Toiminta soi

The new publication "I don't make world music, I make pop" tells the harsh truth about racism in the Swedish music industry, but also offers many recommendations to improve the situation. The report, originally published in March 2023 in Swedish, has now been translated into Finnish and English.

Osallistu Elokapinassa esitettävää ja soitettavaa musiikkia käsittelevään kyselyyn. / Participate in a survey on the music of Extinction Rebellion Finland.

The reported results and research in the area of “music impact studies” could be improved to benefit the scientific field and practical implementations of music education more effectively. One idea for development is to utilise the expertise of music educators more comprehensively, both as researchers and as special advisors of the field.

The conference Music, Research and Activism seeks to bring together scholars and practitioners engaged in music, research, and activism in different disciplines and scholarly traditions. Activist research may be motivated with environmental and social movements and struggles, as well as with topical crises and conflicts such as climate emergency, ecological catastrophes, wars and conflicts, forced migration, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Between 2013 and 2020, I was one of the co-organizers and resident DJs of Afro Sunday, which is a popular DJ driven club night focused on the latest pop music from Africa. After the summer of 2020, at the height of the club’s success, I resigned from my duties at Afro Sunday. In this article, I discuss the circumstances that lead to my resignation and how it relates more broadly to white DJs’ involvement in music associated primarily with Black people and a lack of accountability in addressing racism in club culture.

Race is among the most significant social categories that informs and organises understandings of music. Although there is an abundance of music research that deals with BIPOC minorities and, at least implicitly, also with race, few studies explicitly address how processes of for example racialisation, essentialisation, appropriation and exclusion in music and music research can effectively be categorised as racist. However, recently there has been an increasing interest in the issue of racism in the field of music and music scholarship and this international online symposium seeks to bring together researchers across disciplines to discuss music and racism particularly as it relates to Europe.

A new radio station called ”Suomiräp” (a colloquialism for Finnish rap) started broadcasting in Finland on September 14 2020 on the same frequency that had until then hosted Bassoradio, a station known for its diverse music programming. In addition to the sudden appearance of the new station, bewildered listeners were also faced with municipal election adverts by the right-wing national-populist Finns Party. Several Finnish rap artists quickly reacted and stated that the adverts are not compatible with the anti-racist ethos of hip hop. But what is the relationship between hip hop and the far-right? Is Finnish rap really anti-racist?

Two weeks ago on Thursday 13 February 2020, perhaps the most topical African artist, Burna Boy, performed in the Helsinki Ice Hall Black Box. The concert was on a Finnish scale very noteworthy. Yet,  not a single media outlet in Finland mentioned the event. Why wasn't Burna Boy's concert on the radar of journalists? What do African artists have to do to get noticed by Finnish media?

The symposium is organised by:
Musicology, University of Helsinki
The Research project Music, Nature and Environmental Crises (PI Juha Torvinen), University of the Arts Helsinki
The Research Association Suoni ry