culture industry and the aesthetics for the post-modern taste - lixandru daniela&mosoianu diana

7/26/2019 Culture Industry and the Aesthetics for the Post-modern Taste - Lixandru Daniela&Mosoianu Diana

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Culture industry and the aesthetics for the post-modern taste: mixing, jamming and hip-hop

rhetoric

Introduction

This project began as an evaluation of how new generation perceive the authentic

folklore music and how new ways of reinterpreting it can function as a remediation of an

archive of memories, by also creating awareness on a new music genre.

hen talking about !"#s media, the folkloric music could#ve been found in only $

major shows back then, % Te&aur folcloric' and % C(ntarea )om(niei'. The youngsters of

today, don#t know how a proper popular dance *hor+, nv(rtit+ is properly done or how a

folkloric song is sang, and don#t know the real meaning of folkloric thesaurus. The young

generation image of the folkloric music start from different well-done productions of few

etno# shows that remained alive in television, traditional weddings or old music artists that

carry on the popular image of )omanian tradition.

/ust because the authentic folklore cannot be reproduced in nowadays music, the

reassessment of the traditional has brought change by the years before in new ways. 0tarting

from mid-1"#s where the bundle with the past popular music was made through superficial

and primitive bands such as 2tno, )o-mania, 3o-ra, the traditional music was remixed in an

electronic way and was made as a marketing movement.

The combination was a big success especially at the countryside where this adaptation

of the popular music that blasted into the old city centers *the new disco clubs, were helping

in forgetting the 4"-!"#s period where the state was controlling the folklore and tradition.

5lorin 6ordan remembers in his article about % 5u&iuni pan-balcanice opt&eciste' in 7ilema

8echea about how the % idea of the 9ational 5estival % Cantarea )omaniei' was launched at

Congresul 2ducaiei ;olitice being a mass action for developing

artistic movement and political, patriotic and revolutionary education of the entire nation'.=

6f the first bands were in an incipient way a remediation of what popular music

consisted at that time, a new phenomenon appeared that promotes the folklore: 0ubcarpati

band. 0ubcarpati started as an ideological movement, as they declare, by bringing in front the

idea that the national identity is lost. 0ubcarpati is the band that put the )omanian folklore

1http:??dilemaveche.ro?sectiune?tema-saptamanii?articol?fu&iuni-pan-balcanice-opt&eciste
http://dilemaveche.ro/sectiune/tema-saptamanii/articol/fuziuni-pan-balcanice-optzecistehttp://dilemaveche.ro/sectiune/tema-saptamanii/articol/fuziuni-pan-balcanice-optzecistehttp://dilemaveche.ro/sectiune/tema-saptamanii/articol/fuziuni-pan-balcanice-optzeciste


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into a new light and combined it with heavy sounds like drum and bass, trip hop, dancehall

but mostly hip hop, and sprinkled some electronic rhythm also. @ctually, they don#t call

themselves a band, they consider themselves a group of %good and beautiful' that have music

as a principle mission. They claim that in this country you don#t need only money to live, but

an open mind, music, folklore and culture.

Their focus with this project wasn#t on a commercial purpose but on doing whatever

they are doing best: creating new type of folklore. 6n the end they want to do a new way of

folklore for free, because the original one was also coming from free. Aarius @lexe, aka

Bean, the vocalist from 0uie ;aparude band, launched this new musical project in $"=" that

declares to be not a political or a social one but a mix of folkloric hip hop that expresses our

essence as a )omanian nation.$

The name 0ubcarpati, comes from the fact that our country stays at the base of

Carpathian Aountains. @lso, that %base' comes from the instrument that they prefer using in

their mixing.

2The interview with Bean when launching the 0ubcarpati band http:??www.ev&.ro?bean-de-la-suie-paparude-lansea&a-proiectul-subcarpati-1=>=.html
http://www.evz.ro/bean-de-la-suie-paparude-lanseaza-proiectul-subcarpati-914461.htmlhttp://www.evz.ro/bean-de-la-suie-paparude-lanseaza-proiectul-subcarpati-914461.htmlhttp://www.evz.ro/bean-de-la-suie-paparude-lanseaza-proiectul-subcarpati-914461.htmlhttp://www.evz.ro/bean-de-la-suie-paparude-lanseaza-proiectul-subcarpati-914461.htmlhttp://www.evz.ro/bean-de-la-suie-paparude-lanseaza-proiectul-subcarpati-914461.htmlhttp://www.evz.ro/bean-de-la-suie-paparude-lanseaza-proiectul-subcarpati-914461.html


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I. Theoretical section

6n order to develop the analysis on the 0ubcarpati music rhetoric we have chosen a theoretical

framework that covers the following concepts: remix theory from the perspective of 2duardo

9avas, hip-hop sampling *with the deriving concepts of sampling and intertextuality, the

culture industry, national identity, )omanian identity, cultural memory and prosthetic memory. The

music of 0ubcarpati will be analy&ed under these concepts in order to gain a better understanding on

their music aesthetics.

