Urban Music Studies

Soundscapes profoundly connect listeners to the places they inhabit and thereby reveal the vibrant and resonant fabrics that lie beneath the delineated spaces of visual representation. In Resonant Fabrics, Marvin Heine explores and celebrates the many-layered and ambiguously undulating sense- and soundscapes as they shape and are shaped by urban cultures and particular ways of listening. By examining historical documents, contemporary accounts, and original empirical material through a combination of actor-network-theory, ecology, and sound studies scholarship, he embraces, in a stylistically embodied and often poetic manner, the sonic urban world in all its fragile, ephemeral, yet deeply affective sonority.

More: https://www.transcript-verlag.de/978-3-8376-6643-4/resonant-fabrics/?c=311034657

This Must Be the Place by Shain Shapiro introduces and examines music’s relationship to cities. Not the influence cities have on music, but the powerful impact music can have on how cities are developed, built, managed and governed. Told in an accessible way through personal stories from cities around the world — including London, Melbourne, Nashville, Austin and Zurich — This Must Be the Place takes a truly global perspective on the ways music is integral to everyday life but neglected in public policy.
More you can find here https://repeaterbooks.com/product/this-must-be-the-place/

Dear colleagues, Dear friends,

I am pleased to announce you my PhD viva voce examination in geography, entitled:

“Singing in China, theory and fieldwork in music geography – A Shanghai case study and singing during the covid-19 pandemic”.
It will be held in French, the 28th of November 2023 from 1:00 PM in Jean-Baptiste Duroselle’s room in La Sorbonne and by videoconference. A videoconference link is now available with Zoom. You generally only have to click on the link https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86125755240?pwd=aWcwQkJpcklyNUkxaHNqakY2ZnpIUT09
The viva will be held in French. To make the organisation easier, please connect from 5 to 10 minutes before the viva’s beginning planned at 1:00 PM.

Abstract
In China, singing is an activity practiced by a large number of amateurs and professionals in various places. Perceived as a vector of morality, singing has been considered for several centuries as a powerful political tool by government power. The analyses carried out in this thesis aim to highlight the contemporary nature of this political dimension of singing, which is expressed both in urban development and in terms of the supervision of the population, particularly at times for crisis.
Situated within music geography and Urban Music Studies approaches, this thesis considers singing places as geo-indicators of the socio-political organisation and urban production of the Shanghainese metropolis. The study of singing places provides information on the construction of the city as being determined by the local authorities. In particular, singing can be examined within the framework of heritage and gentrification based on cultural reconstruction strategies. This evolution of the social and urban environment of the metropolis works in tandem with urban fabric. In particular, certain singers can be observed to appropriate public spaces, during the time of their activities.
The political dimension of singing appeared more pronounced during the management of covid-19 by the Chinese government. The analysis of the effects of this pandemic on the Chinese social and political space illustrates the persistence of singing as a means of communication and advocacy, mobilised both by the government and by population. The consequences of this crisis were also at the root of a reflection on the data collection primarily online, qualified here as “mediated fieldwork”.

Keywords: singing, music geography, socio-spatial dynamics, urban organisation and production, covid-19 pandemic, “online” fieldwork, political communication.
Best regards,

Sarah DEFOIN–MERLIN
Doctorante en géographie
UMR 8586 Prodig
Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne – UFR 08

Dear colleagues, Dear friends,

I am pleased to announce you my PhD viva voce examination in geography, entitled:

“Singing in China, theory and fieldwork in music geography – A Shanghai case study and singing during the covid-19 pandemic”.

It will be held in French, the 28th of November 2023 from 1:00 PM in Jean-Baptiste Duroselle’s room in La Sorbonne and by videoconference. The link will be available a few days before the viva.

The examiners are:
– Ms Sara Adhitya, Senior Research Fellow, University College of London
– Ms Manuelle Franck, Professeure des universités, Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales
– Ms Marie Gibert, Maîtresse de conférences, Université Paris Cité
– Mr Thierry Sanjuan, Professeur des universités, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (thesis supervisor)
– Ms Isabelle Thireau, Directrice d’études, École des hautes études en sciences sociales

Keywords: singing, music geography, socio-spatial dynamics, urban organisation and production, covid-19 pandemic, “online” fieldwork, political communication.

