The 2010 biennial IASPM UK/Ireland conference held at Cardiff University was an extremely well organised event, with papers in sessions being well grouped and igniting interesting debate surrounding the main themes of the conference: the experience, engagement and meaning of music. The conference contained a total of 43 papers, and one keynote lecture, by Harris Berger, delivering a compelling account of his theory of ‘stance’, which works as an interpretation of musical meaning. The breadth of the conference theme proved rather rewarding, with good quality papers covering quite a large breadth of subjects, yet maintaining a succinct flow and relevance. A good example of this was the opening session, in which Jessica Gottfried Hesketh's insightful examination of engagement with the Fandango led quite marvellously into Nicola Allett's research into the feeling of extreme metal fans, and was then subsequently followed by Beate Peter's analysis of individual and collective identity on the dance floor. All three papers revealed interesting and overlapping issues surrounding the engagement of listeners, cumulating in an enlightening debate that was only curtailed by the start of the next session. This momentum continued into other presentations, such as Nicola Smith's study of Northern Soul fan performance, which teased out issues surrounding the process of [re]marking by these listeners, Melissa Avdeeff's revealing snapshot of youths and their engagement with digital music, and Nancy Bruseker's timely investigation into the online communications of Libertines fans.
Although on the whole there was a lack of presentations based on musicology, there were a number of excellent papers in this area. Ben Curry conducted an interesting account of the music of The Smiths and the African American influences apparent therein, while Tim Wise explored the semantics of the hillbilly yodel, focusing on the cultural meanings encoded in depression-era country music. Jennie Gubner also presented her research into the musical culture of tango bars in Buenos Aires, concluding with an airing of a quite moving short film she made in the region.
The final session of the conference also offered three presentations that raised some rich and thought-provoking issues and touched upon the overarching themes of the conference. Ian Inglis examined the selection of music in funeral services and the trends and meanings surrounding these choices (such as the placement of Frank Sinatra's My Way in the top position), David Sanjek gave an insightful account of the 13th Floor Elevators and the idea of the ‘real’ in 1960s music, and Keith Negus closed the conference with a riveting analysis of identification surrounding the term ‘you’, one of the most recurrent lyrics in pop songs. All three presentations compelled me to consider the dynamics and processes through which listeners interpret and engage with music, and how experience is consequently shaped and affected by this.
As a newcomer to IASPM and the associated conferences, the friendly atmosphere was immediately evident to me, and this was reflected in the spirited social activities held after sessions. Despite there being no official arrangements other than the enjoyable wine receptions on the first two evenings (with scrumptious canapés), visits to local establishments such as the Cardiff Arts Institute for dinner and drinks were spontaneously organised by attendees each night, where much merriment and friendly debate continued. Over the three days new friendships were formed, theories developed, illuminating discussions held and my hometown of Cardiff very much enjoyed and embraced as a city.
Among delegates I interacted with, the general consensus with regard to the conference was that it maintained good quality presentations and raised many important considerations surrounding the engagement, meaning and experience of popular music. I felt warmly welcomed by IASPM UK and would like to thank everyone there and the conference organisers Sarah Hill, Lee Marshall and Keith Kahn-Harris for a most wonderful and exciting event. I now look forward to my next IASPM conference. The forthcoming international event will be held in South Africa in 2011, based around the theme ‘situating popular musics’ – which I'm sure will act as a most apt focus with which to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the association.
The IASPM-UK conference brought together academics from the UK, but also from places further afield – such as Mexico and Canada – to address the themes of experience, engagement and meaning. Many of the papers engaged directly with the central theme of the conference, namely that of engagement. A number of presentations took the opportunity to grapple with in-depth theoretical considerations, such as Mark Duffett's paper, ‘Applying Durkheim to Elvis’ – something he convincingly problematised; John Street's investigation as to how to define the relationship between music and political engagement; and the very interesting Thursday keynote by Harris Berger. His presentation offered an introduction into the larger work he has just published, Stance: Ideas about Emotion, Style, and Meaning for the Study of Expressive Culture (Wesleyan University Press, 2009), which certainly seemed to be a work that would benefit from a proper read and more consideration. Using Husserl's phenomenology as a basis, he argued for the possibility of using stance as a means for reading a social body in a public world. His paper also helped tie engagement with theoretical frameworks to engagement with the lived experience of musicians and fans. There were also quite a few papers where the focus was very strongly on the field research conducted by presenters, including the interviews conducted by Sean Campbell with second generation Irish musicians, in particular Dexys Midnight Runners, and Lucy Gibson's interviews with older rock, dance and northern soul fans to follow their fannishness through their lives. It was also foundational for Bob Anderson's investigation into Glasgow's independent record shops of the late 1970s, the participant observation of Paula Hearsum's reconsideration of her dual existence as journalist and academic, and the thoughtful theoretics of immersion of Elina Hytönen and Hillegonda Rietveld.
Dave Laing concluded the conference with a few remarks, including commenting on the fact that the papers presented at this IASPM event were getting a bit closer to gender parity – 40 per cent were presented by women. He also commented on the general sense I heard among most participants that this was a ‘cosy’ conference, which all agreed was beneficial for both scholars and scholarship. He did end on a call to arms – a list of topics which had been underrepresented among papers presented, and perhaps where we ought collectively to be encouraging work. He named jazz, Lady Gaga and the domestic (UK) black music(s) as topics which ought be the focus for further scholarship, and perhaps the next conference reviewed in this publication might include papers given in just such areas.
The organisation of the conference by the Cardiff crew was well handled. Naturally, there were a few hiccups but everything was sorted quickly and cheerfully by an efficient team who, in the words of Dave Laing, switched from barista to tech crew to local knowledge as needed. The two wine receptions – one sponsored by Popular Music, the other by the publisher Ashgate – were very nice, offering everyone a chance to meet and mingle on Thursday evening, and toast the midpoint on Friday evening. It was also particularly good to celebrate ten years of the Ashgate Popular and Folk Music Series, and to learn just how valued the list is by Ashgate as well as being a critical resource for us, the scholars. The convivial nature of the gathering meant that most conference participants took advantage of the opportunity to visit the local drinking establishments in the city, where many intellectual (and otherwise!) conversations continued well into the evening. It was a great opportunity to engage intellectually and personally with those doing some of the most interesting work in the field, and a wonderful introduction for me, newly-minted IASPM-UK postgrad representative, to the association. Thanks, Cardiff!