I. 1. Remix theory

)emix is a musical trend that captured the world since the late >"s. 6t became a global

trend which was approached according to the specificity of each culture. 6t is a form of culture

that generated several debates regarding its originality or lack of originality. These ideas

stayed at the base of a debate according to which remix is original through its final form

*songs which are built from different song samples and also that it lacks in originality by

being formed of original pieces of different musical samples.

@ccording to 2duardo 9avas: %remix culture can be defined as a global activity

consisting of the creative and efficient exchange of information made possible by digital

technologies. )emix is supported by the practice of cut?copy and paste'D.

3ip-hop music is mostly made of other songs, as Eavin Fistner stated in his book.

This is why it is important for us to understand the tools that are used by 0ubcarpati in this

process.

6n order to gain a better understanding on the %underground folklore' of 0ubcarpati we

need to have a theoretical basis for the way this music is created.

5or our present paper, remix as culture must be defined within the music area. The

study of 2duardo 9avas brings out all the depiction of all types of remix sustained by

examples. @ccording to 9avas, everyone who owns a computer could become a 7/ and canremix music due to the possibilities that the digital era offers.

)emix works as a tool of producing art in many areas. 6t started with music and it has

been extended to visual arts and other types of arts.

32duardo 9avas,Remix Theory. The aesthetics of sampling, page >G

4Eavin Fistner,Hip-Hop Sampling and Twentieth Century African-American Music: An Analysis ofas! "#et $own", page $=


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9avas states that the postmodern music is a remix of modern music and aims at

ensuring its continuity throughout time. This is a perspective that t is sustained by several

other theoreticians in this area as we will see in the following pages.

hat is observed to the majority of remixed songs is the repetition. 6n order to

produce a remixed song the 7/s must use samples from well-known pieces and to toss them

into a mechanism built by repetition.

Ausical remix is what 9avas calls %the reinterpretation of a pre-existing song' G. There

are three types of remix: extended, selected and reflexive. 6n order to understand in which of

the three categories falls our case study we need to define each of them. 9avas describes

extended remix as being a longer version of a song which is enriched with large instrumental

parts. 0elected remix is added or subtracted material from the original song and reflexive

remix is what he calls %the allegori&ed song'. This is built by adding and subtracting parts to

and from the song so that the original composition becomes barely recogni&able by keeping

only a few elements from the original song *like the title, some lyrics and a few musical

parts.

I.1.1 The aesthetic legitimacy of the hip-hop music

9avas aims at demonstrating that remix is what @ttali calls %the domestication of

noise'. 9avas translates @ttali#s theory to its previously mentioned statement that postmodern

music is what brings continuity to the modern music.

5rom an opposite point of view, according to @dorno, the remixed music is a

regression mark of the post-modern era. 3e states that by listening to remixed music, people

are comfortable to listening to something they have already heard and they enjoy. 3e states

that nowadays %masses find displeasure in pleasure'> and that this is rather a form of

regression than of progression.

3ip-hop is a post-modern music genre which falls into the category of the popular arts.

The aesthetic legitimacy of the popular art will be demonstrated by comparison with the

refined art, from a critical perspective according to 0chusterman.

The critics# position on the lack of creativity of the popular art is as follows: it satisfies

masses, the team work suppresses the originality and the standardi&ation limits the individual

dimension. @s a response to all these, 0husterman#s argument is that both the refined and the

5 2duardo 9avas,Remix Theory. The aesthetics of sampling, page >G

6@dorno, The Culture %ndustry, page DD


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popular art use common conventions in order to be appreciated and understood by people.

The technological means entail creative results as it has been proven throughout history in the

architecture field.

5undamental ideas and arguments: 0husterman sustains a point of view which is

opposed to the critics according to that popular arts have no aesthetic legitimacy due to their

mass dedicated specificity. ;opular art is considered by the critics in the field to have a lack of

aesthetics and it is therefore considered %useless' or a threat for the refined art by its power to

change people#s attentionH it is also considered to be standardi&ed and industriali&ed, and

therefore it addresses the masses.

@nother critical approach of the remix aesthetic is the waning of affect which is

specific for the postmodern eraH the concept is described by 9avas in his paper, based on

/ameson 5redric#s theory. 3e thinks that this happened due to the high level of media

production. @rt and culture therefore suffered a fragmentation.

@ccording to @ttali, as 9avas states in his paper, music is the domestication of noise,

considering the historical background of the way music was born4. hen making sacrifice

rituals for the gods, people needed something to ease their pain and to give them the sensation

of control over nature. That is the background for what later people called concerts: the

musician on the scene was in the end applauded for his representation just like sacrifice ritual

participants applauded the process that occurred in front of them.

The tools on which the remix theory is based are sampling and intertextuality.

0ampling is, according to the definition on which 9avas based his research, a %small part of

anything or one of a number, intended to show the Iuality, style, or nature of the whole

specimen.' 5rom 9avas#s point of view, sampling is a term which applies to many cultural

areas but which is mostly used in music. 5or example, he refers to photography as being the

sampling of a part of the world!in a primarily way. Considering this point of view, we can

state that the first recordings that were made in the nineteenth century are audio samplings of

that period. This is exactly what brings continuity and keeps alive the musical pieces of the

past.

