Why Berlin? Why Klezmer?

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Phil Alexander
Keyword(s):  
Community Music ◽  
Cultural Appropriation ◽  
Applied Sociology ◽  
Urban Context ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
The Past ◽  
Music Making ◽  
Stuart Hall ◽  
Important Sense ◽  
The City

This book begins with an invocation of the sounds and significations that make up the complex of meanings of klezmer music in Berlin, as seen through a new jam session that began in the city in 2013. It underlines the importance of locating the music both historically and in its contemporary urban context—giving a brief but important sense of the past and present geographies of klezmer music, and also signaling exactly where and how the debate has significantly moved on from the anxieties of “virtual Judaism” and cultural appropriation. The chapter lays out the author’s methodology, as well as signposting certain theoretical frameworks that structure the narrative: the urban spatial critique of Lefebvre and de Certeau; British cultural studies work by Stuart Hall and others; the applied sociology of Adam Krims and Mark Granovetter; and the ethnomusicological framing of Mark Slobin and Martin Stokes. The chapter finishes with an appealing ethnographic snapshot of an evening of community music making, “the Night of the Singing Balconies”—an event that sums up several of the themes structuring this book. This collective concert is analyzed as a lively embodiment of contemporary Berlin performative culture: grassroots inclusivity; a firm belief in the power of enthusiasm over the necessity of talent; and a structural and ideological integration into the fabric of the city itself. The engaging observational style with which the Singing Balconies are described not only brings the night to life but also makes clear the book’s overall approach of ethnographic detail underpinned by solid theoretical framing.

scholarly journals Milan and its lost river: when surviving images represent unique narrations of invisible relationships

2021 ◽  
pp. 79-89
Author(s):  
Andrea Oldani
Keyword(s):  
Urban Infrastructure ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Urban Context ◽  
World Cities ◽  
Modern City ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The City

One of the most predictable implications of photography consists of the ability to fix some images returning them in a variable timeframe for the observation. In all the major world cities, it is common to incur in some book where recent photos are compared to old ones searching the same point of view in order to make the comparison more accurate and stimulate the critical ability of the observer. An exercise that sometimes stimulates a sort of regret for the past, pointing out a diffused excess of nostalgia for times gone by. Nevertheless, the reality and meaning of modern city images are not always so prosaic. What happens when photographs are evocative of a reality that is completely lost in the collective imaginary even though it still exists and functions, despite being forgotten and buried in the depths of the city? This is the case of very few pictures capable of telling the story of a city, Milan, and its only “real” river, the Olona, whose waters, humiliated and rejected, continue to flow in total amnesia. It is a different story when photography does not have the role of nourishing nostalgia, but the power to make visible and explain the variation of a presence and its progressive obliteration. Some pictures testify to the passage from the bucolic amenity of the river and its banks in a pre-urban context to a muscular urban infrastructure. A rigid channelized river, shown with confidence, is trying to keep its presence, until the moment of its inevitable decline and disappearance. It is in these images that the possibility of reconsidering the Olona as a part of the new project for the city lies.

Grasping the Jellyfish of Music Making and Leisure

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Mantie ◽  
Gareth Dylan Smith
Keyword(s):  
Hip Hop ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Community Music ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
Digital Audio ◽  
Leisure Studies ◽  
The Past ◽  
Music Making ◽  
Death Metal

This chapter sets out the editors’ rationale for the book, and walks readers through the structure of this rich, multifaceted, and interdisciplinary volume. Music making as leisure has in the past and in some contexts been construed as vital to the pursuit of the good life, yet today the notion has become marginalized, and music making is frequently regarded as a dyadic domain for only professionals and consumers. Chapters include perspectives from psychology, sociology, ethnomusicology, community music making, and leisure studies in physical, online, and hybrid environments. Contributors provide rich analyses of a broad range of topics, including guitar playing, gaming, hip-hop, happiness and fulfillment, motivation, death metal, DIY and DAW (digital audio workstations), illegal raves, and reconnecting with former musician identities. Music making and leisure is a dynamic and vital framework for understanding more about the ways in which music making plays a part in the day-to-day lives of people.

