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MUSICOLOGY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM

21/03/2016

The Musical Imaginarium of Konishi Yasuharu, or How to make Western music Japanese

Colloquium Musicology
dr. Oliver Seibt

Thursday 21 April, 15:30-17:00
Nieuwe Doelenstraat 16, room 3.01

Abstract:
“J-Pop” or “J-Rock”, the labels used to designate Japanese popular music, self-consciously claim the successful domestication of two Western music genres. But how were these Western musics made Japanese? How did Japanese musicians succeed to convince an international audience of the unique qualities that distinguish J-Pop and J-Rock from contemporary genres of Western popular music?

The work of Konishi Yasuharu, former head of the internationally acclaimed J-Pop duo Pizzicato 5, gives an idea of the general importance of a relevant dimension with regard to the production and consumption of music that is often neglected in the study of global popular music flows.