I.2 Intertextuality

7 2duardo 9avas,Remix Theory. The aesthetics of sampling, page !1

8 2duardo 9avas,Remix Theory. The aesthetics of sampling, page =$


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6ntertextuality *as presented by Eavin Fistner in his paperwork 3ip-3op 0ampling

and Twentieth Century @frican-@merican Ausic: @n @nalysis of 9asJ KEet 7ownK, is in the

first place a literary procedure that is an essential aesthetic of the hip-hop music, which

according to Lacasse means the actual insertion of a text within another. There are a few

intertextual practices Fistner presents in his book and analy&ed by Lacasse. Mne of them is

Iuotation which falls into two subtypes: autosonic and allosonic1. The autosonic Iuotation is

defined as being a sample that is directly imported from a recording to another. The allosonic

Iuotation is more specific for ja&& music.

@s Eavin Fistner stated in his book, intertextuality is in direct relationship with

decoding because Kwhat has previously been said is of course intertextuality, i.e., the meaning

acIuired through samplingH how they will be received by others is decoding'. This is an

important aspect in conducting our analysis for 0ubcarpati music.

I.3 National identity

@ccording to 7eCillia odak )eisigl, national identity is built on history which leads

us to the conclusion that we have to analy&e remembrance and memory. 3istory is formed by

collective memories and facts that built the nation. The nowadays lifestyle relies on myths,

symbols and rituals of everyday life which have been perpetuated by our ancestors. This is

what forms the collective memory, according to 7e Cillia=".

@ccording to Constantin 0chifernet in his paperwork about )omanian identity, in

accordance to Aanuel Castells, the identity as defined by social groups is the one that shapes

the structure of the society. 6n the same author#s vision, one of the most powerful identities at

an individual level and at a community level is the national identity. The members of a nation

share a series of similarities, interests, beliefs and norms. @ccording to @nthony 7. 0mith, as

cited in 0chifernet#s book, nationalism must be associated with national identity. The elements

that form the national identity are the symbolism, the language and the feelings the

individuals share. The expression of national identity is the sum up of attitudes, ways of

thinking and behaviors==.

9Eavin Fistner,Hip-Hop Sampling and Twentieth Century African-American Music: An Analysis ofas! "#et $own", page $=

107e Cillia odak )eisigl,$iscoursi&e Construction ational %dentity, page =GG

11Constantin 0chifernet,%dentitatea rom'neasc( )n contextul modernit(*ii tenden*iale, page


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6n accordance with 0chifernet#s vision, the lack of studies on the )omanian identity

makes a hard process to properly define it but there are certain aspects that are specific to it.

Aost of the theoreticians in this area reduced the definition of )omanian identity to the

concept of )omanian soul or spirit. 3owever, )omanian identity could be defined while

taking into consideration the following factors: religiously, orthodoxy maintains the

)omanian spirituality, the language works as an ethnical binder, the rich culture of

)omanians, economy and psychology *the general features of the )omanian psychic.

@ccording to 0chifernet, the most defining aspect of the )omanian identity is the

psychological profile N in his vision, )omanian people are governed by %gregarism' which

means the %herd effect'=$. )omanians have been driven throughout history by this feeling of

affiliation to their community and they only acted through it. This is, in the author#s opinion,

exactly what managed to keep the )omanian culture intangibleH without it, the national

identity would have been lost considering the historical contexts that )omanian people lived

in. 2ven if this culture was a weak one in comparison with the 2uropean cultures, it managed

to keep its specificity throughout time.

@nother point of view on the )omanian identity and cited by 0chifernet in his book is

the one of Aihai )alea who stated that the )omanian identity lacks in substance and it has no

originality because of the oriental influences that crossed the )omanian land. 3e thinks in

other words that the )omanian people are shallow and easily to influence as they adapted to

all political and historical contexts. The author states that it is a long way for them to become

a spiritually fulfilled nation.

The same author emphasi&ed the idea that )omanian identity is defined by the national

character and it relies in the general behaviors, in concepts and in the actions of the

individuals. The collection of flaws and Iualities of the )omanian nation is like in any other

nation#s case what defines the )omanian identity.

5rom a political and geopolitical perspective, 0chifernet sustains the idea that the

powerful )omanian identity was the factor that ensured the autonomy of the state. 6f )omania

would have become a soviet republic, the process of becoming a 2uropean state would have

been impossible. 0o it is once again emphasi&ed the striking character of the concept of

national identity.