scholarly journals Death and the City: The Cemeteries of Amarna in Their Urban Context

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Stevens
Keyword(s):  
Urban Environments ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Urban Context ◽  
The Past ◽  
Unique Character ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Amarna Period ◽  
The City ◽  
Burial Grounds

Burial grounds are increasingly being considered as components of lived urban environments in the past. This paper considers how the ancient Egyptian city of Akhetaten, built by king Akhenaten (c. 1349–1332 bc), was constructed and experienced as a space inhabited both by the living and the dead. Drawing upon results from ongoing excavations at the burial grounds of the general population, it considers how the archaeological record of the settlement and its cemeteries segue and explores how the nature of burial landscapes and the need to maintain reflexive relationships between the living and the dead in the midst of a changing religious milieu contributed to the unique character of Akhetaten as a city. It asks what kind of city Akhetaten was, and what it was like to live through the Amarna period.

Community music interventions, popular music education and eudaimonia

2021 ◽  
Vol 00 (00) ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Bryan Powell
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Popular Music ◽  
Informal Learning ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Community Music ◽  
Greek Philosophy ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
Music Training ◽  
The Past ◽  
Music Making

The fields of community music and popular music education have expanded rapidly over the past few decades. While there are many similarities between these two fields, there are aspects that set these two areas of practice apart. This article seeks to explore the intersections of community music interventions and popular music education to explain how they are similar and in which ways they are unique. This discussion centres on examinations of facilitation, ownership of music, training and certification, inclusivity, life-long music making, amateur engagement, informal learning and non-formal education, and social concerns. The Greek philosophy of eudaimonism, understood as ‘human flourishing’ is then used to explore the opportunities for human fulfilment through popular music education and community music approaches.

Living Heritage and Religious Traditions

2013 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Máiréad Nic Craith
Keyword(s):  
Political Context ◽  
Cultural Appropriation ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
The Past ◽  
Common Heritage ◽  
Irish Context ◽  
Considerable Debate ◽  
The City

In 2013, Derry~Londonderry became the inaugural UK City of Culture. Given tensions between national and unionist versions of history, the title generated considerable debate on the location of Derry~Londonderry's culture within a UK and/or Irish context. All this had implications for the character of Columba/Colmcille, who had been appropriated by competing secular and religious versions of history in the past and who featured prominently in the year-long celebrations. This essay explores the layering and cultural appropriation of the narrative of Columba/Colmcille over the centuries and the reshaping of this narrative in anticipation of the year of UK City of Culture. It contextualises the emergence of a fresh narrative in the new political context which seeks to redefine the city as a common heritage space for a previously divided people.

Portuguese Sardines - from the ritual to the brand

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-120
Author(s):  
Cecília Avelino Barbosa
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Place Branding ◽  
Symbolic Capital ◽  
City Council ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
City Branding ◽  
The Past ◽  
Behavioral Expression ◽  
The City ◽  
City Identity

Place branding is a network of associations in the consumer’s mind, based on the visual, verbal, and behavioral expression of a place. Food can be an important tool to summarize it as it is part of the culture of a city and its symbolic capital. Food is imaginary, a ritual and a social construction. This paper aims to explore a ritual that has turned into one of the brands of Lisbon in the past few years. The fresh sardines barbecued out of doors, during Saint Anthony’s festival, has become a symbol that can be found on t-shirts, magnets and all kinds of souvenirs. Over the year, tourists can buy sardine shaped objects in very cheap stores to luxurious shops. There is even a whole boutique dedicated to the fish: “The Fantastic World of Portuguese Sardines” and an annual competition promoted by the city council to choose the five most emblematic designs of sardines. In order to analyze the Sardine phenomenon from a city branding point of view, the objective of this paper is to comprehend what associations are made by foreigners when they are outside of Lisbon. As a methodological procedure five design sardines, were used of last year to questioning to which city they relate them in interviews carried in Madrid, Lyon, Rome and London. Upon completion of the analysis, the results of the city branding strategy adopted by the city council to promote the sardines as the official symbol of Lisbon is seen as a Folkmarketing action. The effects are positive, but still quite local. On the other hand, significant participation of the Lisbon´s dwellers in the Sardine Contest was observed, which seems to be a good way to promote the city identity and pride in their best ambassador: the citizens.

