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Wednesday 6.5.2026 at 12.15-13.45
Arcanum, lecture room A267,
University of Turku

Professor Eva Moreda Rodríguez,
University of Glasgow

Welcome!

Towards a historiography of recorded sound

Interest in historical recorded sound (1887-1945) has proliferated in the last two decades in a range of academic fields, including Music (in turn comprising Musicology, Performance Studies, Popular Music Studies), Sound Studies, Material Culture Studies, Cultural Studies, Media History and Archaeology, the Sociology of Music, the History Science and Technology, and more. At the same time, and roughly within the same timeframe, the generalization of the digital audio file and associated commercialization platforms has received considerable interest both in a range of comparable academic fields and in the broader public arena. However, and despite recent efforts, disconnections remain between different disciplinary approaches, and between historical and contemporary research. Based on my recent experience of writing a non-academic book on the history of audio formats, the present seminar intends to formulate a set of principles for a historiography of recorded sound that is multi-faceted, global, ethical and inclusive, and that can create a more receptive ground for discussion across disciplines and time periods.

Eva Moreda Rodríguez is Professor of Musicology at the University of Glasgow. A specialist in the political and cultural history of music in modern Spain, she is the author of Music and Exile in Francoist Spain (Ashgate, 2015), Music Criticism and Music Critics in Early Francoist Spain (Oxford University Press, 2016), and Inventing the recording. The phonograph and national culture in Spain (Oxford University Press, 2021) as well as edited volumes on early recording technologies and music in the Spanish Civil War, and numerous articles and book chapters.

Tuesday 5.5.2026 at 12.15-13.45 (EEST)
Arcanum, lecture room A270,
University of Turku

Dr. Arnar Eggert Thoroddsen,
Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Folklore,
The University of Iceland

Welcome!

Icelandic Popular Music 1950–2020: A Socio-Historical Approach

The presentation discusses the author’s book, Icelandic Pop. Then, Today, Tomorrow, Next Week (2025), published by Reaktion Books / The University of Chicago Press. The content is based on his doctoral thesis, which examines the Icelandic music community through the lens of sociological theory.

The book traces the history of Icelandic popular music from the beginning of the rock era using historical methods while simultaneously applying sociological theory. The results show that Iceland occupies a unique position compared to the popular music cultures of other nations. It is too small to be truly comparable to million-plus populations, yet large enough to sustain diverse music communities and genres (jazz, experimental music, hip-hop, etc.).

The fact that Iceland is a micro-community or small state has created a certain “village character.” This involves rapid and informal communication, extensive networking between musicians across various genres, and blurred lines between professionalism and amateurism. In other words, smallness and proximity govern much of the musical landscape. The book is an attempt to identify a common thread in Iceland’s popular music community over the last seventy years, exploring how Icelandic social customs direct musical activity and support the high level of productivity found here—a phenomenon confirmed by international scholars visiting the country (Prior, Størvold, et al.).

Arnar Eggert Thoroddsen is a sociomusicologist who completed his PhD at the University of Edinburgh under the supervision of Simon Frith. His thesis explored the music communities in Iceland, examining how social dynamics operate within a micro-society. He is also an active music journalist and critic and serves as the programme director of Media and Communication Studies (undergraduate) at the University of Iceland.

CFP: EUPOP 2026 – Spectacle Revisited

Satakunta University of Applied Sciences (SAMK), Pori, Finland, July 1–3, 2026

Individual paper and panel contributions are invited for the thirteenth annual international conference of the European Popular Culture Association (EPCA), to be held at Satakunta University of Applied Sciences, Pori, Finland, July 1–3, 2026.

