Er populærmusikkfeltet så statisk som
man kan få inntrykk av gjennom å studere dets kjønnsarbeidsdeling
og kjønnssammensetning? Med utgangspunkt i dybdeintervjuer som undersøker hvorfor
og hvordan «syngedamer» blir produsenter, diskuterer Anne Lorentzen
hvordan Judith Butlers begrep om resignifiering bidrar til å synliggjøre
pågående endring innenfor musikkproduksjon.
I used to be a «songbird».
Resignification and change in popular music production
The article uses Judith Butlers concept of resignification to
study change in popular music production. Seen from the outside,
music production appears rather static and heteronormal in terms
of who does what in the recording studio. The division of labour,
in fact, seems almost law-like, with him in charge of the mixing
console (as the producer), and she in charge of the microphone (as
the «songbird»). Resignification allows the researcher to analyse
change in terms of breaks and ruptures in this somewhat law-like
situation, but also how breaks come about. It shows that resignification
occurs or manifests in many guises, ranging from speech-acts to
bodily movements/postures and musical gestures/events. Resignification,
however, should not be studied as a singular event, but as «[mis-]
citational chains lived and believed by the level of the body» (Butler
1997:155), and as stylised and/or ritualised misappropriations of norms.
Thus, resignification might be seen as constituting realities in
much the same way as the conventional processes of signification
do. The researcher might also participate in the resignification
process, by theoretical interventions, but also by paying attention
to, and «re-repeating» those very same misappropriations and miscitations
in speech and writing.
The term «songbird» is here used as a translation
of the Norwegian term «syngedame», literally «singing lady». «Syngedame»
is an ambiguous term that may have both negative and positive connotations.
It may refer to the simple fact of a «a woman who sings» (for money),
but the term is perhaps more often used in degrading ways, such
as to indicate a lower status in the hierarchy of musical positions,
in terms of musical capability, authenticiy and credibility, but
also in terms of the production process as such. «Songbird» have
been suggested as a possible translation of «syngedame», and I use
it here in the await of a better or more accurate suggestion.