Our Subversive Voice? The history and politics of English protest music

我们颠覆性的声音？

• 批准号: AH/T006390/1
• 负责人: John Street
• 金额: $ 37.69万
• 依托单位: University of East Anglia
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FT006390%2F1
• 关键词: Our; Subversive; Voice; history; politics

Music is widely acknowledged as a form of political communication. However, despite an increasing scholarly interest in the political uses of music, our understanding of how exactly it communicates political ideas, values and sentiments remains obscure. Studies of political music - and the protest song in particular - have tended to assume that, where there is a cause and a singer with a conscience, songs will inevitably appear. This is, we argue, mistaken, and protest songs are better understood as part of a specific political and musical moment, mediated by multiple processes and contingencies. This more complicated story is essential to understanding why and when musicians intervene in politics and the form taken by these interventions.This project will deepen our understanding of the political uses of music by focusing on the phenomenon of the protest song. It will do this in three ways. Firstly, it will provide a wider historical perspective on the protest song, using this to refine what is meant by a protest song and to highlight the many forms it may take. Protest songs are not confined to folk music, but are to be found in almost all genres of music - from broadside ballads to music hall satires, from rock to grime. Secondly, the project will identify, understand and explain the conditions (political, technological, cultural, and economic, as well as aesthetic) in which such songs are produced. Finally, this project will enhance understanding of how such songs work as a distinct form of political communication, bringing new theories and methods to bear to highlight the role of voice, melody and rhythm. As Simon Frith (1996) has argued, lyrics 'are a form of rhetoric or oratory', and protest songs may affect how people speak, as much as how they vote or organise. Focusing on the single case-study of England the project answers the following three sets of inter-related research questions: 1. What does the protest song look like when viewed in a longer-term historical perspective? Subsidiary questions here include: Does our concept or definition of the protest song change once we look at its range across time? What are the trends and patterns in the development of the protest song from the 17th century to the present day? How comparable are early broadsides with modern forms of musical protest? Do contemporary protest songs belong to a 'national' tradition or to a different sort of musical tradition? How have technologies (from recording to the internet) changed the nature and reach of the protest song? Does the protest song have its own history as an art form? 2. What conditions are necessary for the creation, circulation and appreciation of protest songs? Subsidiary questions here include: How do songs interact with the wider rhetorical and political culture of which they are a part? How significant are individual performers with a 'conscience'? How do protest songs interact (and clash) with infrastructural conditions such as the availability of public spaces/venues/platforms, political organisations, state regulators and music industry intermediaries and networks? 3. How do protest songs communicate ideas and how can they best be analysed? Subsidiary questions here include: How do melody and rhythm combine to convey meaning and significance, and to move or mobilise listeners? Are protest songs best thought of as a mode of political communication alongside, say, speeches, pamphlets and blogs or do they speak in radically different ways? What kinds of political ideas can and do protest songs communicate - and what might this tell us about the nature of political ideas? What kinds of rhetoric - what means of performance and persuasion - do protest songs employ? As part of this research the project will create significant impact through the organization of performances, filmed interviews with performers, a playlist, a songwriting workshop, a mobile exhibition, and a practitioners' symposium.

音乐被广泛认为是政治交流的一种形式。然而，尽管学术界对音乐的政治用途越来越感兴趣，但我们对音乐如何确切地传达政治思想、价值观和情感的理解仍然模糊不清。对政治音乐的研究--尤其是抗议歌曲--往往认为，只要有事业和有良知的歌手，歌曲就会不可避免地出现。我们认为，这是错误的，抗议歌曲更好地被理解为特定政治和音乐时刻的一部分，由多个过程和偶然事件调解。这个更复杂的故事对于理解音乐家为什么以及何时干预政治以及这些干预的形式是必不可少的。这个项目将通过关注抗议歌曲的现象来加深我们对音乐政治用途的理解。它将通过三种方式做到这一点。首先，它将为抗议歌曲提供更广泛的历史视角，利用这一点来提炼抗议歌曲的含义，并突出其可能采取的多种形式。抗议歌曲不仅限于民间音乐，而且几乎可以在所有音乐流派中找到--从侧面的民谣到音乐厅讽刺，从摇滚乐到肮脏的音乐。其次，该项目将确定、理解和解释这些歌曲产生的条件(政治、技术、文化和经济以及审美)。最后，这个项目将加强对这些歌曲如何作为一种独特的政治交流形式的理解，带来新的理论和方法，以突出声音、旋律和节奏的作用。正如Simon Frith(1996)所说，歌词“是一种修辞或演讲的形式”，而抗议歌曲可能会影响人们说话的方式，以及他们投票或组织的方式。该项目以英格兰为个案，回答了以下三组相互关联的研究问题：1.从更长远的历史角度来看，抗议歌曲是什么样子的？这里的次要问题包括：一旦我们考察了抗议歌曲的范围，我们对抗议歌曲的概念或定义是否会发生变化？从17世纪到现在，抗议歌曲的发展趋势和模式是什么？早期的抨击与现代形式的音乐抗议有多大的可比性？当代抗议歌曲是属于“民族”传统，还是属于另一种音乐传统？技术(从录音到互联网)如何改变了抗议歌曲的性质和影响范围？抗议歌曲作为一种艺术形式是否有其自身的历史？2.抗议歌曲的创作、传播和欣赏需要具备哪些条件？这里的次要问题包括：歌曲如何与它们所属的更广泛的修辞和政治文化互动？有良知的个人表演者有多重要？抗议歌曲如何与公共空间/场地/平台、政治组织、国家监管机构、音乐行业中介机构和网络等基础设施条件互动(和冲突)？3.抗议歌曲如何传达思想，以及如何最好地分析它们？这里的附属问题包括：旋律和节奏如何结合来传达意义和意义，以及如何打动或动员听众？与演讲、小册子和博客相比，抗议歌曲是一种最好的政治交流方式，还是以截然不同的方式说话？抗议歌曲可以、也确实可以传达什么样的政治思想--关于政治思想的本质，这可能会告诉我们什么？抗议歌曲使用了什么样的修辞手段--表演和说服的手段？作为这项研究的一部分，该项目将通过组织表演、对表演者的录像采访、播放列表、歌曲创作研讨会、流动展览和从业者研讨会来产生重大影响。

项目成果

(Special Section) The Hymn as Protest Song in England and its Empire, 1819-1919

（专题）英国及其帝国的抗议歌曲赞美诗，1819-1919

• DOI: 10.17132/2377-231x.1247
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Yale Journal of Music & Religion
• 作者: Cox Jensen O