The theme of the conference is Spectacle Revisited. Returning to Guy Debord’s widely cited work The Society of the Spectacle, the conference welcomes contributions addressing the spectacular—that is, the mediatization of cultural forms, (mega)events, performance, and the allure of “the popular.” In line with the conference’s main theme, particular emphasis will be placed on the production and remediation of events, including music festivals, sports events, blockbuster films, and exhibitions. In addition, the organizers encourage proposals exploring fans and fan communities as producers, interpreters, and challengers of the spectacular. Other possible themes include rethinking the spectacular in the digital age, especially the new expressions and aesthetics brought forth by the rapid development of open-access, easy-to-use AI tools. The aforementioned topics, however, are not exclusive, and the organizers also welcome proposals within the broader popular cultural framework, including—but not limited to—media, fashion, celebrity culture, and popular literature and comics.

All individual papers and complete panels will be subject to peer review. Proposals for individual presentations should be suitable for 20-minute papers; panel proposals are limited to 90 minutes in total. For panel proposals, please provide a short description of the panel along with individual abstracts. Poster presentations and video projections are also warmly welcomed.

There will be opportunities for networking and publishing within the EPCA. Presenters at EUPOP 2026 will be encouraged to develop their papers for publication in several Intellect journals, including the EPCA’s Journal of European Popular Culture. Journal editors will work closely with strand convenors. A full list of Intellect journals is available at: http://www.intellectbooks.com.

Extended deadline! Proposals—consisting of a maximum 300-word abstract, your full name, affiliation, and contact details (as a Word file, not a PDF)—should be submitted to Dr. Kimi Kärki (kimi.karki@uniarts.fi) by Tuesday 31 March 2026. Receipt of all proposals will be acknowledged by e-mail. The draft conference programme will be announced in May 2026, along with registration and accommodation details. The conference fee will be 200 euros (students) and 250 euros (others). The fee includes coffee breaks, lunches, an evening reception and dinner, and EPCA membership (including one sample issue of the Journal of European Popular Culture, Intellect Books). For information about fee payment, please contact EPCA Treasurer Tommi Iivonen (ttiivo@utu.fi).

EUPOP 2026 keynote speakers:

Professor Emeritus John Clarke (Open University, UK)

Professor Martin Cloonan (Turku Institute for Advanced Studies, Finland)

The European Popular Culture Association

The European Popular Culture Association (EPCA) promotes the study of popular culture from, in, and about Europe. Popular culture involves a wide range of activities, material forms and audiences. EPCA aims to examine and discuss these different aspects as they relate both to Europe and to Europeans across the globe, whether contemporary or historical.

EUPOP 2026 is organised by:

European Popular Culture Association (EPCA): https://epcablog.wordpress.com/

International Institute for Popular Culture (IIPC): http://iipc.utu.fi/

Degree Programme in Digital Culture, Landscape and Cultural Heritage (University of Turku, Pori University Consortium)

Research project Pori Jazz – Makers, Places, and Heritage (University of Turku, dir. Petri Saarikoski)

EPCA President, Kimi Kärki, kimi.karki@uniarts.fi

EPCA Vice-President, Pamela Church Gibson, pamelachurchgibson@gmail.com

EPCA Secretary, Anna Peltomäki, ankpel@utu.fi

EPCA Treasurer, Tommi Iivonen, ttiivo@utu.fi

EPCA Membership Secretary, Graham Roberts, graham.roberts@univ-lille.fr

Pori

Pori is a coastal city in western Finland. The city sits along the Kokemäenjoki River and hosts major annual events such as the internationally recognized Pori Jazz Festival. Pori combines a strong industrial heritage with growing strengths in technology, sustainability, and creative industries. The city is reached by regular bus and rail connections from major Finnish cities, including Helsinki and Tampere. The conference venue is located within a walking distance of the city center.

