Offering a series of case studies of recent media controversies, this collection draws on new perspectives in cultural studies to consider a wide variety of images. The book suggest how we might achieve a more subtle understanding of controversial images and negotiate the difficult terrain of the new media landscape.
Easter Sunday, 2009, was the Sunday heard ‘round the evangelical internet: NewSpring Church, the second-largest church in the Southern Baptist Convention and among the top one hundred largest churches in the US, had begun their service with the song “Highway to Hell” by hard rock band AC/DC. They had brazenly crossed the sacred/secular musical divide on the most important Sunday of the year, and commentary abounded on the value of such a step. Many were offended at the “desecration” of such a holy day, deriding Newspring as the “theater of the absurd.” Others cheered NewSpring’s engagement with “the culture” and suggested that music could be used to convert non-Christians. No mere debate over stylistic preferences, many expressed that foundational aspects of evangelical identity were at stake. While many books have been written about religious music that utilizes popular music styles (a.k.a. “contemporary Christian music”), there has yet to be a scholarly treatment of how and why popular, secular music is utilized by churches. This book addresses that lacuna by examining this emerging trend in evangelical and “emerging” churches in America. What is the motivation behind using music that seemingly has no connection to Christian theology, values, or themes—such as music by Katy Perry, AC/DC, or Van Halen—and what can we learn about post-denominational evangelical churches in America by uncovering these motives? In this book, April Stace uncovers several themes from an ethnographic study of these churches: the increasingly-porous boundary between the sacred and the secular, the importance placed on “authenticity” in contemporary American culture, how evangelicals are responding to what they perceive is an increasingly-secular society, the “turn to the subject” of contemporary culture, the desire to leave a space for expression of doubt in the worship service without fully authorizing that doubt, and the individualization of the construction of religious identity in the modern era.
The Oxford Handbook of Music and World Christianities investigates music's role in everyday practice and social history across the diversity of Christian religions and practices around the globe. The volume explores Christian communities in the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia as sites of transmission, transformation, and creation of deeply diverse musical traditions. The book's contributors, while mostly rooted in ethnomusicology, examine Christianities and their musics in methodologically diverse ways, engaging with musical sound and structure, musical and social history, and ethnography of music and musical performance. These broad materials explore five themes: music and missions, music and religious utopias (and other oppositional religious communities), music and conflict, music and transnational flows, and music and everyday life. The volume as a whole, then, approaches Christian groups and their musics as diverse and powerful windows into the way in which music, religious ideas, capital, and power circulate (and change) between places, now and historically. It also tries to take account of the religious self-understandings of these groups, presenting Christian musical practice and exchange as encompassing and negotiating deeply felt and deeply rooted moral and cultural values. Given that the centerpiece of the volume is Christian religious musical practice, the volume reveals the active role music plays in maintaining and changing religious, moral, and cultural values in a long history of intercultural and transnational encounters.
This volume focuses on the collective wisdom of Asian philosophies and their implications for music education. All twenty chapters are written by highly regarded philosophers and music educators steeped in various Asian traditions. These chapters will include an explanation of a prominent philosophical tradition, evidence in a contemporary music teaching and learning settings (including its inception and historical development along with an explanation of how the philosophical tradition works in contemporary music education), and suggestions for potential directions in the near and distant future. The book is organized into five sections. Section I is based on Chinese philosophical traditions, which have the longest history and are some of the most influential across Asia and beyond. Chapters in Section II present a snapshot of Japanese and Korean views, beginning with the musical practices in the Joseon Period (1392-1910) that are still being practiced in South Korea today to Western influences in 19th century Japan. A collection of philosophical traditions from South and Southeast Asia are contained in Section III, ranging from the insights of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, King Rama IX of Thailand, an accomplished jazz musician, to the Balinese notion of taksu, a form of supreme energy and divine power crucial for compelling performances in the performing arts. We venture into the Islamic and the Middle Eastern world in Section IV, where the dance practices of the Hadhrami Arabs in the Malay Archipelago to traditional sharah music are contextualized within Islamic philosophy. This section also describes the philosophical ideas of the 12th-century Persian philosopher and founder of the Illuminationist (Ishraq) philosophy, Shihab al-Din al-Suhrawardi, arguing that his ideas have much to recommend music education, as this approach requires students to listen in deeper ways, absorb more abundantly, and move beyond arts education to encompass the education of the whole person. Section V concludes with a metaphorical view on a New Silk Road in music education in the 21st century, where ideas are traded for mutual benefit and the development multicultural philosophies of music education. While there are numerous publications on the philosophy of music education rooted in the Western philosophical traditions of ancient Greece, the Asian philosophical voice is virtually silent outside of Asia, and this volume aims to begin the long process of redressing this imbalance. This volume will open readers to the richness of Asian philosophical sources and hopefully stimulate dialogues that could generate new insights and directions for further development, cross-pollination, and application of some of the world's earliest philosophical traditions.
