The history of popular music in the GDR is marked by disproportion on the one hand and gaps on th... more The history of popular music in the GDR is marked by disproportion on the one hand and gaps on the other. The majority of studies focus on phenomena that are assigned subversive qualities and the potential to lead to fundamental social change: jazz, blues, folk, and various styles of rock music. These genres are well documented in the archives that have opened up since the fall of the Berlin Wall. As Schlager, musicals or the operetta are considered to be light entertainment rather than culture, they are rarely researched. Gaps also exist with regard to the analysis of the musical artefact itself. Most research projects are dominated by an interest in historical events and focus on political forces and social effects, and the music itself is often ignored in favour of a discussion of the socio-political framework. This special issue presents new findings and invites a discussion on those methods that may contribute to a broadening of the perspectives on the history of popular music in the GDR.
This article discusses the body politic of the GDR in the context of leisure and dancing. Two cas... more This article discusses the body politic of the GDR in the context of leisure and dancing. Two case studies are employed to show how conventional western methods of describing and defining a musical event fail to capture the social aspect of popular music dancing in East Germany. It is proposed to view the embodiment of popular music through dancing as an aesthetic choice that subverts official body politic and offers a non-verbal form of resistance. Through the focus on the body and the creation of affective communities, this article shows how young people were able to escape state control and regain a level of agency that might not have existed otherwise. By introducing aesthetics as a method of enquiry, a wider examination of the relationship between the body, politics and popular music is enabled.
This chapter explores raves as occasions for the social consumption of music as a live and lived ... more This chapter explores raves as occasions for the social consumption of music as a live and lived experience: live because a DJ will (most often) produce remixed music in a real-time setting, and lived because rave culture is participatory in its nature, with regard to both body and mind. By discussing the history of raves, it will be established that raves can be divided into DIY raves and commercial raves, both defined through a combination of practices and values. Although our hegemonic cultural memory is heavily informed by the practices of DIY raves, both types of rave provide an opportunity to dance to electronic music. Using Skepta's Dystopia987 as a case study to discuss DIY practices, commercial motivations and the role of technology, I argue that future raves have to incorporate DIY activities, allowing practitioners to actively co-create the live experience. For both organizers and attendees of raves, it means that risks have to be taken. Organizers will be faced having to partly render control of the production process of a live event, as the process of co-creation relies on the resources of the creative practitioners involved. Audiences will have to become more actively involved in the creation of a live event, giving up their position as observer and archivist of a live event. The role of technology is crucial in this transition to a participatory live event, as it should be applied purposefully. That includes the possible restriction of communication channels and communication modes, in order to facilitate the creation of an immersive live experience.
Historically, raves in Britain were understood to be outdoor, electronic dance music gatherings w... more Historically, raves in Britain were understood to be outdoor, electronic dance music gatherings which took place in particular geographical spaces. Their sites were often located just outside of cities, and it was not uncommon for raves to happen in locations accessible only to those who drove or knew someone with access to a motor vehicle. Despite the crucial role that cars, vans, and buses played for visitors to be able to participate, the importance of ravers’ journeys has been largely ignored by music historians. This chapter presents the results of interviews with people who used to go to raves by motor transport. Between December 2017 and January 2018, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight such participants. All self-identified as having been to raves in Greater Manchester, and beyond, between 1985 and 1995. The respondents were a self- selected sample of committed contributors to the Lapsed Clubber project who had all been involved in research for this project for a couple of years.1 None of them owned a car during their rave-going days, so they all depended on others’ willingness to offer lifts. Interview questions were designed in order to ascertain their motivations for rave journeys, discover the conditions under which people travelled, and understand the social significance of the car as an immediate means of transport.
Challenging adolescence limited life-course theory, this article presents the results of an onlin... more Challenging adolescence limited life-course theory, this article presents the results of an online survey in 2016 that aimed to establish if, how and to what extent ageing ravers continue to participate in rave culture. The survey collected data from members of the original rave generation. We explored the ravers’ transitions to adulthood, and how these influenced their participation in club culture. We found that our ravers continued to participate in rave culture; their persistence is related to the frequency of their engagement at a younger age. Adopting interdisciplinarity, we apply theories from both life course research and youth culture studies and argue that the persistence of leisure practices, such as raving, can be understood in the same way as persistence of drug use: frequent behavior in adolescence determines persistence in older adulthood. Consequently, we are able to recognize patterns of leisure beyond adolescence, thus making leisure choices more predictable.
