analysing a large, longitudinal dataset of concerts performed by popular musicians between 1999 and 2019 in the United States and Canada, this article documents how the use of price discrimination, as well as the relationship between price discrimination and concert outcomes, has evolved over time. Additionally, this article reveals how the relationship between discriminatory pricing and concert outcomes depends on musician popularity and the intensity of price discrimination as measured by the difference between the highest and lowest ticket prices. In turn, this article provides some suggestive evidence as to how musicians may be able to improve their pricing strategies, and reveals the potential impacts that the use of dynamic pricing has had on equilibrium in the concert sector.

Chansons contemporaines et crise écosystémique en Afrique subsaharienne

The 21stcentury is essentially distinguished from previous ones by rapid successions of various crises, the most significant of which is undoubtedly that of the planetary ecological system (eco-system) at the heart of which is surely Human being, due to his ecocidal behaviours. These latter make him an antagonistic geophysical force that destroys the eco-systemic organization of which he is part and depends. The various environmental disasters in Africa and elsewhere are only symptomatic of this eco-systemic complex crisis from which sub-Saharan popular songs are inspired in order to reflect it aesthetically and raise awareness of ecological consciousness. A crisology of the eco-system, operationalized through discourse analysis, is outlined in this work from a precise corpus of ten of those songs highlighting the crisis complexity via various equally complex textual and audio-visual processes, while constituting itself as a contemporary pragmatic means of decrisification of the disorganized ecological system. KEYWORDS:Popular songs, eco-systemic crisis, crisology, complexity, ecological consciousness.

The Use of Music in Political Communication: A Study on The Election Songs Used by Ruling and Main Opposition Parties in Türkiye’s Local Administration Elections on March 31, 2024

This study aims to analyze the election songs used in the election campaigns of the mayoral candidates of the Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) and the Republican People's Party (CHP) in İstanbul, Ankara, and İzmir on March 31, 2024, Türkiye’s Local Administrations Elections. The data collected using the case study methodology was analyzed using the content analysis method in the MAXQDA program. The findings showed that both party candidates preferred moving/exuberant songs which appealed to the voters at a high level in their election campaigns. They moderately preferred original election songs, adapted popular songs, and songs conveying socio-psychological messages. They showed a low preference for songs that criticized the policies of the opposition or government, slow or stationary songs, songs promising prosperity, and message-oriented songs. Therefore, there is little possibility for the two parties' candidates to differentiate from each other in the use of music. The results of the similarity analysis revealed that the songs belonging to the same party showed a high level of similarity with each other. In contrast, the songs of different parties showed low similarity. The study implications are helpful for researchers conducting studies on similar issues.

Cultural Adaptation: The Resilience of Musicians Based on Artistic Creativity in Preserving Traditional Keroncong Music

Resilience based on artistic creativity by musicians has had positive implications for preserving Keroncong’s music. However, this context needs to be addressed in scientific discussions. In addition to complementing previous studies, this study focused on explaining the characteristics of resilience based on artistic creativity carried out by musicians in preserving Keroncong music. This study showed three significant findings. First, resilience based on artistic creativity carried out by musicians by composing made Keroncong music more inclusive and could be enjoyed by all groups. Second, resilience based on artistic creativity carried out by musicians by performing informal stage acts made Keroncong music an attractive genre. Third, resilience based on artistic creativity carried out by musicians by covering popular songs made the Keroncong genre became adaptive music. This study also recommends the importance of future studies that explain the resilience process of musicians in preserving Keroncong music by intensively interviewing musicians who consistently perform Keroncong songs.

Short-term pitch memory predicts both incidentally and intentionally acquired absolute pitch categories.