Best regards,

Sarah DEFOIN–MERLIN
Doctorante en géographie
UMR 8586 Prodig
Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne – UFR 08

Co-authored by Daniel Silver and Jonathan Bunce this project has been carried out as a collaboration between the University of Toronto – School of Cities and Wavelength music. The research findings underscore the importance of fostering an adaptable and resilient live music ecosystem in Ontario. The proposed policy recommendations aim to provide practical paths toward this goal, offering a transformative blueprint to uplift and revitalize the Ontario live music scene. This endeavour, although complex, holds the promise of a more vibrant and sustainable live music industry, resonating powerfully with the broader cultural and economic vibrancy of the province.

Download the full report here.

Edited by Ola Johansson,  Séverin Guillard and Joseph Palis this book

• provides an accessible and succinct overview of current discussions on cities and contemporary music policies
• offers novel insights spanning the fields of urban and cultural geography, urban policy, music and media studies
• Features interdisciplinary analyses and topical case studies by global experts

More https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-99-0757-1#toc

 Maciej Smółka examines in his new publication the sound of a city in terms of the relationship between music and the cultural specificity of a given urban area. This cultural phenomenon becomes apparent when artists from a region create music, which indisputably linked to its place of origin, such as in the case of the Nashville Sound, the psychedelic rock of the San Francisco Sound, Prince’s the Minneapolis Sound, or the Seattle Sound. The publication presents a theoretical tool how to research, analyse, interpret, and define the sound of a city.

More https://www.peterlang.com/document/1369553

Cities and Memory is one of the world’s largest sound projects, with more than 1,000 artists contributing to our goal of remixing the world, one sound at a time. 

Encompassing field recording, sound art and sound mapping, every location on the Cities and Memory sound map features two sounds: the original field recording of that place, and a reimagined sound that presents that place and time as somewhere else, somewhere new.

The listener can explore places through their actual sounds, to explore reimagined versions of what those places could be – or to flip between the two different sound worlds at leisure.

Latest project – Music for Sleep. More https://citiesandmemory.com/music-for-sleep/

Call for proposals for edited volume

Editors: Dr Christina Ballico, Department of Music, University of Aberdeen

Dr Allan Watson, School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Loughborough University

Cultural planning holds a central place in urban regeneration and urban re-profiling initiatives in cities around the world. Over the past 20 years, interest in the ways in which cities might be re-imagined and place-branded through specific creative and cultural identities and activities has increased exponentially. Urban policymakers have sought to find ways to leverage place-based cultural identities to drive a range of urban development, economic, heritage, and tourism initiatives. This is demonstrated, for example, through the wide enactment of a range of culturally focused urban development strategies (for example, Music City initiatives) and the development of a range of ‘creative’ and ‘cultural’ frameworks (for example, the UNESCO Creative Cities Network).

Given that creative cities policy frameworks are becoming increasingly prevalent on a global scale, and in light of long-standing critiques regarding economic determinism and the narrow understanding of ‘culture’ deployed in such frameworks, in this volume we seek to bring together contributions which offer critical re-evaluations grounded within diverse geographical contexts. Thematically, we welcome contributions which consider the following issues:

• The city-specific impacts of creative and cultural cities frameworks and their capacity to support urban regeneration and social and economic development, for example the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, other international or national frameworks such as City of Culture awards, as well as localised initiatives.
• City-specific cultural policies and regulatory frameworks which might support and/or inhibit particular forms of creative and cultural initiatives and activities, both in the short and long term.
• Alternative strategies and methods for evaluating the success of creative city policies beyond economic determinism and shifting attitudes toward arts and culture as a social and cultural good.
• Consideration of the ways in which creative and cultural city policy frameworks might be re-worked, re-imagined, or re-invigorated in order to provide more equitable forms of urban, social, and economic development in cities.
• The capacity of arts and cultural activity to address local environmental issues and broader climate change and sustainability goals.
• Critical evaluations of in-situ place activation and cultural engagement initiatives, and/ or activities with a particular consideration of their impact/s and how they fit within city-wide frameworks and policy initiatives.

Deadline is October 31, 2023

Contact: citiesandculturebook@gmail.com

Music and the Internet is a hybrid, multi-day interdisciplinary conference that will take place virtually and at the University of Chicago on June 9–10 2023. Its goal is to bring together scholars and creators to present across a variety of perspectives on the intersection of music, sound, and online culture, and to help cultivate the developing international network of thinkers at work on these topics.

More: https://musicandtheinternet.co/