Mark Reeder: The Man who Punked the Iron Curtain

Figure 1. Mark Reeder in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Divided Berlin (1980s). Source: B Book: Lust and Sound in West Berlin 1979-1989, 2017, Archiv der Jugendkulturen. Photo used with permission from Mark Reeder.

The punk connection between East and West Germany was largely due to the actions of one man: Mark Reeder. Born in Manchester in 1958, the musical scene of this English industrial hub captivated Reeder. In 1979, Reeder left Britain for West Berlin to chase the sound emanating from this divided city.[1] Once in West Berlin, he became entranced by the rawness of the former capital, prompting a desire to learn more about its people and the music they played on this walled-off island. His journey led him to enter the Berlin music scene and become not only a part of it, but a leading figure of sound and culture. He worked with prominent bands and artists like Die Toten Hosen, Nena, and Joy Division/New Order among others. During the 1980s, Reeder enabled East Germans to experience western punk rock music. Upon the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany in 1990, he helped support the genre of techno by pioneering trance techno music and playing gigs in abandoned factories in former East Berlin (Figure 1). Continue reading

Séminaire Histoire sociale du rock (3e séance)

Pour ceux qui n’auraient pas pu assister à la seconde séance du Séminaire Histoire sociale du rock, vous pouvez la revoir sur Zoom:

19 mai 2021 :  Identités régionales et raciales

Manuel Bocquier (doctorant, EHESS, Mondes Américains, Centre d’Études Nord-

Américaines) : « Musique rurale et identité régionale : l’appropriation de la old-time music dans les lettres d’auditeurs (États-Unis, années 1930) ».

Isabelle Petitjean (docteure en musicologie, Sorbonne Université, professeure d’éducation musicale) : « Les dynamiques raciales dans la production de Michael Jackson ».

Lien: https://univ-lille-fr.zoom.us/rec/share/3NbLz1FcaqTvWWM2g5CIxkhYiURXb9Bk4ARAenB9cYU40_Jaca7ijlbCKwmBv1QY.Jj_NPmBR1Zkh7L1T

Passcode: @F6hUN0w

Séminaire Histoire sociale du rock (programme 2021)

Le séminaire consacré à l’Histoire sociale du rock, co-organisé par Arnaud Baubérot (CRHEC) et Florence Tamagne (IRHiS, CHS des Mondes contemporains, Paris 1) entame sa 10e année. Du fait de la situation sanitaire, les séances, qui auront lieu le mercredi de 16h à 18h, se tiendront pour l’instant par zoom. Si vous souhaitez y assister, merci d’envoyer un mail à Florence Tamagne (ftamagne@gmail.com) ou Arnaud Baubérot (abauberot@gmail.com) et nous vous enverrons un lien. La première séance aura lieu le mercredi 7 avril.

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Listening Again to Popular Music as History (CfA, Deadline: Sept. 2018)

Jeffrey H. Jackson and Stanley C. Pelkey open their collection, Music and History (subtitle ‘Bridging the Disciplines’, 2005) by asking: ‘Why haven’t historians and musicologists been talking to one another?’  They suggest that at the heart of this absence is a problem of communication, concerning the distinct methods, knowledge and skills employed in both disciplines: does one need to be able to read, play or even ‘appreciate’ music for instance in order to make sense of it historically? On the other hand, do musicologists need an understanding of historiography to write histories of music? The issue for scholars in both disciplines is the status of the musical object: how to account for music as music, without losing a sense of its historical specificity. Continue reading