Tonal short-term memory has been positively associated with both incidentally acquired absolute pitch memory (e.g., for popular songs) and explicitly learned absolute pitch (AP) categories; however, the relationship between these constructs has not been directly tested within the same individuals. The current study investigated how tonal short-term memory relates to both incidentally and intentionally acquired AP. Participants (n = 192) completed a tonal short-term memory task, an incidental AP task, and an AP categorization task. The tonal short-term assessment involved adjusting a starting tone to match a target tone. The incidental AP task involved judging whether excerpts of popular songs were presented in the correct key. The AP categorization task involved associating six pitch chroma categories with arbitrary labels, including a generalization test that used Shepard tones to discourage pitch height cues. We found that all three pitch measures were positively correlated with one another. Critically, however, we found that tonal short-termmemoryfully mediated the relationship between incidental AP and explicit AP categorization. This finding held even when controlling for musical training and tonal language fluency. Overall, these results suggest that pitch memory is a consistent individual difference measure across different timescales and different measures (e.g., incidental measures, explicit measures). However, tonal short-term memory appears to be foundational to both incidentally acquired and explicitly learned AP categories.

Masculinity in the police procedural under dictatorship: Palito Ortega’s Brigada en acción

An area of Latin American film studies that has been little explored is the relationship between the last Argentine military dictatorship and the production of films made in ideological alignment with it. This essay explores the case of one such film, Brigada en acción [Brigade in Action] (1977), starring, produced, and directed by the popular singer Ramón “Palito” Ortega. In it, Ortega breaks with his previous roles as a fun-loving but responsible young man on a trajectory toward marriage, to instead play an ascetic policeman who, in addition to not singing, refuses to partake in diversion of any sort, remaining resolutely chaste, politely but firmly distanced from female characters. This essay intends to understand this transformation of Ortega’s star persona by contextualising Brigada en acción within the internal power dynamics of the dictatorship. Since the dictatorship was not at all a monolithic enterprise, the essay examines the political and economic priorities of its diverse sectors in order to establish criteria with which to then consider the film itself. These, along with features of the film itself, suggest affinities with the nationalist, “Neo-Peronist” sector led by Admiral Emilio Massera, in internal opposition to the more economically liberal, internationalist sector led by General Jorge Videla.

Fantasy Theme Analysis of Lyrical Poetry

This study investigated the rhetorical visions created by popular love songs through the lens of Fantasy Theme Analysis. By examining the interplay of setting, character, and action themes, the study identifies several recurring narratives that offer insights into the cultural, social, and emotional significance of love in contemporary society. The analysis reveals a multifaceted exploration of love, encompassing both its joys and sorrows. Songs explore the ambivalent nature of love, its transformative power, and the challenges and complexities of relationships. Using rhetorical devices and poetic techniques, the songs convey powerful messages and evoke emotional responses in listeners. The findings of this study have implications for language and literature education and broader cultural and social analysis. By examining the rhetorical visions in popular love songs, teachers can develop engaging and relevant teaching strategies that foster critical thinking, cultural awareness, and a deeper understanding of the human experience.

Symbols and Interpersonal Meanings of Popular Love Songs

This study ventured to analyze the select popular love songs. It employed a qualitative research approach using linguistic and rhetorical criticism. Systemic Functional Linguistics of M. A. K. Halliday, Fantasy Theme Criticism, and Semiotics were the analyses applied in order to discover the interpersonal meanings and symbols that select popular love songs carry in their lyrics. The researcher analyzed ten (10) songs. The following statistical tools were employed to analyze the data gathered: frequency count and percentage distribution. The research discovered that the mood and modality present in the lyrics of the songs were the two components to consider in determining the interpersonal meanings. On the other hand, the swirling of three themes: setting, character, and actions, form a successful rhetorical vision. The fantasy themes present in love songs, taken together, reveal the worldview created in different contexts of relationships built by love. Salient themes in the songs are breakups, deeply falling in love, regrets, and self-love which codes that encompass the themes are the characters, settings, and actions. The popular love songs invite the rhetorical community to perceive love in many mirrors. Symbols are also present in the lyrics of the songs. The symbols generated from the lines of the songs have a message intended for the addressees. The symbols represent a particular idea, theme, or meaning that the persona would want to communicate to the addressees. Based from the results of the analyses, various strategies in teaching language and literature were made and it is concluded that songs are best to integrate in the teaching of language and literature. It is also recommended that researchers conduct more studies that aim to explore more effective strategies in teaching language and literature utilizing different kinds of poetry.

