“Nobody owns anything but everyone is rich - for what greater wealth can there be than cheerfulness, peace of mind, and freedom from anxiety?” – Thomas More, Utopia[1]
Thomas More’s coining of the word ‘Utopia’ translates from Ancient Greek to be ‘no-place’. Written in 1516, More outlined his philosophy for governing a fairer, more equal society within his book Utopia, which has since inspired countless conceptualisations of ‘a better life’ from across the globe.[2]Through four cross-cultural case studies, this blog will explore the ways in which utopian desires are pursued through musical communities and genres across the globe, to provide listeners with alternative public spheres, away from their everyday realities. In these examples, music is closely linked to the cultures in which it is created and/or consumed, so much of the emphasis within the blog posts will be focused upon contextualising the environments in which music is used to create these alternative realities.
Jayna Brown’s article 'Buzz and Rumble: Global Pop Music and Utopian Impulse' will be referenced throughout the blog series, as her writing offers valuable insight into how music can be forged out of a ‘utopian impulse’ to form a social utopia that turns its back on the ‘dystopia [which] is all around us.’[3] Within her article, she draws connections between globalisation, diasporic movements and increasing global access to new technologies, to 'recognize the utopian in new moments of global connection and diasporic formation', represented through music and dance specifically.[4] She uses two examples from Africa to demonstrate her points: the first is a dance and music style known as Konono, developed in Congo in reaction to president Mobutu Sese Seko's authenticité campaign, that draws on European influence to counter the 'enforced return to authentic African cultural forms'.[5] The other example she uses, will also be the final case study I draw upon in this blog series. It looks into Kuduro, a music and dance movement from Luanda, Angola, that acknowledges the long lasting impact of imperialist and civil wars within the country. The music and dance movement challenges economic and ablest norms through the way that it's produced and danced to, and also draws upon global influences and in return has had a global impact too, demonstrating the transnational nature of 'utopian impulse'.
Brown defines utopia as:
[…] a process, an ongoing activity, a continual reaching forward that can help spur revolutionary action. It suggests the bringing in of an entirely new paradigm, unreachable from here.[6]
From this, we can ascertain how music can be used as a tool to provide consolation and hope to those facing oppression, marginalisation and the violence of war, be it in the wake of colonialism to financial instability and poverty under the ‘eroded infrastructures’ of capitalist society.[7] Brown’s version of utopic fantasy, channelled through hope for freedom is distinct from the commonly ‘exploited’ description of utopia as used for ‘personal gratification’ as often depicted in science fiction, such as in the header image of this post.[8],[9] Brown’s optimistic approach to Utopia will be used as a lens to analyse notions of utopian fantasy and impulse depicted through music across the four chosen case studies in this blog series.
When working from this utopian framework, however, it is also important to be aware of anti-utopian critiques, such as those presented by John Rodden in his article ‘Confessions of a Recovering Utopian’.[10] These critiques reject utopian discourse as unattainable and unrealistic, arguing instead that it fosters a vulnerability and naivety within oppressed communities leaving them susceptible to further exploitation by their oppressors:
Dialogues such as these highlight the complexity of understanding how utopian frameworks can be seen in both positive and negative lights. When evaluating utopian frameworks within musical cultures and genres, it is important to remain critical of the ramifications and implications of these thought processes upon wider social contexts.
The next blog post in the series will explore the 1970s nightclub ‘Crackers’ based in Soho, London. In this club, an inclusive space was born through dance competitions sound-tracked by American funk, forming a utopian space that provided refuge from the realities of increasing racial discrimination in London at the time.
[1]Thomas More, Utopia, (London: Penguin Books Limited, 2003). [2] Tom Hodgkinson, 'How Utopia Changed the World', BBC Culture, 6th October 2016, https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20160920-how-utopia-shaped-the-world, (12 May 2021). [3]Jayna Brown, 'Buzz and Rumble: Global Pop Music and Utopian Pulse', Social Text, 28/1, (2010), 125 - 146, (125). [4] Ibid., 127.
[5] Ibid., 127.
[6] Ibid., 128. [7] Ibid., 125. [8] Peter Fitting, 'Utopia, Dystopia and Science Fiction', Gregory Claeys (ed.,), The Cambridge Companion to Utopian Literature, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 135-153, (135). [9] Brown, 'Buzz and Rumble', 131. [10] John Rodden, 'Confessions of a Recovering Utopian', Society, 55, (2018), 62-67, (62-63).
[11] Walker Arts Center, 'Utopia Is No Place: The Art and Politics of Impossible Futures', online video clip , YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8BhXKGOeeY&t=65s, (0:08 - 1:05), 10th August 2010, (12 May 2021).
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