Warmly welcome to tomorrow’s bilingual research event in Turku City Main Library. Below is the updated program:

Musiikintutkimus, Nyt! -seminaarin ohjelma, perjantai 30.1.2026
Paikka: Musiikkikirjaston Stage, Linnankatu 2, Turku

11.00-11-15 Alkusanat

11.15–12.15 Sessio I: Musiikintutkimuksen näkökulmia ja lähestymistapoja

12.15-13.30 Lounas

13.30–14.15 Sessio II: Musiikki, media ja taide

14.15–14.45 Tauko

14.45–16.00 Sessio III: Musiikki, toimijuus ja yhteiskunnalliset rakenteet

Please join us in Pori, Finland, for the 13th Conference of the European Popular Culture Association (EPCA), July 1-3:

December 5th, 10:30-15:00. Aava Auditorium, Arcanum, University of Turku
10:30 Welcome
10:40 Mathias Bonde Korsgaard (Zoom)
11:00 John Richardson
11:20 Anna-Elena Pääkkölä
11:40 Hanna-Mari Riihimäki
12:00 Chatter about the book: Christine Dysers (Zoom), Johannes Brusila, Roos Hekkens, all other presenters
12:30 – 1.20 LUNCH BREAK
13:20 Kimi Kärki
13:40 Kaapo Huttunen
14:00-15:00 Drinks and treats

Zoom link: Perjantai 5.12.2025, klo 10:30-15:00
https://utu.zoom.us/j/7853965854?omn=61431361384Meeting ID: 785 396 5854

Nordic Music Videos fills a gap in the existing research on music videos by bringing together new perspectives on music videos across the Nordic region, from the academic to the practical, the aesthetic to the industrial, while addressing issues of local, transnational, and global significance.

The collection offers groundbreaking scholarly research into music videos, including critical readings of music videos, explorations of emerging formats, discussions of music video aesthetics and Nordic music videos in a global context and within popular culture. The book’s chapters are interdisciplinary explorations which recognise the strengths of specific areas of scholarly research, such as music video studies, audiovisual studies, popular music studies, and film/media studies, while nevertheless bridging disciplines and doing justice to the multimodal and intermedial nature of practices. Furthermore, the book includes the viewpoints of industry practitioners through interviews with artists and music video directors and research on industry-related issues.

The book is likely to be of interest to a variety of readers, ranging from researchers interested in popular music and audiovisual expression in the Nordic region to master’s level students and undergraduates. The industry angles and the focus on Nordic cultures will also interest anyone who wants to discover how music videos developed or influence Nordic societies.

Chapters 1, 4 and 5 of this book are freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Nordic Sounds, Visions, and Imaginings
ANNA-ELENA PÄÄKKÖLÄ, MATHIAS BONDE KORSGAARD, AND JOHN RICHARDSON

PART I. Nordic Classics and Icons

1 Sigur Rós, Valtari #14, and Audiovisual Stirrings of Icelandicness (open access)
BIRGIT ABELS
2 Self-Disclosure and Masking Strategies in the Music Videos of Björk’s Vulnicura
JOHN RICHARDSON
3 Ambiguity in A-ha’s “Take on Me”: Analyzing Audiovisual Aesthetics through Data Visualization
ANDERS BONDE

PART II. Nordic Identities

4 Naked, Natural: Female Body Positivity and AgenticSexuality in Nordic Pop Music Videos
ANNA-ELENA PÄÄKKÖLÄ
5 Antiracist Strategies in Hkeem’s “Ghettoparasitt” (open access)
KAI ARNE HANSEN
6 BDSM Aesthetics, Capitalism, and Resistance in the Audiovisual Work of Hatari
CHRISTINE DYSERS
7 Sci-fi Hero for a Generation: Finnish Girlhood in a Music Video by Vesala
HANNA-MARI RIIHIMÄKI
8 Landscape and Cultural Heritage in Faroese Music Videos
FIROUZ GAINI, PHILIP HAYWARD AND MATT HILL
9 Ariosophic Whiteness in the Early Norwegian Black Metal Videos
KIMI KÄRKI

