Popular Music-Making and National Identity: Contesting Narratives of Icelandicness

• Main Author: Hall, Þorbjörg Daphne
• Other Authors: Cohen, Sara, Leonard, Marion
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: Reykjavík; Iceland
• Online Access: http://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/3050342/; http://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/3050342/1/200881530_Mar2019.pdf; http://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/3050342/6/200881530_Mar2019_edited_version.pdf

This thesis examines the contesting narratives of Icelandicness in popular music in contemporary Iceland. These narratives are informed by local historical and contemporary contexts, international notions of ‘the North’, and stereotypes of Icelanders. The thesis problematises a simplified narrative of Icelandic popular music that has often focused on the connection between music and nature. It provides a local context, grounded in historical understanding of the place, which is often missing in existing scholarship. By addressing and exploring these contesting narratives, and critically re-examining the relationship between the music and place, a deeper and more complex understanding of the situation has emerged that reflects a wider spectrum of perspectives than are currently available. The methodology used in this research emerges from the field of popular music studies and is firmly rooted in scholarship on music and place. A qualitative research strategy was adopted, relying on mixed methods of textual analysis and ethnography, in order to gather an extensive outlook with multiple perspectives on Icelandic music and the music scene in Reykjavík. I collected various textual material, music documentaries, and other audio-visual material which contained discussion about the music scene. The ethnography was informed by, but also complemented, the textual data, as I gathered information directly from members of the music scene between 2012-2016 through participation and participant-observation. The primary sources of ethnographic data originate from the 35 interviews I conducted with musicians and music industry members. Output from thematic analysis provided a focus for the thesis chapters and their various subsections. My data shows the internal struggles musicians have with their connection to nature. They strengthen these connections through their artistic processes, but they also actively try to work against them. The image of Icelandic nature and landscape is a powerful marketing tool frequently used by the ...