Documents found
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12.More information
In what way is “musique actuelle” (so named since 1979 with the founding of Productions SuperMémé, then Productions SuperMusique) indebted to the Semaine Internationale de Musique Actuelle (SIMA) organized by Pierre Mercure in 1961? This article explores the basis of the expression “musique actuelle” (cf. the 1961 “Semaine internationale de musique actuelle”) through historic elements, tracing its meanings since first used. Beyond the name “musique actuelle”, the author shows that this “actualist” movement, like Mercure's events that sought to renew the creative act through non-conventional programming, was challenging the “old guard”. Its creative methods confronted cultural areas, aesthetically and socially, through free improvisation and collective input. And the “actualists” through these times clearly drew inspiration and identity from Mercure and the musical events of SIMA.
Keywords: musique actuelle, SIMA, Productions SuperMusique, société québécoise, identité, “musique actuelle”, SIMA, SuperMusique Productions, Quebec society, identity
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19.More information
An analysis of the musical repertoire broadcast in the early days of radio raises the question of how genres were defined. The range of so-called “intermediary” music played by the broadcasters highlights the porous boundary between classical and popular music. This hybrid genre became a widely accessible cultural commodity, but it existed in a context where radio supported an aesthetically watertight elite discourse that reflected the perspective of the defenders of “good music”. This current of thought originated with a powerful American lobby : Make America Musical (MAM). It unconsciously influenced the discourse of Quebec elites, who adopted the same rhetoric : the promotion of a certain form of classical music over popular music. Station managers had to consider the potential impact of their musical choices. How did they manage to sidestep this discourse ? By making porous the otherwise watertight boundaries between the musical genres defined by the American movement, radio stations managed to offer their own category of accessible music. This strategy created a subtle gradation of musical genres, allowing radio to develop and win over a wide audience in the name of a “democratic culture”.
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