Áine Mangaoang | University of Oslo (original) (raw)

Papers by Áine Mangaoang

Journal of World Popular Music, 2019

This article interrogates ideas of popular music "sound(s)" linked to place by interpreting data ... more This article interrogates ideas of popular music "sound(s)" linked to place by interpreting data gathered during the applied research project Mapping Popular Music in Dublin (MPMiD) 2015-16. An outline background, rationale and framework for MPMiD is presented, followed by a review of methods developed and overall themes that emerged. Focusing on the project's "Sounding Dublin" strand, the article analyses the responses of 366 participants from a section of MPMiD's e-survey relating to music, musicians, sounds and soundtracks that might be considered "typical" (or otherwise) of Dublin. Although a substantial minority of participants eschew notions of sonic uniqueness linked to place in the abstract sense, the data reveal a rich tapestry of experiences and standpoints linked to ideas of a Dublin sound or sounds. Some appear to concur with conventional hagiographies of rock and folk, with others challenging received narratives and proposing alternative viewpoints, scenes and pathways. "Dublin-specific" associations emerging across various genres are based on appraisals of performer engagement, accent and timbre, and narrative/lyrical style.

Keywords: Dublin, popular music “sound(s)”, scene, place, tourism, music mapping

Published by St Patrick’s College, Dublin City University, May 2016 © Áine Mangaoang and John O’F... more Published by St Patrick’s College, Dublin City University, May 2016
© Áine Mangaoang and John O’Flynn 2016

The Mapping Popular Music in Dublin ( MPMiD) research project sought to map popular music experience in Dublin by looking at popular music from the viewpoint of fans (citizens and tourists), musicians, and music industry personnel. By providing the first comprehensive overview of popular music experience in Dublin to date, this report aims to inform tourism, civic, culture and music industry organisations.
➔ This applied research project used a mixture research methods including:
◆ Intelligence from secondary literature and previous studies;
◆ Participant observation at a range of concerts, festivals, gigs, and other
musicrelated events;
◆ Esurvey open to all members of the public;
◆ Music mapmaking workshops at various locations and open to all members of
the public;
◆ Indepth consultations and semistructured interviews with select individuals
working within Dublin’s popular music industries and related fields.
➔ The findings of this report are based on analysis from 537 primary sources as follows
◆ 366 esurvey respondents;
◆ 41 handdrawn music maps of Dublin;
◆ 44 consultations and/or semistructured interviews with individuals and
organisations (directly and indirectly involved in Dublin’s popular music ecology);
◆ 97 individual or separate performances observed by the research team (of this
97, nine acts/artists were observed twice during the 12month research period);
◆ Observations of a total of 86 different artists, bands, and DJs;
◆ Visits to 35 different Dublin music venues, places and spaces.
➔ This research has for the first time confirmed Dublin as a centre for popular music experience according to the overwhelming majority of research participants.
➔ Furthermore, an overwhelming majority of MPMiD respondents believed in an identifiable popular music ‘sound or ‘sounds’ for Dublin.
➔ This research demonstrates how popular music can be valued and enjoyed in varied ways in Dublin, through gig attendance, media engagement, music making or museum attendance/ tour participation; or for entertainment, aesthetic, narrative, memory, social, and other ‘extramusical’ reasons.

We recommend the development of a music ecology strategy for Dublin, with input from music industry concerns, civic agencies, tourism agencies and industries, media organizations, musicians and other workers in the field, music networks, arts and education provision services and community groups. Ultimately, the strategic development of such an ecological approach would be of mutual benefit to the various private and public bodies concerned, as well as to residents of, and visitors to the city.
➔ Under a popular music ecology model, it can be observed that while Dublin is well served by a number of established large and mediumsized venues, the fate of smaller spaces that support emerging music scenes, networks and genres is far less secure. We recommend strategies that broaden tourist and visitor experience, a nd also s upport emerging music scenes.
➔ Based on our findings, we recommend that those at the frontline of the tourism industry are informed and equipped with the necessary knowledge to optimally promote the rich diversity of Dublin's musics. As an initial step in this direction and following official completion of the MPMiD project, the project team collaborated with professional designers and illustrators to develop a researchinformed D ublin Music Map, with additional funding for printing provided by Fáilte Ireland.
➔ This research has identified a greater potential for the development of both official and commercial Dublin music tourism initiatives through a range of proposed actions including (a) establishing a temporary task force to liaise public and private interests for consolidated planning in advance of visiting high profile acts, and (b) establishing a committee representing civic, statutory, industry (tourism and music) and academic interests to coordinate the curation of popular music memorabilia and archives in Dublin.
➔ Securing the Future: Youth / AllAges Popular Music Provision. W e recommend a feasibility study that explores options to establish youthfriendly and communityfocused concert and event spaces in Dublin city centre, facilities which are currently lacking

