MLAC3086 Russian Popular Music in the 20th and 21st centuries

The module offers students an in-depth study of the development of popular music in Russia in the 20th and 21st centuries. The musical styles covered include estrada, jazz, avtorskaia pesnia, rock and pop. Students will gain knowledge of the popular musical culture of the late Tsarist, Soviet and post-Soviet eras, from the point of view of industries, performers and audiences. Selected readings from key theorists in Western popular music studies (Adorno, Frith, Gracyk) will be used alongside secondary sources dealing directly with popular music in Russia (Uvarova, Cherednichenko, MacFadyen, Steinholt). Primary sources will include album and concert recordings, filmed performances, and music in popular films. The primary and secondary sources will be used to enable students to situate such concepts as authorship, performance, technology and ideology in the careers, performances, recordings and biographical myths of a selection of performers from the early 20th century to the beginning of the 21st century. No prior study of music is required for this module.