PART III. Creative and Industry Voices

10 Finland-Swedish Music Videos: Meaningful Products of a Non-Existent Industry for a Non-Existent Market
JOHANNES BRUSILA
11 British “Fishing” in the Nordic Music Video Waters
EMILY CASTON
12 Oulu Music Video Festival: Where Local Talent Meets Global Experiences at a Festival in Northern Finland
ROOS HEKKENS
13 Interview with Rasmus Stolberg of Efterklang
MATHIAS BONDE KORSGAARD
14 Interview with Martin de Thurah
MATHIAS BONDE KORSGAARD
15 Interview with Aurora
ANNA-ELENA PÄÄKKÖLÄ

PART IV. Boundary Issues

16 Killer Music Videos: Nordic Noir Title Sequences and Concentrated “Nordicness”
KAAPO HUTTUNEN
17 Rock and Roll Films in the Nordic Countries during the 1950s
BERTEL NYGAARD
18 Vernacular Music Video: Danish Music Videos Outside the Music Industry
VIDEOGRAPHY

Torstaina 27.11.2025 klo 14–18, Tauno Nurmela -Sali (ls. I, Turun yliopiston päärakennus)

Seminaarin järjestää Turun yliopistolla tutkimushanke Fasismin lumo ja affektiivinen perintö suomalaisessa kulttuurissa (Koneen Säätiö, 2021–2025) yhteistyössä International Institute for Popular Culture (IIPC) ja Centre for the Study of Storytelling, Experientiality and Memory (SELMA) -tutkimuskeskusten kanssa.

Tämän monitieteisen tiedettä ja taidetta yhdistävän projektin tarkoituksena on ollut keskittyä suomalaisen fasismin toisen maailmansodan jälkeiseen kulttuuriseen perintöön ja erityisesti sen affektiivisuuteen. Fasistisen materiaalin kierrätys on synnyttänyt tunneilmaston, jossa isänmaallisuuden, patriotismin, fasismin ja kansallisuusaatteen eri ilmenemismuodot sekoittuvat keskenään.

Seminaarissa kuullaan puheenvuoroja hankkeen tutkijoilta, koetaan hankkeen osana toimivan teatteriryhmän esitys sekä kuullaan puheenvuoro natsismia ja populaarimusiikkia tarkastelevalta englantilaiselta tietokirjailijalta.

Tilaisuus järjestetään suomeksi, Daniel Rachelin englanninkielistä esitelmää lukuun ottamatta.

Tilaisuuteen on vapaa pääsy.

Ohjelma

Klo 14 Avaussanat

Fasismi ja esoteria
Dosentti Kimi Kärki

Säveltäjä Yrjö Kilpinen – poliittisesta toimijasta ”harmittomaksi” taiteilijaksi
FM Susanna Waldén-Antikainen

Fasismin lumo suomalaisessa black metalissa
FT Aila Mustamo

Vastakkainasettelun ääniä dokumentissa Kiehumispiste: kelle kuuluu Finlandia?
Dosentti Anna-Elena Pääkkölä

Klo 16 He sanoivat: rajat kiinni

Teatteriteoksen ulostulo ja paneelikeskustelu (hankkeen tutkijat ja teatteriryhmä taustoittavat toimintaansa ja keskustelevat yleisön kanssa)

Teatteriryhmä:
Ohjaus Fiikka Forsman. Käsikirjoitus Fiikka Forsman, Paul Olin ja työryhmä. Esiintyjät: Anu Almagro, Paul Olin, Terhi Suorlahti ja oopperalaulaja Volodymyr Andrushchak sekä äänisuunnittelija, säveltäjä Pertti Grönholm. Skenografi Jaana Kurttila. Valosuunnittelija Eero Erkamo. Tuottaja-koreografi Anja Lappi.