I.4 Romanian Music

12 Constantin 0chifernet,%dentitatea rom'neasc( )n contextul modernit(*ii tenden*iale, page =$


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Ausic holds a great importance in building the identity of a nation. This is what

Aarian Oaloaga argues in his paperwork, %7espre mu&ica si identitatea romanilor'. 3e chose to

approach a Eerman point of view. The reason of his choice was made while considering the

proximity of Eermany towards )omania and the need of Eermans to show their superiority in

the cultural context through a vast literature about musical history and analysis =D. The

construction of this literature started by assuming that the music a nation produces will B2

representative for the medieval and antiIue origin of that nation. This concept was also was

pointed out by 6oan-@urel ;op, by sustaining that the ethnic identity of a nation is, in the

Aiddle @ge, characteri&ed by solidarity N the links between the members of a nation in

different life instances=. Bogdan ;etriceicu 3asdeu is another theoretician that positions the

beginning of the )omanian nationalism before modernism *in the fourteenth century=G.

5rom a historical point of view, the Eerman literature about music emphasi&ed the

connection between )omanian music and the roman origins of people living in @rdeal. This

was emphasi&ed in a Eerman publication in =!= and sustained with analytical arguments

such as phonetical similarities and the music allachian people listen to which is a music

specific for dance and it holds many of the characteristics of )oman music. The period in

which these studies have been developed was characteri&ed mainly by the affirmation of

national identity in the Carpathian space. The historical context was a tumultuous one and the

cultural area has borrowed this specificity. The influences came from both the 9orth of the

7anube and from the 0outh. hat Oaloaga concludes is that the national identity of the

)omanians is based on the )oman influences considering the music, the dance and the

musicality and phonetics of the language.

@nother approach of the national identity is the one of Aona Aamulea, described in

her book %7ialectica inchiderii si deschiderii in cultura romana moderna'. 0he states that

between the urban and the rural culture there are no evident differences, as the urban culture is

built on the rural one. ;eople who live in the urban area have mostly the same traditions andcustoms like their neighbors in the countryside. 5or example, the religious services are the

same and they celebrate weddings and baptisms the same way. Based on this we can conclude

that in the urban area there are living proofs of the ethnicity of a nation.

13Aarian Oaloaga,$espre mu+ica si identitatea romanilor, page =4$

14Aona Aamulea,$ialectica inchiderii si deschiderii in cultura romana moderna, page 4

15 Aona Aamulea,$ialectica inchiderii si deschiderii in cultura romana moderna, page G$


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0mith defines the concept of nationalism, according to Eellner, as being %the

awakening of nations to self-consciousnessH it invents nations where they do not exist N but it

does need some pre-existing differentiating marks to work on, even if, as indicated, they are

purely negative'=>.6ndividuals know some of the members of the community they live inH

they do not know all other members of the nation they belong to. 6t is nationalism that bounds

them and make them feel they belong to a large group of individuals with the same culture,

who speak the same language and have the same traditions and other common aspects.

@ccording to 0mith, nationalism is a form of culture and identity in the first place and

holds a series of meanings. hat is relevant for our present paperwork is the fact that

nationalism is represented through %the language and the symbols of a nation'H a further

meaning of nationalism with relevance for our case study is that nationalism represents also

%a consciousness of belonging to the nation together with sentiments and aspirations for its

security and prosperity'=4. e will analy&e the lyrics in 0ubcarpati music in order to

demonstrate the stated above characteristics of nationalism.

There are several aspects of a nation that form the concept of nationalism. @ccording

to 0mith, some of these are: %folk costumes, museums of folklore, war memorials, the

countryside, popular heroes and heroines, fairy tales, all those distinctive customs, mores,

styles and ways of acting and feeling that are shared by the members of a community of

historical culture'. Aost of these elements are evoked in the 0ubcarpati music which we will

show that it is by itself an expression of the )omanian nationalism. The motifs, lyrics and

musical style which appear in the 0ubcarpati collection are a form of expressing the national

belonging of the )omanians. By using remix as a form of musical production, 0ubcarpati

music reinforces the nationalism among their target group. Their music also evokes customs

and traditions by remixing the folkloric music from the )omanian culture and these are the

elements that it was proven by theoreticians they last in time.

The )omanian music according to Carmen 0toianov and ;etru 0toianov in their book

%6storia mu&icii romanesti' has a series of characteristics that along with the influences from

other neighboring or sovereign nations gained a uniIue style. By analy&ing the )omanian

music, the authors emphasi&ed the following elements that brought uniIueness to the folklore:

the autochthonous acoustic fund, the structure of the )omanian language, the psychological

16@nthony 7. 0mith,ational %dentity, page 4=

17@nthony 7. 0mith,ational %dentity, page 4$


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factor *which is reflected by the feelings that are evoked in the songs N gravity, meditation,

sobriety, joy, sadness, misery etc., the )omanian lifestyle *customs, social organi&ation etc.

@n important aspect of the )omanian music is that it has a continuous variation which

ensured its stay into the collective memory, according to Constantin Brailoiu=!. The success of

0ubcarpati band is the living proof of this statement and by using remixes as a form of

producing their music the band succeeded in reinforcing the feeling of national belonging of

their listeners.

)omanian folkloric music has a powerful patriotic message, according to 0toianov.

