Category Archives: Music history

“Strange Fascination?” Audio Documentation of the David Bowie Symposium, UL

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Bowie-Symp-Pic-1On January the 8th 2013, Bowie fans were delighted by the return of the Thin White Duke.

The sudden and unexpected release of Bowie’s first new material in almost a decade was certainly a welcome surprise – and the single “Where are we now?” became his highest placed single since “Let’s Dance” in 1983.

But back in Oct. 2012 – it was a very different story…

Fans who’d gathered at “Strange Fascination?” at the University of Limerick, the world’s first David Bowie symposium, were debating whether or not he’d ever return – with many assuming he’d slipped into retirement.

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Collecting and Curating Popular Music Histories Symposium

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Interactive Cultures researcher Rob Horrocks is speaking at a round table discussion on the benefits and issues with the digital turn in popular music and museums at this event at the British Library next week.
Rob worked on the 40 Years of Heavy Metal and its Unique Birth Place exhibition at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery as part of his reseach on popluar music heritage practice. The exhibition opened on 18th June.

SITES OF POPULAR MUSIC HERITAGE – SYMPOSIUM
 CFP

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Venue: Institute of Popular Music, University of Liverpool

Date: 8–9 September 2011
We invite proposals from a broad range of academic disciplines for a 2 day symposium examining sites of popular music heritage: from institutions such as museums, to geographic locations, websites and online archives. Papers are welcomed that explore popular music within narratives of heritage and identity, real and imagined geographies, cultural memory and contested histories.

 

The event will focus on three thematic areas:

Popular Music Heritage in the Museum

In recent years museums have increasingly engaged with popular music heritage, as evidenced in a proliferation of exhibitions including those in the UK such as Kylie: The Exhibition at the V&A and the British Music Experience at the O2. Museum interaction with popular music heritage enables methods of narration beyond traditional written histories, engaging visitors with objects, sounds and images. The place of popular music in the museum raises issues of how music is both represented and used to represent and explore social histories, personal and collective identities, memories, and geographies. Possible themes for papers include:

  • Popular music and locality in the museum
  • Disseminating popular music heritage in museums beyond text
  • History and memory in popular music exhibitions and collections

 

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An Analysis of Twitter and Facebook Use by the Archival Community

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Jez Collins, of the Birmingham Popular Music Archive reflects on a recent article about the use of Twitter and Facebook by the archival community.

I started the Birmingham Popular Music Archive as way of engendering civic pride through the wide range of music activity that has emanated from Birmingham and as a way celebrating and recognising those individuals and organisations that have played a role in this.

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Investigating Northern Soul – Questions and Answers

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The first of two audio clips of question and answer panel discussions from the recent Rare Records and Raucous Nights symposium at The University of Salford.

Following a screening of Tony Palmer’s 1977 film ‘The Wigan Casino’ the panel comprising
Prof Tim Wall, Dr Nicola Smith, Dr Lucy Gibson, Ady Croasdell (Ace Records) and Prof David Sanjek discussed the film and responded to comments from the audience.

Investigating Northern Soul
, Visual Representations of Northern Soul – Panel discussion by Interactive Cultures

The film is on . Not a great copy but it is there.

 

Acquiring Rights and Righting Wrongs: The Copyright Clearance of Northern Soul

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Ady Croasdell
Rare Records and Raucous Nights: Investigating Northern Soul symposium, University of Salford, 4 November, 2010

Ady Croasdell went to this first “Old Soul” all nighter in 1969 and now bosses the longest running Northern Soul club/all nighter of all time (31 years and counting) at the 100 Club in London’s Oxford Street. He has worked for Ace Records since 1982 compiling Northern Soul LPs and CDs for their Kent subsidiary. He oversees the production of these from concept to product and actively seeks and negotiates deals with the US owners.

Nostalgia, Symbolic Knowledge and Generational Conflict: Contentious Issues in Contemporary Northern and Rare Soul Scenes

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The first of a series of papers from the recent Northern Soul symposium at The University of Salford.

Dr Lucy Gibson at the Rare Records and Raucous Nights: Investigating Northern Soul symposium
4 November, University of Salford

Lucy Gibson is a temporary lecturer in Sociology at the University of Manchester. Her doctoral research explored popular music and the life course, which included ethnographies of Northern Soul and rare soul, rock music, and electronic dance music scenes and interviews with over 70 adult fans. She is particularly interested in how ageing shapes participation in music scenes and music taste and is currently working on publications in this area.

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A micro history of Black Handsworth in the 1980s

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A micro history of Black Handsworth in the 1980s from Interactive Cultures on Vimeo.

Wednesday afternoon research seminar presentation from our guest speaker Kieran Connell – a research student at the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary History, University of Birmingham. Kieran is completing a micro history of Black Handsworth in the 1980s.

Kieran’s paper on recent cultural history was well programmed as our regular Book Group discussion that followed his presentation used Exhibiting Popular Music: Museum Audiences, Inclusion and Social History by Marion Leonard (University of Liverpool) and Museums and Popular Culture by Kevin Moore as the starting point for a wider discussion about the cultural heritage work that some  members of the centre are involved in.