Lyhyt tauko

Klo 17 IIPC Debate 129:
THIS AIN’T ROCK ‘N’ ROLL: Pop Music, the Swastika, and the Third Reich
Daniel Rachel

Over the last seven decades, some of rock ’n’ roll’s most celebrated figureheads have flirted with the imagery and theatre of the Third Reich. From Keith Moon and Vivian Stanshall kitting themselves out in Nazi uniforms and terrorising Jewish neighbourhoods to Siouxsie Sioux and Sid Vicious brandishing swastikas in the pomp of punk, generations of performers have associated themselves in troubling ways with the aesthetics, mass hysteria and even ideology of Nazism. Whether shock factor, stupidity, or crass attempt at subversion, rock ‘n’ roll has indulged these associations – whimsically, carelessly, occasionally malevolently – in a way not accepted by any other artform. But how accountable should fans, the media, and the music industry be for what has often seemed a sleazy fascination with the eroticised perversions of a fascist regime?

Bio: Daniel Rachel is a former musician turned award-winning and bestselling author. In his latest book, This Ain’t Rock ‘n’ Roll, award-winning music historian Daniel Rachel navigates these turbulent waters with extraordinary delicacy and care, asking us to look anew at the artists that have defined us, inspired us and given us joy – and consider why so many have been drawn to the imagery of a movement responsible for the twentieth century’s worst atrocities. Alongside a sensitive history of the Holocaust and an examination of the place it holds in our cultural consciousness, Rachel asks essential questions of actions often overlooked or underplayed, whilst neither casting sweeping judgement nor offering easy answers. In doing so, he asks us to reassess the history of rock ’n’ roll and sheds new light on the grim echoes of the Third Reich in popular culture and the legacy of twentieth (and twenty-first)-century history as it defines us today. Rachel’s previous books include Too Much Too Young: Rude Boys, Racism and the Soundtrack of a Generation (a Sunday Times, Uncut, Rough Trade US and Resident Music book of the year) and Isle of Noises: Conversations with Great British Songwriters (a Guardian and NME book of the year). He lives in London. Please note that some copies of This Ain’t Rock ‘n’ Roll should be available from the author at the event.

Lisätietoa:

Hankkeen johtaja, dosentti Kimi Kärki
kimi.karki@utu.fi, +358505766668

Daniel Rachel:
https://danielrachel.com/

Fasismin lumo ja affektiivinen perintö -tutkimushanke:
https://fasiaffekti.wordpress.com/

He sanoivat: rajat kiinni Tampereen Teatterikesässä 2025:
https://www.teatteritelakka.fi/ohjelma/he-sanoivat-rajat-kiinni/

IIPC is cooperating with the Department of Musicology (University of Turku) and the Finnish Society for Ethnomusicology to organize this Finnish-language event. Below you’ll find some information about the event in Finnish. You are all warmly welcome!

Perjantaina 3.10. yhden päivän study day-tapahtuma suomalaisten naisten populaarimusiikin historiasta, sen nykytutkimuksesta, metodologioista ja naisten työolojen nykytilasta. Paikkana on Turun yliopiston Arcanum-rakennus ja sen Aava-sali (Arcanuminkuja 1). Tapahtuman järjestää Turun yliopiston musiikkitiede, IIPC ja Suomen Etnomusikologinen seura.

Päivän ohjelma:

10:00 Tervetuloa / Anna-Elena Pääkkölä
10:15 Jutta Ala-Äijälä: 50-luvun iskelmätytöt
11:15 Anna-Elena Pääkkölä: Suomirap, naiseus, kehollisuus ja seksuaalisuus nykyrapissa
12:15 lounas (omakustanteinen)
13:00 Tiina Käpylä: metallinaiset
14:00 Noora Kallioniemi: 80- ja 90-lukujen ”aikuiset naiset”
15:00 Keynote: Liisa Akimof

Opiskelijat voivat suorittaa päivän luennoista kurssin, mutta myös muut kuulijat ovat tervetulleita.

