Music Matters - BEATE PETER: 'Music, memories & identity'

Music Matters presents 'Music, Memories and Identity: Mapping Affect and Belonging,' a lecture by Dr Beate Peter, University of Groningen.

Abstract

The Lapsed Clubber Audio Map is the co-produced result of a community project that was funded by the Heritage Lottery. It captures the memories of rave spaces in Greater Manchester, UK, between 1985 and 1995. In this talk, Dr Beate Peter discusses the findings of a thematic analysis of the memories. Situating raves as embodied-auditive experiences, the analysis shows how the memories on the map are often related to particular sounds or moods that can be heard but not visualised. Yet, as the map captures memories that span a whole decade, a noticeable shift takes place from auditory aesthetics towards visual aesthetics. It means that memories change from the notion of sound to that of an image by describing places, faces, names or album sleeves.

Using this shift from auditive to visual memory, Beate argues that the continued absence of early popular electronic music from the canon is due to its auditive nature at a time when popular media is relying on image and appearance as markers of distinction, taste and cultural belonging. As a result, the identities that are captured on the map serve as a collective memory of a community that underwent changes in the way it relates to music and creates affective memories.

About the speaker

Beate Peter is Assistant Professor of Cultural Sociology at the University of Groningen. With an interest in popular music cultures and lived heritage, Beate seeks to develop innovative methods to capture and analyse lived intangible cultural heritage. The findings are co-presented with Dan Padure who assisted with the analysis.