From the Faroes to the World Stage

• Main Author: Green, Joshua
• Other Authors: Holt, Fabian, Kärjä, Antti-Ville
• Format: Book
• Language: unknown
• Published: Oxford University Press 2017
• Subjects: Faroe Islands; Faroes; Iceland; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190603908.013.6

This chapter explores music in the context of evolving transnational dynamics in the Faroe Islands, focusing on the tourism boom and on connections with the global music industry. Similar to the situation in Iceland a decade earlier, music became part of an evolving tourism economy in the early 2010s, shaped by exotic views of the North Atlantic. Drawing from Urry’s concept of the tourist gaze, the chapter shows how Faroese bands work as producers of difference, within an international system of industry and institutions, including the Nordic Council. The analytical focus is on transnational mobility and industry networks of popular music and its performers. The chapter shows that Faroese bands engage with these transnational flows and with exoticism in the international marketing of their music. The core case study is the doom metal band Hamferð, whose career evolved to participation in international events, particularly festivals and competitions.