Maffesoli’s book “The Time of Tribes” refers to the failing structure of Modernity in which the h... more Maffesoli’s book “The Time of Tribes” refers to the failing structure of Modernity in which the human is characterised by function. Examining the notion of tribes as part of an organic, structure of post-modernity, flexibility in the creation, constitution, and longevity of any small group is introduced.
More than 20 years after its publication it is time to review the situation in which participation in a multitude of tribes allows a person to live out a multi-facetted personality. Interviewed about techno (music) as a means of creating festive gatherings, Maffesoli discussed aspects of expenditure, self-transcendence, sacrilisation, musical effervescence and dance as a form to give meaning to life (Gaillot 1998).
In this paper, I resume the discussion by comparing two different periods in the narrative of techno: its condition pre and post 1994, the year of the introduction of the UK Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, also dubbed the “Anti Rave Act”. Examining the changes in techno and its cultural practices implemented because of this legislation, I discuss the role of affectual tribes in post-Modernity with regard to their sociality and potential, despite a dynamic, unstable and temporary nature, to alter the societal and political structures from which they emerged.
The history of popular music in the GDR is marked by disproportion on the one hand and gaps on th... more The history of popular music in the GDR is marked by disproportion on the one hand and gaps on the other. The majority of studies focus on phenomena that are assigned subversive qualities and the potential to lead to fundamental social change: jazz, blues, folk, and various styles of rock music. These genres are well documented in the archives that have opened up since the fall of the Berlin Wall. As Schlager, musicals or the operetta are considered to be light entertainment rather than culture, they are rarely researched. Gaps also exist with regard to the analysis of the musical artefact itself. Most research projects are dominated by an interest in historical events and focus on political forces and social effects, and the music itself is often ignored in favour of a discussion of the socio-political framework. This special issue presents new findings and invites a discussion on those methods that may contribute to a broadening of the perspectives on the history of popular music in the GDR.
This article discusses the body politic of the GDR in the context of leisure and dancing. Two cas... more This article discusses the body politic of the GDR in the context of leisure and dancing. Two case studies are employed to show how conventional western methods of describing and defining a musical event fail to capture the social aspect of popular music dancing in East Germany. It is proposed to view the embodiment of popular music through dancing as an aesthetic choice that subverts official body politic and offers a non-verbal form of resistance. Through the focus on the body and the creation of affective communities, this article shows how young people were able to escape state control and regain a level of agency that might not have existed otherwise. By introducing aesthetics as a method of enquiry, a wider examination of the relationship between the body, politics and popular music is enabled.
This chapter explores raves as occasions for the social consumption of music as a live and lived ... more This chapter explores raves as occasions for the social consumption of music as a live and lived experience: live because a DJ will (most often) produce remixed music in a real-time setting, and lived because rave culture is participatory in its nature, with regard to both body and mind. By discussing the history of raves, it will be established that raves can be divided into DIY raves and commercial raves, both defined through a combination of practices and values. Although our hegemonic cultural memory is heavily informed by the practices of DIY raves, both types of rave provide an opportunity to dance to electronic music. Using Skepta's Dystopia987 as a case study to discuss DIY practices, commercial motivations and the role of technology, I argue that future raves have to incorporate DIY activities, allowing practitioners to actively co-create the live experience. For both organizers and attendees of raves, it means that risks have to be taken. Organizers will be faced having to partly render control of the production process of a live event, as the process of co-creation relies on the resources of the creative practitioners involved. Audiences will have to become more actively involved in the creation of a live event, giving up their position as observer and archivist of a live event. The role of technology is crucial in this transition to a participatory live event, as it should be applied purposefully. That includes the possible restriction of communication channels and communication modes, in order to facilitate the creation of an immersive live experience.
