What is it we call
“Black” music? A selection of texts from the April 2010 conference in Bordeaux based on a critical discussion of Philipp Tagg's open letter about “Black music,” “Afro-American Music” and “European Music.”
This issue of Volume! wishes to question our way of apprehending a popular music field that we easily identify (blues, jazz, reggae, rap, etc.) without being able to define it precisely. What is it that unites such different types of music? Colour of skin? A geographical area? Certain specific musical qualities? There's no obvious answer.
Ten authors thus tackle the subject to deconstruct the use of racial categories in music, without however abandoning such terms, that have been shaping our practices for centuries. Instead, they invite us to clearly consider the complex links between race and music, to look at them in a new light.
Volume! The French journal of popular music studies is the only peer-reviewed academic journal dedicated to the study of contemporary popular
music. It is published biannually by the
Editions Mélanie Seteun, a publishing association specialized in popular music. The journal is in French with some non-translated articles in English.
Volume! was established in 2002 under the title
Copyright Volume! by
Gérôme Guibert, Marie-Pierre Bonniol and
Samuel Etienne, and obtained its current name in 2008.