The lyrics and the musical notes are the factors that further transmit the Latinity of the

)omanian nation which gains the uniIue character by its special kind of songs, according to

3enri 2hrlich: %doina' *a type of lullaby which specifically sings about missing someone or

something, %hora' *which is a specific kind of song created especially for a kind of dance,

%balada' *ballad and %romanta' *the romance.

I. Mediation and remediation

@ccording to 2rrlP)igney media provides the framework for the cultural memory to

be perpetuated through time. Cultural memory can only be shared by a nation through a

cohesive tool. Aass media is the one that holds this function nowadays. The individuals are

permanently changing their relationship with the past according through a process of

remembrance and forgetting which is characteri&ed by dynamism.

@s 2rrl and )igney state in their book, cultural memory is made of controversies and

crises and in developing the studies, there must be taken into account the mediation channels

that produce it. e can conclude that media is the one that dictates the building of cultural

memory, and what this is actually made of. The mediation process refers to the way media

exposes the memories of a nation. By using transparency as a principle, it shows the facts

from the past that influence our society nowadays.

@ccording to 2rrl and )igney, the remediation concept has been introduced by 7avid

/ay Bolter and )ichard Erusin in order to describe how %new media forms refashion the prior

media forms'=1. 6n our opinion, it is important for individuals to understand how media forms

18Carmen 0toianov and ;etru 0toianov,%storia mu+icii romanesti, page =G

19@strid 2rll and @nn )igney,Mediation, Remediation, and the $ynamics of Cultural Memory, pageD


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worked at a certain time and they can only get an image of this by using the current media that

are at hand.

The scope of media nowadays is to offer individuals a clear image on the past or, as

2rrl and )igney stated in their book, to offer an unmediated image of it. 6n Bolter and

Erusin#s vision, cultural memory is built by using the principle of repurposing which means

using a memory that has been built in a medium to be constructed in another medium.

I.! "rosthetic memory

;rosthetic memory is a new kind of memory and it refers to the process of

remembering things that one did not live. @n analysis of this has been developed by @lison

Landberg in her book, %;rosthetic memory'. @s well as in the case of cultural memory and

other types of memory, the existence of prosthetic memory is made possible by mass media.

This concept holds importance for our paperwork as it is important to analy&e how 0ubcarpati

music evokes facts from the past and exposes them as memories that were not lived by the

present generation. 6n creating the prosthetic memories, Landberg states that there must be an

identity link between the one that has them and the ones that actually lived them.

hile making a parallel between what Landberg exposed in her book as an example of

prosthetic memory process we can see some similarities between the ways @frican slaves in

@merica expressed their consciousness and the ways 0ubcarpati music evokes the shared

memories. @frican slaves sang about the injustices they lived because of white people and the

)omanian music emphasi&es the injustices that happened on different layers: socially,

politically or spiritually, filtering this through the sieve of the )omanian identity, which

0chifernet stated to be represented by the )omanian spirit.

II. #nalysis

Research $uestions

The first Iuestion that will shape our research it#s how sampling and intertextuality in

0ubcarpati#s music can reinforce the )omanian 9ational 6dentityQ

0tarting from Bean#s declaration in many interviews that they want to awaken the

)omanian 9ation through their music sounds and to send the )omanian appurtenance feeling

through their lyrics message, we will investigate how the )omanian identity was built in the

past through the )omanian music.


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The more in depth study that helped us in our research is the paper written by Aarian

Oaloaga that gave us more insights on the music and identity of )omanians, also a better and

complete view when talking about origins of folklore. This way it was easy for us to see how

the musical canon was formed and advanced the nationalism.

By studying this, we will try to spot some related aspects also in our case study by

studying more in depth the lyrics and spot intertextualities that combined with folklore

sampling can an effected on reinforce the messages of national identity give for the new

generation.

0tarting from understanding how nationalism is as a movement for maintaining the

unity and identity of a nation, and how 0mith *=11= show concepts and symbols that attain

this, we will try also to find in our studied lyrics, symbols that can function as messages for

awakening the national feeling in the listeners of 0ubcarpati music.

The second research Iuestion that we want to investigate by getting further into this

research is how folkloric and hip hop remix can work as remediation for )omanian culture

memoryQ

e will start by analy&ing the remixes used by 0ubcarpati band, and connect them

with moments that somehow recall the past in the ear of their listeners. 0tudying the hip hop

lyrics from their songs by spotting different patterns and connect it with what type of samples

they are using to produce their own kind of sound we will try to identify how they create a

process of remembrance of the )omanian past.

Thus, we will try to demonstrate that their music that its promoted with the means of

the new media, through hip hop discourses and remixing folkloric samples, work as symbols,

moreover, an instrument of remediation on the )omanian cultural memory, by reshaping the

past into an authentic way to be on the taste of the new generation.

To get more familiar with understanding the process of remix, we will use 2duard

9avas# studies on the remix and we will try to familiari&e with the process of sampling and

spot the needed connection that reveals features that will help us in this research. The new

form of cultural memory that will try to spot by analy&ing the above, it will be sustained by

what we studied from Landsberg and his book of %;rosthetic Aemory'.