Historically, raves in Britain were understood to be outdoor, electronic dance music gatherings w... more Historically, raves in Britain were understood to be outdoor, electronic dance music gatherings which took place in particular geographical spaces. Their sites were often located just outside of cities, and it was not uncommon for raves to happen in locations accessible only to those who drove or knew someone with access to a motor vehicle. Despite the crucial role that cars, vans, and buses played for visitors to be able to participate, the importance of ravers’ journeys has been largely ignored by music historians. This chapter presents the results of interviews with people who used to go to raves by motor transport. Between December 2017 and January 2018, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight such participants. All self-identified as having been to raves in Greater Manchester, and beyond, between 1985 and 1995. The respondents were a self- selected sample of committed contributors to the Lapsed Clubber project who had all been involved in research for this project for a couple of years.1 None of them owned a car during their rave-going days, so they all depended on others’ willingness to offer lifts. Interview questions were designed in order to ascertain their motivations for rave journeys, discover the conditions under which people travelled, and understand the social significance of the car as an immediate means of transport.
Challenging adolescence limited life-course theory, this article presents the results of an onlin... more Challenging adolescence limited life-course theory, this article presents the results of an online survey in 2016 that aimed to establish if, how and to what extent ageing ravers continue to participate in rave culture. The survey collected data from members of the original rave generation. We explored the ravers’ transitions to adulthood, and how these influenced their participation in club culture. We found that our ravers continued to participate in rave culture; their persistence is related to the frequency of their engagement at a younger age. Adopting interdisciplinarity, we apply theories from both life course research and youth culture studies and argue that the persistence of leisure practices, such as raving, can be understood in the same way as persistence of drug use: frequent behavior in adolescence determines persistence in older adulthood. Consequently, we are able to recognize patterns of leisure beyond adolescence, thus making leisure choices more predictable.
Maffesoli’s book “The Time of Tribes” refers to the failing structure of Modernity in which the h... more Maffesoli’s book “The Time of Tribes” refers to the failing structure of Modernity in which the human is characterised by function. Examining the notion of tribes as part of an organic, structure of post-modernity, flexibility in the creation, constitution, and longevity of any small group is introduced.
More than 20 years after its publication it is time to review the situation in which participation in a multitude of tribes allows a person to live out a multi-facetted personality. Interviewed about techno (music) as a means of creating festive gatherings, Maffesoli discussed aspects of expenditure, self-transcendence, sacrilisation, musical effervescence and dance as a form to give meaning to life (Gaillot 1998).
In this paper, I resume the discussion by comparing two different periods in the narrative of techno: its condition pre and post 1994, the year of the introduction of the UK Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, also dubbed the “Anti Rave Act”. Examining the changes in techno and its cultural practices implemented because of this legislation, I discuss the role of affectual tribes in post-Modernity with regard to their sociality and potential, despite a dynamic, unstable and temporary nature, to alter the societal and political structures from which they emerged.
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Papers by Beate Peter
More than 20 years after its publication it is time to review the situation in which participation in a multitude of tribes allows a person to live out a multi-facetted personality. Interviewed about techno (music) as a means of creating festive gatherings, Maffesoli discussed aspects of expenditure, self-transcendence, sacrilisation, musical effervescence and dance as a form to give meaning to life (Gaillot 1998).
In this paper, I resume the discussion by comparing two different periods in the narrative of techno: its condition pre and post 1994, the year of the introduction of the UK Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, also dubbed the “Anti Rave Act”. Examining the changes in techno and its cultural practices implemented because of this legislation, I discuss the role of affectual tribes in post-Modernity with regard to their sociality and potential, despite a dynamic, unstable and temporary nature, to alter the societal and political structures from which they emerged.
Book Reviews by Beate Peter
Books by Beate Peter
More than 20 years after its publication it is time to review the situation in which participation in a multitude of tribes allows a person to live out a multi-facetted personality. Interviewed about techno (music) as a means of creating festive gatherings, Maffesoli discussed aspects of expenditure, self-transcendence, sacrilisation, musical effervescence and dance as a form to give meaning to life (Gaillot 1998).
In this paper, I resume the discussion by comparing two different periods in the narrative of techno: its condition pre and post 1994, the year of the introduction of the UK Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, also dubbed the “Anti Rave Act”. Examining the changes in techno and its cultural practices implemented because of this legislation, I discuss the role of affectual tribes in post-Modernity with regard to their sociality and potential, despite a dynamic, unstable and temporary nature, to alter the societal and political structures from which they emerged.