Voicing the Technological Body: Some Musicological Reflections on Combinations of Voice and Technology in Popular Music

The article deals with interrelations of voice, body and technology in popular music from a musicological perspective. It is an attempt to outline a systematic approach to the history of music technology with regard to aesthetic aspects, taking the identity of the singing subject as a main point of departure for a hermeneutic reading of popular song. Although the argumentation is based largely on musicological research, it is also inspired by the notion of presentness as developed by theologian and media scholar Walter Ong. The variety of the relationships between voice, body, and technology with regard to musical representations of identity, in particular gender and race, is systematized alongside the following cagories: (1) the “absence of the body,” that starts with the establishment of phonography; (2) “amplified presence,” as a signifier for uses of the microphone to enhance low sounds in certain manners; and (3) “hybridity,” including vocal identities that blend human body sounds and technological processing, whereby special focus is laid on uses of the vocoder and similar technologies

“La Voix de l’anarchie” : la question du genre liée aux chants agressifs du metal. L’exemple d’Angela Gossow (Arch Enemy)

Technique de chant, le growl peut être perçu comme une pratique esthétique clé du death metal. Au cours de l’histoire de ce style musical, le growl a été fortement influencé par le genre. Si les hommes et les femmes le pratiquent depuis le début des années 1990, il n’en demeure pas moins que par ses caractéristiques – la perception d’un son agressif et d’un bruit, autant que la tessiture grave –, le growl a été associé à la masculinité. En 2001, Angela Gossow a intégré le groupe Arch Enemy et s’est imposée depuis lors comme l’une des chanteuses de growl les plus remarquables dans le monde du metal. Un regard analytique portant sur le style vocal personnel de Gossow souligne à quel point le growl contribue à une compréhension plus complexe du rapport entre la voix, le sexe et l’agression. Le présent article étudie le phénomène musical du growl dans le death metal ainsi que la marginalisation des femmes dans ce qui a été décrit comme un style essentiellement masculin

“Voice of anarchy”: Gender aspects of aggressive metal vocals. The example of Angela Gossow (Arch Enemy)

Growling can be regarded as a key aesthetic practice of death metal. This practice, throughout the history of the genre, has been heavily gendered; while practiced both by men and women since the early 1990s it has nevertheless been associated with masculinity, due to its perceived aggressive sound, as well as corresponding notions of perceived low pitch and noise. In 2001 Angela Gossow became the singer of the band Arch Enemy and has since established herself as one of the most outstanding female growlers within the global metal scene. An analytical look at Gossow’s individual vocal style will be applied to argue that growling could potentially contribute to a more complex understanding of how voice, gender and aggression are related. This article examines the musical phenomenon of death metal growling, as well as the marginalization of women in what has been conceived as a primarily masculine style

Voicing the Technological Body. Some Musicological Reflections on Combinations of Voice and Technology in Popular Music

The article deals with interrelations of voice, body and technology in popular music from a musicological perspective. It is an attempt to outline a systematic approach to the history of music technology with regard to aesthetic aspects, taking the identity of the singing subject as a main point of departure for a hermeneutic reading of popular song. Although the argumentation is based largely on musicological research, it is also inspired by the notion of presentness as developed by theologian and media scholar Walter Ong. The variety of the relationships between voice, body, and technology with regard to musical representations of identity, in particular gender and race, is systematized alongside the following cagories: (1) the “absence of the body,” that starts with the establishment of phonography; (2) “amplified presence,” as a signifier for uses of the microphone to enhance low sounds in certain manners; and (3) “hybridity,” including vocal identities that blend human body sounds and technological processing, whereby special focus is laid on uses of the vocoder and similar technologies

Developing educational spaces for new communities of practices: Ghanaian highlife at a German university

This paper reflects on a pedagogical intervention with Ghanaian students who taught highlife music at a German university as part of a workshop. The reflection is based on empirical data from participant observation, conversations with the participants and reflection reports from the German students at the end of the workshop seminar. From the perspective of the German students, cultural differences were observed with regard to group learning, memorising music and orientation towards structures. The repeated references to the absence of sheet music reveal the continuing dominance of notation in music education in Germany. The article discusses the concept of shared educational spaces for decolonial approaches to learning popular music and for critical reflection on high/low differences.In diesem Beitrag wird eine pädagogische Intervention mit ghanaischen Studierenden reflektiert, die Highlife-Musik an einer deutschen Universität unterrichteten. Die Reflexion basiert auf empirischen Daten aus teilnehmenden Beobachtungen, Gesprächen mit den Teilnehmenden und Reflexionsberichten der deutschen Studierenden am Ende des Workshop-Seminars. Aus der Sicht der deutschen Studierenden wurden kulturelle Differenzen in Bezug auf das Lernen in der Gruppe, auf das Memorieren von Musik und auf die Orientierung an Strukturen beobachtet. Anhand der gehäuften Bezugnahmen auf die Abwesenheit von Noten wird die anhaltende Dominanz der Notation in der Musikbildung in Deutschland sichtbar. Der Beitrag diskutiert das Konzept gemeinsamer Bildungsräume für dekoloniale Ansätze zum Erlernen populärer Musik und zur kritischen Reflexion von high/low-Differenzen

“La Voix de l’anarchie” : la question du genre liée aux chants agressifs du metal. L’exemple d’Angela Gossow (Arch Enemy)

Technique de chant, le growl peut être perçu comme une pratique esthétique clé du death metal. Au cours de l’histoire de ce style musical, le growl a été fortement influencé par le genre. Si les hommes et les femmes le pratiquent depuis le début des années 1990, il n’en demeure pas moins que par ses caractéristiques – la perception d’un son agressif et d’un bruit, autant que la tessiture grave –, le growl a été associé à la masculinité. En 2001, Angela Gossow a intégré le groupe Arch Enemy et s’est imposée depuis lors comme l’une des chanteuses de growl les plus remarquables dans le monde du metal. Un regard analytique portant sur le style vocal personnel de Gossow souligne à quel point le growl contribue à une compréhension plus complexe du rapport entre la voix, le sexe et l’agression. Le présent article étudie le phénomène musical du growl dans le death metal ainsi que la marginalisation des femmes dans ce qui a été décrit comme un style essentiellement masculin