3ow this engagement with the past reveals in the 0ubcarpati#s music and work as a

reshaping method of the past, we will demonstrating by better understanding the concept of

remediation that we#ve sei&ed from 7e @strid 2rill and @nn )igney in the %Aediation,

)emediation and the 7ynamics of Cultural Aemory' book.


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III. The methodological approach

e kind of chose the subject of this research in a more emotionally and intuitively

way due to our love of music and because we are fans of 0ubcarpati music. 2ven so, we will

be objective in our research and this will compensate the intuitive side of the project.

@ccording to 5lyvbjerg *$"" and all the mentioned above, our case study is

classified as a paradigmatic one: %Like other good craftsmen, all that researchers can do is use

their experience and intuition to assess whether they believe a given case is interesting in a

paradigmatic context, whether they can provide collectively acceptable reasons for the choice

of case.'

Mur research will be conducted in a descriptive approach by tackling theories through

the literature review to have a better understanding of the used concepts in order to handle the

analysis in a more accurate manner.

The subject that we choose is 0ubcarpati music in terms of remix and we choose this

subject for our research because not only is an interesting and unusual genre of music but it

helps us provide examples though we can demonstrate that remix in music can be used not

only for a listening purpose but it can reach another level.

This subject is very relevant to point our key case, because the information on remix

can help us understand how we will connect with the object of the study. This leads us in an in

depth analysis in order to interpret how our findings can place our key case in demonstrating

that remix of hip hop and folklore can work as a modern form of memory and also a reminder

of the national identity.

The purpose of this case study is to explore the theory of remix and how this duality in

music and the appropriation of music reproduction tools can recreate the )omanian folkloric

sound in order to place the listeners into a mood of remembering of how was the )omanian

sound before and how it is reshaped now for sei&ing the new generation.

@dding intertextuality, by including elements of previous )omanian texts or )omanian

symbols within the lyrics we want to analy&e, we will see in the further analysis that the

samples used by 0ubcarpati are not only made by sounds, but also by words and expressions.

These, will help us in the operational process to interpret how all these combined will

remember to )omanian culture that they are )omanians.


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The case is single and the problem that can occur in conducting this research is that

our analytical power of identifying key elements to identify proper findings can be weak

because of our lack of experience.

@lso, when talking about studying the lyrics and interpret texts to help in interpreting

what we need to find out in order to demonstrate our research Iuestion, can be problematic

because our knowledge on semantics is not that well-constructed. Thus, our process os

analysis on the text will be more descriptive and illustrative than theoretical and we might not

be so accurate on the connotative meaning.

To answer our research Iuestion concerned with the reinforcing the )omanian national

identity through 0ubcarpati music, we will analy&e a bit how the inspection of the folklore

lead to )omanian national essence. The information about the history of )omanian music in

the folklore context will help us understand how 0ubcarpati used samples that resemble the

music from the )omanian history and how in combination with hip hop rhetoric#s and

powerful messages can activate the national identity in the ears of the listeners.

The elements of ethno genesis )omanian folkloric music$"are:

- @utochthonous sound fond defined on layers that are staying under historical factors- The structure of )omanian language especially when talking about the metric system,

the irregularity of the accents, and the bipolarity on the metric types- The psychological factor that reflects our nation#s way of being: the sobriety way of

singing while also showing robustness of the nation, the meditation way of singing or

in many cases of nostalgia and longing for something.

Back in the history, the writers where the ones that were imposing the trends of the

taste in the popular creation. Erouped with the ones of 7acia Literara, they were militating for

music themes with preponderant patriotic subjects. hat is really important is that back then,

the )omanian songs were serving as standard-bearer having the capacity to transmit through

them an esthetic message and national one. $=)omanian used music arguments back then to

evidence the authenticity of a culture not that well known in vest and central 2uropean

continent.

0ome of the classifications of the types of folkloric music from back then, we founded

by studying %6storia Au&icii )omanesti' by Carmen and ;etru 0toianov. 0ome of the found

20Cosma, Mctavian La&+r,Hronicul Mu+icii Rom'neti, vol. 6, 2ditura Au&ical+, Bucure


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and well know genres for folkloric music are: %doina', %balada', %cantecul de lume, and

%cantecul de joc'.

5rom this classification, we can spot these genres in the 0ubcarpati remixes also.

Taking %doina' for example, where the musician is expressing sentiments of sadness, revolt

for the ones that did bad for our country such as oppressors. This type of song also expresses

in a profound way a variety of sentiments of ideas and aspirations.

e can see patterns in the lyrics of 0ubcarpati that express feelings as the ones seen in

features of %doina': %Aa simt atat de singur?M mie de oameni in jurul meu?Aa simt atat de

singur'.

