They Wear The Mantle, But Not The Crown – Disidentity, Difference and Denial
Boon, H. 2021. They Wear The Mantle, But Not The Crown – Disidentity, Difference and Denial. RIFFS Journal. 5 (1), pp. 20-27.
| Title | They Wear The Mantle, But Not The Crown – Disidentity, Difference and Denial |
|---|---|
| Type | Journal article |
| Authors | Boon, H. |
| Abstract | This article highlights an academic discourse that attempts to situate songwriting as a practice that excludes a number of practitioners, not just of colour, due to the application of a number of arbitrary, exclusionary mechanisms such as genre and collaboration. The use of genre to ‘divide’ extends the racialising and segregating project of the early music industry, affecting songwriters and performers of colour, in particular, even to this day. Furthermore, the significant accomplishments and global influence of these songwriters are negatively impacted upon by a lack of academic focus, leading to a narrowing of texts, lacking in the rich diversity demonstrated and reflected in the field of popular music practice. Areas such as Punk and DIY, and their offspring Indie, are framed almost entirely as White, yet the independent record industry of artists, labels, influential sound systems and stores, established in the UK post-Windrush, receive scant attention in academic writing on music DIY. This divide in songwriting is the distance between the public perception of what a songwriter is and the tension of this academically framed ‘border’ that denies the identity and status conferred within the public domain. Therefore this negation of influence and difference in the field leads to a lack of presence in songwriting discourse and denies the significant impact of these songwriters and artists in shaping and influencing popular music throughout its history, referred to in this article as an act of disidentity. Where the legacy of Bob Marley is neither considered singer/songwriter nor as enduring voice of protest, and where emerging voices such as Drillminister are not considered protest songwriters, then academia has a problem! Using Foucault’s ‘desymmetry of truth’, this article attempts to discuss advantage, illuminate absence, and question why arbitrary borders are required by academia in a discipline that contains the word ‘popular’. |
| Keywords | Songwriting |
| Systemic Bias | |
| Creative Practice | |
| Aural Borders | |
| Music | |
| Genre | |
| Popular Music | |
| DIY Music | |
| Journal | RIFFS Journal |
| Journal citation | 5 (1), pp. 20-27 |
| ISSN | 2513-8537 |
| Year | 2021 |
| Publisher | Riffs Journal |
| Publisher's version | File Access Level Open (open metadata and files) |
| Web address (URL) | https://riffsjournal.org/2021/08/11/hussein-boon-the-condition-of-my-existence/ |