‘The Diary of an Independent Zulu Queer Queen’: An Analysis of Toya Delazy’s Curated Persona on Instagram

The curation of an online persona has recently become critical for the popular musician. The persona, or public identity, is a tool for self- advertisement and audience growth. The phenomenon of online persona curation by musicians is now commonplace, but there remains potential for more research on how they uniquely combine their social media presence with their music. While some work exists concerning social media utilisation within the classical music sphere, South African manifestations in popular music have gone unstudied. This article outlines how UK-based South African popular musician Toya Delazy articulates an intersectional identity within a curated persona. The research conducted focused on her Instagram profile in combination with her musical output. Furthermore, the article discusses how Delazy’s persona appeals to several micro-publics in a manner conducive to growing her audience. The research expanded Richard Rogers’ list of digital objects to include emojis and captions, thereby claiming the relevance of several digital objects (emojis, hashtags and captions) to the articulation of identity within the persona. The article also demonstrates how the concept of an ‘era’ may be utilised to understand how a musician’s curated persona shifts with time.

Popular Song and Ethics: Ethical Perspectives and Personal Qualities

Popular Song and Ethics: Ethical Perspectives and Personal Qualities

INIȚIATIVA ELIZEI BRĂTIANU ÎN COMBATEREA TRAFICULUI DE FEMEI ȘI A PROSTITUȚIEI, ÎN PERIOADA INTERBELICĂ

Eliza Brătianu (1870-1957), the wife of Romanian prime-minister Ion I.C. Brătianu (1864-1927) took initiative to start a difficult social project: the fight against women traficking and prostitution in 1923. Her project relied on education rather than on sanctions. Eliza Brătianu was a strong supporter of changing the mentality of the young citizens living in the outskirts. She proposed the organisation of a contest to honour the most beautiful collections of songs, with lyrics worthy of being integrated into the national culture and replace the previously popular vulgar songs. In 1923, a number of media campaigns are launched to tackle the problems of women, as it was an important year from a political standpoint as the Romanian Constitution had been adopted. Nonetheless, gender emancipation had not been a priority for the governing body as women had only partially been awarded civil rights. In the 1938 Constitution, their rights were extended to include the right to elect and be elected in representative national assemblies. After the Great Unification on December 1st 1918, in order to supplement governmental efforts to consolidate the state politically and administratively, feminist associations in Romania collaborated with international organisations to increase efficiency of prevention measures and to combat human trafficking and prostitution.The Romanian Government was going to allign the internal legislation to the international principles established by the Society of Nations to protect women and children. Remarkable efforts in improving the status of women were made by The Association for Civil and Political Emancipation of Romanian Women and The National Council of Romanian Women. It is worth mentioning that Eliza Brătianu was a member of both organisations. Eliza Brătianu’s project, relying on the principles of education and prevention in the reestablishment of morality, was resumed by the The Association for Civil and Political Emancipation of Romanian Women. In time, the governmental body itself became more coherent in managing the problem from the legislative, medical and police point of view, but around the beginning of the Second World War, the responsibilities were tainted with antisemitism.

A Study on the Creative Path of Chinese and Western Popular Music and the Influence of Audience on It

Under the influence of the development of electronic information technology and artificial intelligence, the development of contemporary popular music is one of the key topics of research, and the role of audience groups in determining the direction of the development of popular music has become more and more obvious. However, there is still a research gap on the differences between Chinese and Western popular music creation methods, popular aesthetics, and the differences in the degree of influence and participation of audience groups in popular music. Therefore, by analyzing the development of Chinese and Western popular music culture, the characteristics of creation and the influence of audience groups on popular music, this paper finds that in the context of the Internet traffic era, there are obvious differences between the aesthetics and creation of Chinese and Western popular music, and that both Chinese and Western audience groups are highly involved in the development and dissemination of popular music and have a positive effect. In addition, the mature popular music industry in the West has, to a certain extent, provided a reference for the future development of the popular music industry in China.