Texts are juxtaposed in many ways and there are many number of intertexts that

retrieve features from folkloric )omanian genres. The repetititon %6mi vine sa plec, imi vine

sa plang?6mi vine sa plec de unde-am venit? Aa-ntorc la origini ma-ntorc in natura? 2 de

respectat, e mai cinstit' shows the connection with the land and with the origins. @ll these

lyrics can be heard from their music by also having samples of flutes, oboe sounds and other

)omanian sound instruments.

But what is more relevant for our research is the combination of words that result full

of intertextuality messages that can be taken as powerful discourses.

The combination of intertexts and patterns that we observed by studying the lyrics are

the following:

- Ssing elements from )omanian old poetry %6ene, CaloieneTinerel te-am ngropat' or

old folkloric songs: %5run&ulita iarba deasa, frun&ulita iarba deasa?Aandra-i lumea si

frumoasa, mandra-i lumea si frumoasa, %- Aessages that were present in old )omanian music, combined with texts and allusions

from the present:

%)ege pe deal, seara pe bloc

Buciumul suna cu jale ca sa-ma-ntorc)ege pe deal, sclav in oras

Buciumul suna cu jale ca din ambalaj

Sita-te la matematica, la geometria

7e pe camasa taranului, ie

0i maine o sa fie odata toate in publicitate'

7in pacate pe repede ca se stie'

- Aessages that have the role of a discourse and transmits powerful impulses addressingthe )omanian listeners:


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0i m+ adrese& tinerilor n special

e cri&+ de identitate, fenomen naional

din spate se aude aceea


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un scut?c(


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forms'. They understand new media a %)efashion' by the older mediums. Their texts use

remdiation concept to refer only to technology, but remediation can be seen as an action of

collective memory.

Xuri A. Lotman defines cultures in /ni&erse of Mind as %structured, collective

memory systems with dynamic, generative principles for new meanings produced from the

whole system of symbolic resources in a culture.'

Aoving forward to understanding the concept of remix %we can redescribe remix,

appropriation, and hybrid works as genre implementations of the underlying generative,

dialogic, recursive principles in the symbolic systems of a culture independent of any

instantiation in a specific tangible medium. )emix as a form of ongoing dialogism, not

bundles only of repetitions, copies ot technically generated clones, but value-add

interpretative nodes*a time and meaning increment formed by necessary generative,

combinatorial processes in the dialogic continuum of culture.'$DThis can generate processes

that encode future projecting collective memory in order to reuse some cultural expressions.

@naly&ig the song % Cand a fost la !1' from 0ubcarpati, we can spot parameters in the

text that are culturally and historically located in the minds of the listeners. The well-known

revolution from =1!1 is reminded in this song, after more than $" years from its happening.

This heavy subject that was a representative moment within the )omanian 3istory and was

never marked through traditional )omanian music, especially in this kind of original

approach.

%;elinel cu strop de rou+,

C(nd a fost la J!1,

9u au mai putut r+bda,

3aiducii au umplut strada,

C+ nu vor securitate

Ui raia din gostate.

Ui-a fost neic+-n J!1,

Ui au mai fost nc+ vreo dou+.

Ui deodat+ ce-au&ea...

Biciul parc+ ropotea,

FalasnikovuJ intea,

23;republication version of a chapter in to appear in The )outledge Companion to )emix 0tudies,ed. 2duardo 9avas, et al. *9ew Xork: )outledge, $"=


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T. 8-ul televi&a.

8oinicii se iau la tr(nt+

Yn televi&iune, c(nt+

Cucuveaua dorului'$

The events are related for the listeners by combining ento influences of the 'oltenian'

music of Liviu 8asilica, a well know folkloric singer from Teleorman, all these combines with

a veritable hip hop discourse. The song is attracting the public through three distinct

features$G:

= @utohton sound with scratches composed by violin, ocarina and the popular )omanian

instrument, nai.$ Beats and samples of old school hip hop, with simple loops of drum and base.

D 2vent related lyrics spelled with a lent flow that offer the sensation of hearing a doinaor a ballade.

The solist, Bean, declared in an interview that is good to know your past and to try

learning from its mistakes.$>7avid erheim#s$4was concerned about the ways in which the

same story is recalled in new media, says that remediation is like a %moral obligation'.

0omehow if we look close on the reason of why this new remixed hip hop-folklorico-music is

done and connect it with our concept, we can say that remediation is used like a tool for

commemorative reasons and culture memory.6n this case, invocating a historical event within a hip hop remix music along with

some folkloric sounds can shape both memory and experience for the new generation.

Aaurice 3albwachs*=1G" in his paper %The Collecti&e Memory' said that % the very concept

of cultural memory is itself premised on the idea that memory can only become collective as a

part of a continuous process whereby memories are shared with the help of symbolic artefacts

that mediate between individuals and creates communality across both space and time'

Thus, 0ubcarpati music, by using their original way of remixing folkloric beats on a

hip sop flow, can work as a remediation tool for )omanian cultural memory.

24http:??www.versuri.ro?versuri?gffgflVsubcarpati-cand-a-fost-la-!1.html

25http:??music-blog.ro?$"="?"4?subcarpati-cand-a-fost-la-!1-web?