IIPC Debate 128

Wednesday 1.10.2025 at 14.15-15.45 Arcanum, lecture room A112, University of Turku

Research fellow Nina C. Öhman Department of Philosophy, History and Art Studies at the University of Helsinki

Vocal Visions, Echoes of Elsewhere, and the Clark Sisters’s Mellifluous Music

Since the birth of African American gospel music in the 1930s, the distinct sound of gospel vocal expression has exerted enduring impact on American music and popular music worldwide. Recognizing gospel music’s unconfined resonances in religious and commercial spheres of sound, this presentation explores gospel singing as an art form that projects temporal and spatial transcendence. To that end, first this presentation explores the spiritual and aesthetic facets of African American gospel music tradition and the creative leadership of many women who have fostered the popularity of gospel singing. Second, this presentation offers a closer listen to the music of the Clark Sisters. Musically trained by their mother, the renowned choir director and composer Dr. Mattie Moss Clark, the Clark Sisters are known for their virtuosic vocal skills and dexterous harmonic expression, known also as “the Clark sound.” By examining varied aspects of their artistry, this presentation offers insights on their creative processes and the power of their gospel singing.

Nina C. Öhman, PhD, MBA, is a research fellow in the Department of Philosophy, History and Art Studies at the University of Helsinki. She recently completed a three-year term as a core fellow at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies. Öhman is a musicologist / ethnomusicologist interested in women’s music cultures, religion, and American popular music. Her work is focused on women’s leadership in the history of African American gospel music. Also she has a research project on the early field of jazz music in Finland. She completed her PhD degree at the University of Pennsylvania and MBA degree at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is the board chair of the Finnish American Studies Association (FASA) and the vice-chair of the Finnish Society for Ethnomusicology (SES). She is the editor-in-chief of the Musiikin suunta journal.

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IIPC Debate 127

Monday 5.5.2025 14.15-15.45 Publicum, lecture room Pub4, Univ. of Turku

Associate Professor Teresa Castro, Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris 3University

CINEMA, ECOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT: A PLACE FOR NEW STORIES.

In recent years, awareness of the climate crisis has spurred a number of studies on the environmental footprint of film. The issue is far from anecdotal: in France, the Ecoprod collective (a leading initiative for sustainable film production) estimated in 2021 that the French cinema and audiovisual sector releases 1.7 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every year. Despite the gradual implementation of comprehensive eco-friendly approach in the audiovisual industry, the extractive, energy-consuming and potentially toxic dimension of photo-filmic industries is still rarely evoked from a historical perspective. Yet the issue is far from new: film is, and has always been, environmental. Not only because cinema is material, but also because its images have helped to shape relationships and attitudes towards the environment and the more-than-human. Cinema has both wittingly and unwittingly documented the relentless unfolding of our planetary emergency, playing an active role in projects of mastery and control over nature, but also raising awareness and building attentiveness toward the environment and the more-than-human. What are we to make of these contradictory aspects? Can we reconcile reflection on the energy-consuming and polluting dimensions of audiovisual images with a discussion of their particular powers?

Teresa Castro is Associate Professor in Film Studies at the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle and a full researcher at the IRCAV (Institut de recherche sur le cinéma et l’audiovisuel) and the Centre Alexandre-Koyré (EHESS, CNRS, MNHM). Initially trained as an art historian in Lisbon (UNL) and London (Birkbeck College), she was a post-doctoral researcher at the musée du quai Branly, Paris, and at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin. In 2023-2024, she was on secondment to the CNRS, in order to work on a research project on the environmental histories of photography and film. A significant part of her recent research has focused on vegetal life forms in visual culture and the environmental histories of photography and film. She published La Pensée cartographique des images. Cinéma et culture visuelle (2011), co-edited three collective books (Palmanova, 2006; Reimagining African Independence. Film, Visual Arts and the Fall of the Portuguese Empire, 2017; Puissance du vegetal et cinema animiste. La vitalité révélée par la technique, 2020) and five journal issues, among which “Ecological Histories of Photography”, Transbordeur: Photographie histoire société (2024). She also works as a critic and film programmer.

The lecture is organised by the research research project “An Ecohistory of Finnish Cinema” (SEE) funded by the Kone fundation in collaboration with International Institute for Popular Culture (IIPC). It has received the support of the French Institute in Finland, the French Ministry of Research and the Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters.

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