Neue Veröffentlichung: Maude Williams, Französische populäre Musik in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland der „langen“ 1960er Jahre: Zwischen Überwindung und Verstärkung des Nationalen, in: Ralf von Appen / Thorsten Hindrichs (Hg.), One Nation Under a Groove – »Nation« als Kategorie populärer Musik, (= Beiträge zur Popularmusikforschung), transcript, Bielefeld, 2020, S.75-100
Abstract
After American rock’n’roll had struck a chord with German youth in the 1950s, further new styles of music came in from Great Britain (e.g. Beatlemania) but also from France in the 1960s, both of which competed with the American model in the German Federal Republic. Analyses of German chart shows, youth magazine articles, radio and television broadcasts show that French singers and their songs were well received by West German listeners. Through their songs and their appearance, they became popular ambassadors of France. French singers were more efficient than traditional cultural and political agencies in appealing to German youth and conveying an image of France that was fed by existing stereotypes, yet at the same time helped to form a contemporary image of France among the German public. Not only their songs, but also the image of the singers, which was formed and conveyed by the mass media (television, radio, and magazines), contributed to the formation of the ‘Grande Nation’ as an ‘imagined community’. Even though transnational communication of popular music made it possible to break down national borders, it also strengthened the notion of ‘nation’ and its imagined representation. The French accent, the French language, the image of France in the songs as well as the themes dealt with by the French singers, and fashion, which played an extremely important role in the appropriation and identification of the youth, were among the elements that contributed to both distancing (through distance with reality) and approaching (by conveying a positive image of France).
Ralf von Appen / Thorsten Hindrichs (Hg.) One Nation Under a Groove – »Nation« als Kategorie populärer Musik
Popmusik wirkt mit an der Affirmation und Repräsentation nationaler Gemeinschaften und ihrer Werte. Daher ist in Zeiten des vielerorts erstarkenden Nationalismus und Rechtspopulismus ein wissenschaftlich-kritischer Blick auf die Beziehungen von Pop und »Nation« dringend geboten. Neben grundsätzlichen Gedanken zum Konzept »Nation« liefern die Beiträger*innen des Bandes Fallstudien zum deutschen Blick auf (vermeintlich) französische, irische und italienische Popmusik, zu österreichischen Genres und deren Verhältnis zur internationalen Musikwelt sowie zu Zuschreibungen des »typisch Deutschen«. Als gemeinsamer Nenner zeigt sich dabei immer wieder, wie konstruiert die Vorstellungen von »Nation« und des »Typischen« sind.