Made in Greece: Studies in Popular Music serves as a comprehensive and thorough introduction to the history, sociology, and musicology of contemporary Greek popular music. Each essay covers the major figures, styles, and social contexts of pop music in Greece, first presenting a general description of the history and background of popular music in Greece, followed by essays, written by leading scholars of Greek music, that are organized into thematic sections: Hugely Popular, Art-song Trajectories, Greekness beyond Greekness, Counter Stories, and Present Musical Pasts.
Playing to the Camera is the first full-length study devoted to the musical performance documentary. Its scope ranges from rock concert films to experimental video art featuring modernist music. Unlike the "music under" produced for films by unseen musicians, on-screen "live" performances show us the bodies that produce the sounds we hear. Exploring the link between moving images and musical movement as physical gesture, this volume asks why performance is so often derided as mere skill whereas composition is afforded the status of art, a question that opens onto a broader critique of attitudes regarding mental and physical labor in Western culture.--Publisher's website.
Introduction to XXXTentacion is a brief overview of the life and music career of the late rapper Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy, who professionally went by the name XXXTentacion. The introduction begins by highlighting the remarkable talent of the rapper, who rose to fame at a young age and made a significant impact on the hip-hop industry. It then goes on to discuss the early life of XXXTentacion, who had a troubled childhood, experienced various forms of abuse, and spent time in juvenile detention centers. The introduction also touches on the music career of XXXTentacion, who began making music when he was 15 years old and released his first song in 2014. His music was known for its diverse genres, including hip-hop, alternative rock, and heavy metal, and his lyrics often focused on topics related to mental health, heartbreak, and existentialism. XXXTentacion released his debut mixtape, Revenge, in 2017, followed by his first studio album, 17, later that year. He was at the height of his career when he was tragically killed in June 2018. Despite his controversial image and legal issues, XXXTentacion's music has continued to resonate with fans around the world, cementing his status as a talented and influential artist.
An album-by-album celebration of the life and music of Mac Miller through oral histories, intimate reflections, and critical examinations of his enduring work. “One of my most vivid memories of him is the way he would look at you while he was playing you a song. He tried to look you right in the eyes to see how you were feeling about it.” —Will Kalson, friend and first manager Following Mac Miller’s tragic passing in 2018, Donna-Claire Chesman dedicated a year to chronicling his work through the unique lens of her relationship to the music and Mac’s singular relationship to his fans. Like many who’d been following him since he’d started releasing mixtapes at eighteen years old, she felt as if she’d come of age alongside the rapidly evolving artist, with his music being crucial to her personal development. “I want people to remember his humanity as they’re listening to the music, to realize how much bravery and courage it takes to be that honest, be that self-aware, and be that real about things going on internally. He let us witness that entire journey. He never hid that.” —Kehlani, friend and musician. The project evolved to include intimate interviews with many of Mac’s closest friends and collaborators, from his Most Dope Family in Pittsburgh to the producers and musicians who assisted him in making his everlasting music, including Big Jerm, Rex Arrow, Wiz Khalifa, Benjy Grinberg, Just Blaze, Josh Berg, Syd, Thundercat, and more. These voices, along with the author’s commentary, provide a vivid and poignant portrait of this astonishing artist—one who had just released a series of increasingly complex albums, demonstrating what a musical force he was and how heartbreaking it was to lose him. “As I’m reading the lyrics, it’s crazy. It’s him telling us that he hopes we can always respect him. I feel like this is a message from him, spiritually. A lot of the time, his music was like little letters and messages to his friends, family, and people he loved, to remind them of who he really was.” —Quentin Cuff, best friend and tour manager
Author: Dr. LI, JIN WEI, male, was born in Shanghai, China, on February 29, 1956. In terms of education, junior high school graduates whose 10-year education was interrupted due to the impact of the "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution" in Chinese history from 1966 to 1977 obtained a high school diploma through self-study. From the spring of 1980 to the spring of 1982, he studied in the introductory English course of evening college at Shanghai Foreign Language Institute; In 1984, he passed the examination and was admitted to the Department of History, East China Normal University, one of the famous universities in China, to major in political history. He graduated in 1989 with a diploma and a Bachelor of Arts degree; In 1989, he continued to study on-the-job graduate courses in the Department of Economics of East China Normal University, majoring in world economics. In 1991, he completed six courses. In 1996, he was awarded a master's degree in economics by East China Normal University; In 