Challenging the Terms of Order: Representations of the Detroit Rebellions, 1967–1968

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan T. Camp
Keyword(s):  
State Violence ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
Capitalist Development ◽  
Civil Structures ◽  
Us History ◽  
Political Struggles ◽  
Stuart Hall ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City ◽  
John Clarke

While many analysts have commented on the representation of 1968 campus events and antiwar demonstrations, less attention has been paid to the global significance of the dramatic struggles in industrial Detroit during the period. The meanings of events in the city were intensely fought over. As Stuart Hall, Chas Critcher, Tony Jefferson, John Clarke, and Brian Roberts observed, the events of 1968 were “an act of collective will, the breaks and ruptures stemming from the rapid expansion in the ideology, culture and civil structures of the new capitalism . . . in the form of a ‘crisis of authority.’” In Detroit the crisis of authority was expressed in the form of popular political struggles against racism, state violence, and the contradictions of life in the industrial capitalist city. This article asks and answers the following research questions about the struggle over the meaning of this decisive turning point in US history: What was the relationship between racial ordering, uneven capitalist development, and mass antiracist and class struggles? How did Black working-class organic intellectuals resist and alter hegemonic definitions of the situation? How are the dialectics of insurgency and counterinsurgency to be best theorized during this precise historical conjuncture? 

Исследование психологических особенностей восприятия города Бишкек городскими и сельскими студентами

2019 ◽  
pp. 98-100
Author(s):  
Д. М. Кудайбердиева
Keyword(s):  
Urban Environment ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Space Perception ◽  
Language Barrier ◽  
Rural Students ◽  
Adaptation Period ◽  
Educational Work ◽  
The Past ◽  
Spatial Environment ◽  
The City

Аннотация. В данной статье рассматривается проблема восприятия городской среды студентами из города и сельской местности. Обозначены определения терминов «среда», «пространственная среда», «городская среда». Проведено экспериментальное сравнительное исследование особенностей восприятия города Бишкек городскими и сельскими студентами в количестве 50 человек. Статья содержит результаты проведенного анализа исследования. Выявлены различия и сходства в восприятии города Бишкек у студентов двух групп. В контексте восприятия города изучена неудовлетворенность прошлым и настоящим временем, трудности языкового барьера у студентов из сельской местности. Также было выявлено, что актуальной для студентов обеих групп является потребность в социальных контактах, общении, включенности в социум. Полученные результаты будут иметь пользу в проведении воспитательной работы со студентами из сельской местности, в оказании поддержки им в период адаптации с учетом особенностей восприятия города студентами. Ключевые слова. среда, городская среда, восприятие пространства, городские студенты, сельские студенты, восприятие города Бишкек, неудовлетворенность прошлым и настоящим, языковой барьер, учеба в городе, сходства и различия в восприятии города. Аннотация. Бул макалада шаардык жана айылдан келген студенттердин шаардык чөйрөнү кабыл алуу көйгөйү каралган. «Чөйрө», «мейкиндик чөйрө», «шаардык чөйрө» терминдеринин түшүнүктөрү келтирилген. 50 адамдан турган шаардык жана айылдык студенттердин Бишкек шаарын кабыл алуу өзгөчөлүктөрүнө эксперименталдык салыштырма изилдөө жүргүзүлгөн. Макалада изилдөөнүн анализ жыйынтыктары камтылган. Эки студенттик топторунун Бишкек шаарын кабыл алуусунун айырмачылыктары жана окшоштуктары белгиленген. Шаарды кабыл алуу контекстинде өткөн жана учур чактарга канагаттанбоо, тил барьеринин кыйынчылыктары изилденди. Ошондой эле студенттердин эки тобуна актуалдуу болуп социалдык катнаштарга, баарлашууга, коомго кошулуу муктаждыгы белгиленүүдө. Алынган жыйынтыктар студенттердин шаарды кабыл алуу өзгөчөлүктөрүнө эске алып, айылдан келген студенттерге адаптация убагында колдоо көрсөтүү максатында тарбиялык иштерди жүргүзүүдө жардам берет. Түйүндүү сөздөр. Чөйрө, шаардык чөйрө, мейкиндикти кабыл алуу, шаардык студенттер, айылдык студенттер, Бишкек шаарын кабыл алуу, өткөн жана учур чакка канагаттанбоо, тил барьери, шаарда окуу, шаарды кабыл алуусунун айырмачылыктары жана окшоштуктары. Annotation. This article addresses the problem of perception of the urban environment by students from the city and countryside. The definitions of the terms “environment”, “spatial environment”, and “urban environment” are indicated. An experimental comparative study of the characteristics of the perception of the city of Bishkek by urban and rural students in the amount of 50 people was conducted. The article contains the results of the analysis of the study. The differences and similarities in the perception of the city of Bishkek among students of the two groups are revealed. In the context of the perception of the city, dissatisfaction with the past and the present has been studied, and the difficulties of the language barrier among students from rural areas. It was also revealed that the need for social contacts, communication, inclusion in society is relevant for students of both groups. The results will have the benefit of conducting educational work with students from rural areas, in providing support to them during the adaptation period, taking into account the peculiarities of the perception of the city by students. Кeywords. Environment, urban environment, space perception, urban students, rural students, perception of the city of Bishkek, dissatisfaction with the past and the present, language barrier, studying in the city, similarities and differences in the perception of the city.

