Slogans, Prayers and Mantras : Popular Song as Role Play and the Experience of Singing Along
Abstract
In popular song, who is adressing whom and why ? Who is doing what, and why?
I would like to present here some initial reflections on experience and communication when consuming popular song (although consuming may not be the best word to use). They are thoughts about what is repetitive, what is participative and what is collective in audience musicking.
I will be looking above all at examples where people are singing in groups, but I consider that the individual use of a song – singing along to the radio or to youtube, singing in the shower or whistling, is linked to an imagined collective – I shall come back to this.
Origin : Files produced by the author(s)