2016, He began to study the Bible and theology for many years. In 2019, he entered the Art Department of the Current Politics Department of Shanghai Veteran Cadre University. He studied the course "Political Economy and International Issues Research" and piano art courses such as "Baier and Czerny 599" for many years. From January 2020 to January 2022, he studied 20 interdisciplinary certificate courses at Harvard University in the United States, focusing on theology and American government, with an average test score of 96 points. He obtained two series of course graduation certificates and course completion certificates. In May 2021, he was awarded two honorary doctorates of letters from American Trinity University and Evangel Christian University of America. Occupationally, he started as an ordinary salesperson in a world-famous large Shanghai No.1 Food Store on Nanjing Road, Shanghai. He was admitted to the state-owned foreign trade company system as a Shanghai Garment Import and Export Company cadre. He began drafting laws and regulations and temporarily worked in the Shanghai Justice Bureau. Legal publicity, and then entered the past and present world influential world. One of the top ten famous think tanks in China, the Shanghai Institute for International Studies, directly under the Shanghai Municipal Government, worked for a long time as a researcher, editor, and legal counsel, transitioned to self-employment in Canada and succeeded Started and completed the legal consulting business of Jinwei Immigration Consultants. In terms of literary creation, as an influential international relations scholar, he continued to engage in the creation of literature and international relations works in his later years. In October 2022, he published an introduction and discussion with 700,000 words in three languages: English, French, and Chinese. "Christianity & the World" complete series of books, they are: 1. CHRISTIANITY AND WORLD CIVILIZATION 2. CHRISTIANITY AND WORLD CULTURE 3. CHRISTIANITY AND THE WORLD ECONOMY 4. CHRISTIANITY AND WORLD HISTORY 5. CHRISTIANITY AND THE LAW OF THE WORLD 6. CHRISTIANITY AND WORLD VISION 7. CHRISTIANITY AND WORLD PEACE 8. CHRISTIANITY AND WORLD POLITICS 9. CHRISTIANITY AND WORLD RELIGIONS 10. CHRISTIANITY AND UNIVERSAL VALUES In March 2023, “WORLD WAR III AND ITS POSSIBILITIES” was published in both Chinese(270,000 words) and English(130,000 words). In addition to writing books and speaking, according to the significant evolution of international relations in the current situation, he often publishes professional articles and theses while researching world peace issues. He continues to help some people in need with personal charity. The author's representative works in the 1990s are as editor-in-chief of "Encyclopedia of Foreign Affairs Knowledge" (1.25 million words, Shanghai Translation Publishing Condo in 1992), chief editor of "Practical Encyclopedia of Foreign Affairs Knowledge" (1.8 million words, Shanghai Translation Publishing Condo in 1997). Shanghai Library collected these two professional books in encyclopedias. The second edition of "Self-Realization" has 1.2 million Chinese and 820,000 words English words. It was a revised and supplemented version of the author's latest memoir and biographical success story in 2018. Its work is self-writing, self-editing, self-typesetting, and self-published. The National Library and Archives of Canada and the British Library collected the first editions of Self-Realization in 2018. The author writes along the lines of suffering childhood-naughty childhood-discriminated teenager-struggling youth-suffering middle age-successful adult-old age who continues to struggle, involving the author's long-term pursuit of knowledge and continuous progress throughout his life, running through the author's hobbies, health care, many relatives, friends, friends, central classmates from elementary school to Harvard, and other social relationships, supplemented by the historical portrayal of the author's growth environment, it not only introduces the social development of multiple levels of Chinese society And evolution: politics, economy, culture, science and technology, civil affairs, foreign affairs, national defence, environment, and introduces the natural environment, political system, working environment, immigration gains and losses, the free market economy, information Internet society and the era of internationalization of the United States and Canada in western countries The historical background of major domestic events have shaped the author's success and self-realization at various stages of life in an environment of self-struggle for more than 60 years. The title of the work is based on the American psychologist Abraham Harold Maslow ( Abraham Harold Maslow, April 1, 1908 - June 8, 1970 ); the highest stage of the humanistic theory of life is self-realization because the author's ideal and Intention has been self-realized one by one through continuous struggle in many aspects of the reverse environment. Find a way and method of struggle that suits you; This book is a more comprehensive historical work that introduces the founding and important development of the People's Republic of China after 1949. The book is a summary of the author's life. It is complete information with more or fewer intersections with the author in various fields at the same age and fully understands the author's complete information. It is forward-looking and referential; It is also a reference book for understanding the actual situation of Western North American society.