Problems of Analysis of Design and Research Methods of Interaction with the Urban Environment

2020 ◽  
pp. 99-110
Author(s):  
П. В. Капустин ◽  
А. И. Гаврилов
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
Urban Environment ◽  
Urban Studies ◽  
Environmental Movement ◽  
The Past ◽  
Types Of Knowledge ◽  
Historical Dynamics ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The City ◽  
Research And Design

Состояние проблемы. Проблематика городской среды заявила о себе в 1960-е годы как протест против модернистских методов урбанизма и других видов проектирования. Средовое движение не случайно тогда именовали «антипрофессиональным» - оно было направлено против устоявшихся и недейственных методов работы с городом - от исследования до управления. За прошедшие десятилетия в рамках самого средового движения и его идейных наследников наработано немало методов и приемов работы, однако они до сих не подвергались анализу как пребывающая в исторической динамике целостная совокупность инструментария, альтернативного традиционному градостроительству. Результаты. Рассмотрены особенности и проблемы анализа методологического «арсенала» средового движения и урбанистики. Методы работы с городской средой впервые структурированы по типам знания. Показана близость методов исследовательского и проектного подходов в отношении городской среды. Выводы. В ближайшее время можно ожидать появления новых синтетических знаний и частных методологий, связанных как с обострением средовой проблематики, с расширением круга средовых акторов, так и с процессом профессионализации урбанистики. Statement of the problem. The urban environment paradigm emerged in the 1960s as a protest against the modernist methods of urbanism and other types of design. It was no coincidence that the environmental movement was back then called "anti-professional" as it was directed against the established and ineffective methods of working with the city, i. e., from research to management. Over the past decades, within the framework of the environmental movement and its ideological heirs, a lot of methods and have been developed. However, they have not yet been analyzed as an integral set of tools in the historical dynamics which is an alternative to traditional urban planning. Results. The features and problems of the analysis of the methodological “arsenal” of environmental movement and urban studies are considered. The methods of working with the urban environment are first structured according to the types of knowledge. The proximity of research and design approaches in the case when the urban environment is dealt with is shown. Conclusions. In the nearest future, we can expect new synthetic knowledge and particular methodologies related to both the exacerbation of environmental problems to emerge as well as the expansion of the circle of environmental actors and the process of professionalization of urbanstics.

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