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
Tag: music
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
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
Upcoming talk: Introduction to Saura’s Fados
I'll be intorducing a screening of Carlos Saura's film Fados as part of the Vamos! festival in Newcastle upon Tyne on 9 July. Details here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZgiKTQ-YF4
Upcoming talk: Listening to Europe
On 27 June, I'll be presenting a paper at the IASPM International Conference in Gijón. The title of my paper is 'Listening to Europe: "Continental Records" in Britain’. Abstract This paper examines the circulation of recordings from continental Europe in Britain prior to the Second World War, focussing on the broadcast and critical reception of… Continue reading Upcoming talk: Listening to Europe
Nina Simone book published
My book on Nina Simone has been published by Equinox.
Late Voice 