Religion and Popular Music: Artists, Fans, and Cultures

Description

Through in-depth case studies, Religion and Popular Music explores encounters between music, fans and religion. The book examines several popular music artists - including Bob Dylan, Prince and Katy Perry - and looks at the way religion comes into play in their work and personas. Genres explored by contributing authors include country, folk, rock, metal and Electronic Dance Music. Case studies in the book originate from a variety of geographic and cultural contexts, focusing on topics such as nationalism and hard rock in Russia, fan culture in Argentina, and punk and Islam in Indonesia. Chapters engage with the central issue of how global music meets local audiences and practices, and considers how fans as well as religious groups react to the uses of religion in popular music. It also looks at how they make these interactions between popular music and religion components in their own identity, community and practice. Tapping into a vital and lively topic of teaching, research and wider cultural interest, and employing diverse methodologies across musicians, fans and religious groups, this book is an important contribution to the growing field of religion and popular music studies.

Andreas Hager is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Abo Akademi University, Finland.

The articles are in-depth and interesting ... The first chapter is a marvellous article by Eloisa Martin. Well-grounded in research, engaged and a really good topic about the Argentine cumbia singer Gilda who has a cult following that equals that of Elvis in its religiously coloured language and practices. * Nordic Journal of Religion and Society * [I]n moments of close attention to [the] evolving relationships and frontiers between social, cultural, and religious spheres that this book is most productive - both in contributing to the formation of a field of study, and as a topical theorization of an oft-overlooked cluster of contemporary cultural practices. * Swedish Journal of Music Research *