Here is a link to a piece I wrote for The Conversation on ageing pop stars. It was partly prompted by the discourse surrounding Burt Bacharach's upcoming concert dates but more by the work I'm currently doing for my book The Late Voice: Time, Age and Experience in Popular Music.
Author: Richard
Richard Elliott is a cultural musicologist with a particular interest in popular musics of the world.
He is the author of the books Fado and the Place of Longing: Loss, Memory and the City (2010), Nina Simone (2013), The Late Voice: Time, Age and Experience in Popular Music (2015), The Sound of Nonsense (2018) and DJs do Guetto (2022). He has also published articles and reviews on popular music, literature, consciousness, memory, nostalgia, place and space, affect, language and technology.
Richard is Senior Lecturer in Music at the International Centre for Music Studies at Newcastle University, where he specialises in courses related to popular music. Prior to this he taught courses on popular music, contextual music studies, and music and media at the University of Sussex. He has also worked as a teacher of English for Academic Purposes, a journal editor and a reviewer of books and music. Find out more about his work at https://latevoice.com/
Upcoming talk: Won’t You Spare Me Over Til Another Year?
'Won't You Spare Me Over Til Another Year?: Age, Death and Deferral in Old-Time Music'I'll be presenting current work as part of the Research in Progress series at the School of Media, Film and Music, University of Sussex, on Wednesday 26 February at 4pm. Details here. In this talk I'll present material from the book… Continue reading Upcoming talk: Won’t You Spare Me Over Til Another Year?
Hearing Is Believing
The other day I wrote a piece for The Conversation about the Japanese composer Mamoru Samuragochi, who, it was revealed last week, has been paying a ghost writer to compose his work for nearly two decades. The story gained greater shock value for the fact that Samuragochi had also been exaggerating the deafness that had… Continue reading Hearing Is Believing
Popular music and the politics of authenticity
The Polish journalist Mariusz Herma has written to tell me that our email conversation about popular music and authenticity has contributed towards a piece he wrote for an end-of-year summary in Polityka (in Polish). He has also translated our whole exchange into Polish on his blog. Unfortunately, my language skills aren't up to comprehending the… Continue reading Popular music and the politics of authenticity
Pete Seeger, un hombre sincero
A piece by I wrote for PopMatters a few years back on Pete Seeger, who died yesterday. Pete Seeger is something of an enigma. On the one hand, he is a renowned veteran of the transnational folk music scene, a legendary figure who seems to have always been around. On the other, he remains somehow… Continue reading Pete Seeger, un hombre sincero
Review: Enciclopédia da Música em Portugal no Século XX
My review of the Enciclopédia da Música em Portugal no Século XX (Encyclopedia of Music in Portugal in the 20th Century) has been published in the latest issue of Popular Music and is reproduced here by permission of the journal's access policy. PDF First published in Popular Music Vol. 33, No. 1 (Jan 2014): 161-164.… Continue reading Review: Enciclopédia da Música em Portugal no Século XX
Fado article
An article by Naresh Fernandes on fado for Live Mint. Naresh interviewd me for the piece, during which process I was happy to discover his previous writing. Naresh is a journalist and author of the book Taj Mahal Foxtrot: The Story of Bombay's Jazz Age. There's a great blog to accompany that book, which also… Continue reading Fado article
Upcoming symposium: Singing Places
Friday 22 November, University of Sussex Organisers: Richard Elliott and Sally Jane Norman The interweaving of song and place as a resonant cultural identifier offers a richly interdisciplinary research focus. Music, sonic arts, cultural anthropology, and human geography feature amongst disciplines mobilised by this domain, which is also strongly invested by a range of creative… Continue reading Upcoming symposium: Singing Places
Upcoming talk: A Dream Deferred
'A Dream Deferred: Nina Simone and the Work of Mourning' Tuesday, 19 November 2013, 16:15, Arts A155, University of Sussex I'll be giving a talk hosted by the Centre for American Studies, University of Sussex. This talk presents work from my recent book about the late singer, songwriter, pianist and civil rights activist Nina Simone.… Continue reading Upcoming talk: A Dream Deferred
Víctor Jara: 40 years
It's forty years since the events that led to the murder of the Chilean singer, songwriter, theatre director and activist Víctor Jara (1932-1073). Here is a PDF of an article I wrote about Jara (and the Cuban singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez) while researching my doctoral thesis. I was, and remain, as interested in Jara's posthumous career… Continue reading Víctor Jara: 40 years
Late Voice 