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Producing Bhangra: Music, Culture and Technology - Mediating Culture in Music Production

Lightman, Richard Henry (2022) Producing Bhangra: Music, Culture and Technology - Mediating Culture in Music Production. Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) thesis, University of Kent,. (doi:10.22024/UniKent/01.02.96631) (KAR id:96631)

Abstract

Lightman's ethnographic research examines the evolution of the South Asian diaspora-based bhangra music brought to the UK and its ultimate hybridization and adaptation by diverse cultures seeking new identities and new commercial avenues. The focus of the research is based on Lightman's experience as a bhangra record producer in the early 1990s; his encounter with the negotiation and translation of musical form and cultural expectations, and the mediation between South Asian and Western sensibilities. Bhangra, originally a celebratory harvest music that accompanied dance, provided the secular space for the translation of ethnic music into a new diverse British music incorporating influences from rock, pop, reggae, soca, Bollywood and the technological advances made in synthesizer technology driven by Western popular mainstream genres and musicians. A majority of the initial mediation and subsequent research relating to this thesis, took place in recording studios. The subtexts of culturally grounded expectation and technological prowess, created unspoken power struggles between the stakeholders in opposition to the express intent to collaborate and produce a creative and commercially successful product. The outcome is a discourse of multicultural mediation which is herein evidenced and interrogated.

Item Type: Thesis (Doctor of Philosophy (PhD))
Thesis advisor: Dawe, Kevin
Thesis advisor: Walduck, Jackie
DOI/Identification number: 10.22024/UniKent/01.02.96631
Uncontrolled keywords: Music Production Cross Cultural Music Bhangra Mitigating Culture in Music
Subjects: M Music and Books on Music
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Arts and Humanities > School of Arts
SWORD Depositor: System Moodle
Depositing User: System Moodle
Date Deposited: 25 Aug 2022 14:10 UTC
Last Modified: 26 Aug 2022 08:13 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/96631 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Lightman, Richard Henry.

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