[ecrea] CFP A Special Relationship? Irish popular music in Britain

Forwarded on behalf of (noel.mclaughlin /at/ northumbria.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(noel.mclaughlin /at/ northumbria.ac.uk)>

A Special Relationship? Irish popular music in Britain

An interdisciplinary conference to be hosted at Northumbria University in
conjunction with the Centre for Media Research at the University of Ulster
June 27th-28th 2012

Call for Papers

Ireland and Britain share in large measure a common, if disputed, history.
Ireland is, of course, a former colony of Britain, and Northern Ireland is
still part of the United Kingdom so that one of the conundrums of the Irish
experience is that it is both post-colonial and neo-colonial; national and
regional; periphery and centre. Irish popular music, therefore, displays a
complex set of sometimes contradictory characteristics, and Irish artists
and musicians work within and against such an intricate web of social,
economic, political and cultural influences that their art and music raises
dizzying questions about national identity.

Irish musicians in Britain offer an interesting case study for wider debates
about identity and cultural expression, as the Irish have been frequently
caught between the two poles of assimilation - too alike for difference to
matter (and naturalised into honorary Anglo-Americanism) - and ethnic
difference (condemned to a narrowly defined 'Irishness').

'A Special Relationship? Irish popular music in Britain' focuses on the
complex relationship of Irish musicians and bands, music journalists and
other industry personnel to British popular music culture more
generally. The conference is inspired by the publication in 2011 of Sean
Campbell's important book, 'Irish Blood, English Heart': Second-Generation
Irish Musicians in England (Cork University Press), which won Hot Press
magazine's 'Music Book of the Year' - a rare accolade for an academic text.

The conference seeks to build upon this book and invites papers exploring
any aspect of Irish popular music in Britain and the popular cultural
aspects of the Irish diasporic experience. Topics might include:

-       British music press and Irish musicians and bands;
-       The role of Irish writers in the British music press;
-       Case studies of Irish musicians in Britain, whether traditional,
folk, pop, rock and from any era (from the Nolans to The Virgin Prunes;
Victorian ballads to boy-bands in the '90s; Val Doonican  to Boy George);
-       The issue of Irish rock in exile (Rory Gallagher, Thin Lizzy, Van
Morrison etc).

We also welcome a broad range of critical approaches: cultural history,
textual analysis, post-colonial, musicological, and so forth.

A selection of papers from the conference will appear in a special issue of
the journal, Popular Music History. Keynote speakers include Dr Sean
Campbell (Irish Blood, English Heart), Dave Laing (One Chord Wonders) and
Professor Martin McLoone (Rock and Popular Music in Ireland). The conference
will be held at Northumbria University's City Campus in Newcastle city
centre and in the city's culture quarter, the Ouseburn Valley.

Please send a brief abstract to (noel.mclaughlin /at/ northumbria.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(noel.mclaughlin /at/ northumbria.ac.uk)> on, or
before, April 10th 2012.