26http:??www.wetpaper.ro?$"==?"=?interviu-cu-mc-bean?

27)emediation as a Aoral Mbligation: @uthenticity, Aemory and Aorality in @nne 5rank#s

)epresentation in Aedia#, in @strid 2arl and @nn )igney, eds., Aediation, )emediation, and the7ynamics of Cultural Aemory *Berlin: alter de Eruyter $""1 =G4-=4D
http://www.versuri.ro/versuri/gffgfl_subcarpati-cand-a-fost-la-89.htmlhttp://www.versuri.ro/versuri/gffgfl_subcarpati-cand-a-fost-la-89.htmlhttp://music-blog.ro/2010/07/subcarpati-cand-a-fost-la-89-web/http://music-blog.ro/2010/07/subcarpati-cand-a-fost-la-89-web/http://music-blog.ro/2010/07/subcarpati-cand-a-fost-la-89-web/http://www.wetpaper.ro/2011/01/interviu-cu-mc-bean/http://www.wetpaper.ro/2011/01/interviu-cu-mc-bean/http://www.versuri.ro/versuri/gffgfl_subcarpati-cand-a-fost-la-89.htmlhttp://music-blog.ro/2010/07/subcarpati-cand-a-fost-la-89-web/http://www.wetpaper.ro/2011/01/interviu-cu-mc-bean/


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%onclusions

The analysis we developed in the present paper lead us to a series of conclusions

regarding the aesthetics of the hip-hop music created by 0ubcarpati band. Being described in a

theoretical framework that approaches the concepts which build it gave us a broader

understanding on its goals and structure.

The ideological movement that has been started by this band and their goals are

translated into theoretical concepts we described in the theoretical part of this paperwork.

Their music subscribes to the national and )omanian identities which are built through the

perspective of the cultural and prospective memory.

6n the analytical part we developed a descriptive study on 0ubcarpati music taking by

example fragments from two of their songs *%)ege pe deal' and %Cand a fost la !1' in order

to gain relevant answers to our research Iuestions.

By using sampling and intertextuality in their music to create a remixed folklore,

0ubcarpati#s goal is to reinforce the national )omanian identity. They managed to win the

attention of the public while revealing common nationalist feelings and while activating the

cultural and prosthetic memory. Their lyrics evoke explicitly the appurtenance feeling to the

)omanian identity.

By answering the second research Iuestion, we came to the conclusion that 0ubcarpati

hip-hop music works as a remediation tool for the )omanian cultural memory. Their music is


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built by using the same literary patterns that are used in the )omanian folklore and the

messages they transmit make an appeal to the )omanian collective memory. Their music

reflects the general psychological characteristics of the )omanians: sobriety in the way of

singing and their robustness, the meditation way of singing or in many cases of nostalgia and

longing for something. 0ubcarpati project works as a remediation instrument as they try to

ensure the long life of the )omanian folklore by addressing the present young generation.

hile using hip-hop as the basic music genre in their music their success was guaranteed

from the beginning as hip-hop is one of the most successful music genres.

The uniIueness of the )omanian folklore relies in the specific types of songs that

could only be understood within the )omanian culture. This is aspect 0ubcarpati tried to

emphasi&e through the rhetoric of their music. They used repetitions, messages that have the

role of a discourse and transmits powerful impulsesH using elements from )omanian old

poetry or old folkloric songs.

&i'liography

=. @strid 2rll and @nn )igney, Mediation, Remediation, and the $ynamics of Cultural

Memory, $""1$. Cosma, Mctavian La&+r, Hronicul Mu+icii Rom'neti, vol. 6, 2ditura Au&ical+,

Bucure. Landsberg, @lison, ;rosthetic Aemory. The Transformation of @merican

)emembrance 6n The @ge of Aass Culture, Columbia Sniversity ;ress, $""G. Aamulea, Aona,$ialectica inchiderii si deschiderii in cultura romana moderna>. Aurgu, 2ftimie in the paperwork %Combaterea disertaiei' under the title R7ovad+ c+

rom(nii nu sunt de origine roman+


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=. http:??dilemaveche.ro?sectiune?tema-saptamanii?articol?fu&iuni-pan-balcanice-opt&eciste=G. The interview with Bean when launching the 0ubcarpati band http:??www.ev&.ro?bean-de-la-

suie-paparude-lansea&a-proiectul-subcarpati-1=>=.html=>. http:??www.versuri.ro?versuri?gfiikeVsubcarpati-argatu-rege-pe-deal.html
http://dilemaveche.ro/sectiune/tema-saptamanii/articol/fuziuni-pan-balcanice-optzecistehttp://www.versuri.ro/versuri/gfiike_subcarpati-argatu-rege-pe-deal.htmlhttp://dilemaveche.ro/sectiune/tema-saptamanii/articol/fuziuni-pan-balcanice-optzecistehttp://www.versuri.ro/versuri/gfiike_subcarpati-argatu-rege-pe-deal.html

culture industry and the aesthetics for the post-modern taste - lixandru daniela&mosoianu diana

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