Pedagogical Approaches to Teaching a General Course on Popular Music Culture: Insights and Strategies

This article explores the benefits of incorporating popular music into university liberal arts education, emphasizing the role of popular music in student development and its ability to stimulate student interest. Through rich illustrations, it outlines strategies for effective teaching, such as connecting music to historical and cultural contexts, promoting interaction, and fostering critical thinking. The article also emphasizes the need for inclusive teaching methods to cater to diverse student backgrounds. By incorporating popular music, education can enhance cultural literacy, critical thinking, and creativity, and cultivate students’ global awareness and social responsibility.

Metaphorical representation of the VIE concept in popular French language songs

Metaphorical representation of the VIE concept in popular French language songs

Vocal renewal, revision and revival in Annie Lennox’s 2021 cover of ‘Why’

ABSTRACT Annie Lennox (b.1954) is a popular musician whose career exemplifies renewal through the many stage personas she has portrayed over the years as lead singer of Eurythmics and in her solo work. Lennox’s return to live performance during and post COVID-19 pandemic has seen Lennox embark on her latest series of renewals through revisiting her songs. Responses to Lennox’s later-life performances largely bypass ‘decline narratives’ and ‘double standards of ageing’ that ageing female popular musicians are usually subjected to. I position Lennox’s voice as one which moves back and forth between past and present. Exploring Lennox’s voice, I analyse Lennox’s 2021 cover of her song ‘Why’ (1992) in relation to age and time. I begin by examining the concept of ‘renewal’ in relation to age, moving beyond its associations with ‘anti-ageing’. I then consider Lennox’s voice and its mirroring of the past and embellishment upon the present. Finally, I discuss Lennox’s omission of the chorus in her cover, considering this ‘absence’ a space which creates reflection on the past, as well as placing the song within the 2021 pandemic context.

تطبيق طريقة الغناء حفظ الأمثلة التصرفية لتنمية مهارة كتابة الطلاب المدرسة المتوسطة ميدان التعليم مايانجان جومبانج

Arabic linguistics makes a great effort to ensure that students understand the material and acquire the Arabic language that has been studied seriously. Students who lack motivation expect the teacher to provide an exciting and innovative educational approach, both in terms of content and process, including teaching methods and means of teaching Arabic.This research aims to (1) How to apply the singing method to develop students' writing ability in middle school education field? (2) What are the obstacles and motivations of the singing method in memorizing behavioral examples to develop students' writing skill in middle school education field? The method used here is the qualitative method, which means that the data collection method is done through direct observation, interviews, and documentation.The results of this research are: (1) It can be seen that the use of songs to improve students' writing skills can be seen through students' interest in learning in class, which helps students understand the material easily. The songs used in teaching are diverse. Sometimes students adopt popular songs at the moment. (2) Internal factors and external factors. Among these factors is interest in learning, which is shown through students' enthusiasm, diligence, and pleasure in following the lessons.

What Can Popular Music and Library Music Learn from Each Other?

Because library music is made with the specific goal of future media use, its consideration might seem incongruous with broader histories of popular music or irrelevant to challenges facing the popular music industries. Yet both popular music and library music are defined against a shared set of cultural and commercial values, and both have adapted to shifts in media production, circulation, and consumption. In this article, I consider how popular music and library music have engaged with notions of art, responded to digitalisation, and revealed assumptions about the cultural and economic value of music. A side-by-side comparison reveals similarities and differences between popular music and library music that help us better understand changes affecting them both, as well as how we listen to music and how musicians make money from music.