New Cultural Dynamics in the Practices of Non-Western Popular Music
Research period:2024.10-2027.3
SAKURAMA Mizuki
Keywords
popular music , cultural dynamics , marginality
Objectives
Created in local places and connected to global culture, popular music and its practice emerges as a space where cultural forces mix in the contemporary world. The main objective of this research project will be to shed light on the aspects of contemporary cultural dynamics through examples of popular music practice in “non-Western” countries.
Many aspects have been overlooked in “non-Western” musical practice due to politics, language constraints, and other factors. There may be good examples for examining the state of contemporary cultural dynamics in the former Socialist Bloc where their connection with global culture was brought into full swing after the abrupt institutional changes.
And considering the advancement and spread of communications technologies today, perhaps the assumption of a one-sided transmission of trends and the dichotomous division of regions such as “Western” and “non-Western,” which has been considered self-evident, may not be valid in discussing contemporary cultural dynamics. We also aim to examine this through examples of musical practice in different regions.
The project will first analyze the adoption and development of new musical genres with a focus on countries and regions that have experienced socialism in “non-Western” countries, and consider the reality depicted in forms of expressions, including lyrics, and their impact on society. Furthermore, we will take a multifaceted look at the development of popular music in “non-Western” countries by comparing it with cases of “non-Western” countries that did not experience socialism.
Based on the above, the project aims to shed light on contemporary cultural dynamics by examining the modalities of musical practices and the validity of the regional division of Western/non-Western, while using anthropological approaches and incorporating adjacent fields such as sociology and cultural studies as well as the opinions of practitioners.