A Different Kind of TensionGlobal and local in punk musical scenes

Paula Guerra | IS-UP, CEGOT, GCCR, KISMIFAugusto Santos Silva | FEP, IS-UP, KISMIFTnia Moreira | IS-UP, KISMIF

A Different Kind of Tension.Global and local in punk musical scenes

The focusQUESTIONS: What is punks geography? How does the global background of the punk scene articulate with its various local manifestations? Is it a real transnational movement or are there as many punk scenes as the national figurations it can assume?

HOW TO ACHIEVE IT? Our analysis is based on (i) 70 interviews made to punk protagonists (of Portuguese punk scene), (ii) a database of bands, records and songs, and (iii) a database of fanzines.

A Different Kind of Tension.Global and local in punk musical scenes

MethodologyThe following analysis takes resources from:(i) the statements of 70 punk protagonists (musicians, editors,

promoters, fans, critics) that we interviewed,(ii) a database constituted by (a) 539 Portuguese bands, (b) 1429

phonographic records, (c) the lyrics of 264 songs, and (d) 93 fanzines with a total of 177 editions.

This material is already a substantial part of the collection, which it is the objective of the research to census and archive, for public use

A Different Kind of Tension.Global and local in punk musical scenes

MethodologyGender %Male 87,14Female 12,86Age %19-24 2,8625-30 7,1431-35 18,5736-40 21,4341-45 14,2946-50 27,1451-55 5,7156-60 2,86Academic Degree %Bachelor Degree (and higher) 47,14Incomplete Bachelor Degree 10,00Upper Secondary Education 34,29Lower Secundary Education 8,57Local of residence %Lisbon 41,43Porto 10,00Another location in the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon 12,86Another location 35,71

Table 1Characterization of the interviewees according to their gender, age, academic degree and local of residence (in %, N = 70)

A Different Kind of Tension.Global and local in punk musical scenes

Punk: omnipresenceAfter its emergence in the media in the late 1970's, punk turned into a global mediascape with either more or less expressive local translations: punk is not only British or American, it is also Portuguese, Spanish, Mexican or Tailandese.

This double movement of globalization and localization heightened the punk's nature as an assemblage of popular culture morsels in a chaotic and paradoxical mixture. It combines aesthetics, music, image, text, landscapes and articulates specificity and hybridity (Adams, 2008: 3-4). It represents a new sort of global communication, not just musical, but also cultural, social, political and economical (the Do-it-Yourself model, henceforth called DIY).

A Different Kind of Tension.Global and local in punk musical scenes

Global, local and translocal music scenesField (P. Bourdieu)Art World (Howard S. Becker)

Cultural Scene

> This concept can articulate very functionally the dimensions of local and global contemporary dynamics.> The practices and relationships are inscribed in space, articulating with other social processes.> Cultural scenes have a very urban nature (Blum, 2001: 10), but are not circumscribed to cities. Due to new communication technologies and the mobility of physical supports the limits of each scene have expanded.> Scenes can be brought up in urban contexts as well as in rural ones, and in areas of rural-urban contiguity. They can come up in both centers and periphery.> The bond between scene and fixed physical location has become more tenuous today a scene can be translocal and even virtual (Bennett and Peterson, 2004)

A Different Kind of Tension.Global and local in punk musical scenes

The Portuguese Punk SceneIts most obvious aspect is the frequency in use of English language in the naming of bands, in lyrics and the names of the fanzines and phonographic registries. Table 2 synthetizes the relevant information.

% N

Name of the bands 42,30 539

Fanzine titles 26,88 93

Records 38,63 1429

Song lyrics 22,00 264

Fanzine content 2,82 177

Table 2Use of English langue in the naming of bands, records and fanzines, in lyrics and

fanzine contents (% of the total N of each category)

A Different Kind of Tension.Global and local in punk musical scenes

The Portuguese Punk SceneHow protagonists interpret the relationship between Portuguese punk and the global punk scene.:

> The first defines this relation as mimetic.

> The second prefers to describe it as an adaptation and re-appropriation of themes, that is, it stresses the specific dimensions of Portuguese punk.

> The third denies in itself the existence of any autonomous Portuguese punk, and questions the relevance of such a relationship.

> Each of these positions admits several nuances and variations

A Different Kind of Tension.Global and local in punk musical scenes

Live fast and be online: virtual scenesLike in various other scenes, Portuguese punk has, from the late 90s onwards, used the Internet, and in particular social networks.

The Portuguese punk scene is a local scene, since it was formed in a specific social, economic, cultural and political background; but it is also part of a global scene, part of the global community of punk culture.

90% of the interviewed protagonists confirm they have a Facebook page, which they use to gather information and attend events

From the total of 539 bands, 43% have a Facebook account, and 54% have a Myspace account.

A Different Kind of Tension.Global and local in punk musical scenes

Live fast and be online: virtual scenesFour advantages of the Internet to the development of punk as a global culture:(i) Internet has made possible a true democratization of information

access

(ii) Possibilities of publicizing bands work

(iii) Offers conditions for creating and producing music

(iv) Internet allows the communication between members of the punk community to last beyond the moments of greater involvement in the scene.

A Different Kind of Tension.Global and local in punk musical scenes

Live fast and be online: virtual scenesThree criticisms to the Internet

(i) Lack of personal contact caused by impersonal technology

(ii) Disappearance of physical objects

Resilience of fanzine and vinyl

(iii) Trivialization, vulgarization of punk

A Different Kind of Tension.Global and local in punk musical scenes

Rise up punk: local scenes in PortugalThe identity of Portuguese punk does not derive only from the tension between global and local scenes.

Actually the Internet transforms what we understand by global, adding to the idea of a worldwide physical dissemination of goods and services the new reality of a virtual world where there are no time or space restrictions.

Here lies other tension that constitutes the geography of punk, when this geography is analyzed in terms of global vs. local and center vs. periphery.

A Different Kind of Tension.Global and local in punk musical scenes

Rise up punk: local scenes in PortugalFigure 1: Bands by decade of their beginning and by location (%)

A Different Kind of Tension.Global and local in punk musical scenes

Rise up punk: local scenes in PortugalSongs lyrics and the statements of the interviewees carry a deeply felt criticism:

> denunciation and protest characterize the attitude conveyed by 42% of the 264 songs whose lyrics we have already analyzed.

> the themes of 60% of those songs are related to social criticism, and one sixth of them explicitly speak of the Portuguese current situation

The most common topic is a flagging of how conformist and closed the Portuguese society still is, after four decades of democracy.

Punk identity, in the Portuguese local scene, implies a regular bond to the outside, that world which is much wider and cosmopolitan than Portugal. In a single phrase: to be a local punk in Portugal, one needs to be global.

A Different Kind of Tension.Global and local in punk musical scenes

Rise up punk: local scenes in PortugalIt is not only the fact that it is a country with little resources, without the size or the landmass to develop a strongly felt underground music scene.

It is also, and foremost, the social organization which systematically difficult and sometimes block the integration and the future of young generations.

However, those characteristics increase the punks raison dtre .

In Portugal, as in so many other countries (see Thompson, 2004, or Gololobov et all., 2014), the punk momentum that is, the initial and heroic phase has passed. Nevertheless, there are still today many reasons, given the size of the crisis and its effects on youth, for punk to continue to live, or to come back to life, or to double its energy.

Many thanks.