Our research findings revealed considerable gender imbalance, not only in respect of voluntary participants but much more dramatically in the almost negligible presence of female artists in dominant narratives and representations of music in Dublin. We recommend building on emerging strategies to redress this imbalance, such as through curated exhibitions and performances, and by greater visibility for female musicians, past and present, in publicly sanctioned tours and monuments throughout the city.
➔ The restrictive nature of early closing times for music venues in Dublin, in comparison with other major European cities, curbs the development of certain musical styles. Extending the opening hours of music venues at the weekend would better facilitate a range of music genres, promote a burgeoning DJ scene, and further Dublin and Ireland’s reputation as a tourist destination for young people.
➔ Consolidating Efforts to Promote Dublin as a 'City of Music'. MPMiD’s focus on popular music could be replicated or adapted in subsequent studies that explore contemporary experience and heritage in other genres, notably traditional music and classical music. Building a strong base of empirical evidence on Dublin’s varied musical life and its broader music ecology will greatly enhance proposals to designate it as a ‘City of Music’ in the future.

An Applied Research-Informed Music Map of Dublin, based on the Mapping Popular Music in Dublin pr... more An Applied Research-Informed Music Map of Dublin, based on the Mapping Popular Music in Dublin project at St Patrick's College, Dublin City University

Sing Out with Strings provides weekly lessons, group workshops, and instrumental and choral ensem... more Sing Out with Strings provides weekly lessons, group workshops, and instrumental and choral ensemble classes for 297 children across Limerick city. Established in 2008 by the Irish Chamber Orchestra as a Community Engagement Programme, it facilitates music-making in three Limerick city schools: Galvone National School, Southill Junior School, and St Mary’s National School.

This report sets to evaluate the extent to which the core aims of the project are being met, from the perspective of the children who are participating in Sing Out with Strings. Using mixed methods research including quantitative and qualitative interviews with children from each of the schools involved, the data collection took place over a four-week period between May and June 2015.

Dr Áine Mangaoang, Research Fellow at the Department of Music, St Patrick’s College of Education, and Dublin City University was commissioned by the Irish Chamber Orchestra to conduct an internal evaluation of the Sing Out with Strings programme in May 2015. Key findings are summarized in this document.

This essay argues that the legacy of colonialism lives on in contemporary Philippine experience, ... more This essay argues that the legacy of colonialism lives on in contemporary Philippine experience, a century after the Philippine Exhibit of the St. Louis World Fair (1904). Drawing from the renowned Philippine phenomenon of the Dancing Inmates of Cebu – a group of 1500 prisoners at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Centre (CPDRC), this essay traces the noticeably American nature of the Philippine state after decades of explicit and implicit US imperialism. The CPDRC prisoners' performances, both during the live hataw sayaw and recorded iterations via YouTube, with hundreds upon hundreds of clearly marked Filipino prisoners at its core, become metaphors for twenty-first-century postcolonial Philippine attempts to assert their independence from the United States.

Arts and Humanities Research Council UK, May 22, 2014

AHRC Expert Workshop: Cultural Value and the Home Panel 2 - Audiovisual Media Ashley Brown... more AHRC Expert Workshop: Cultural Value and the Home
Panel 2 - Audiovisual Media

Ashley Brown (University of Manchester)
Francesco Casetti (Yale University)
Áine Mangaoang (University of Liverpool)

TORTURE Journal: Journal on Rehabilitation of Torture Victims and Prevention of Torture, Dec 2013

"Thematic Issue on Music in Detention" This essay examines the conditions behind the ‘Philip... more "Thematic Issue on Music in Detention"

This essay examines the conditions behind the ‘Philippine Prison Thriller’ video, a YouTube spectacle featuring the 1,500 inmates of Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Centre (CPDRC) dancing to Michael Jackson’s hit song ‘Thriller’. The video achieved viral status after it was uploaded onto the video-sharing platform in 2007, and sparked online debates as to whether this video, containing recorded moving images of allegedly forced dancing, was a form of cruel and inhumane punishment or a novel approach to rehabilitation. The immense popularity of the video inspired creative responses from viewers, and this international popularity caused the CPDRC to host a monthly live dance show held in the prison yard, now in its seventh year.

The essay explores how seemingly innocuous products of user-generated-content are imbued with ideologies that obscure or reduce relations of race, agency, power and control. By contextualising the video’s origins, I highlight current Philippine prison conditions and introduce how video-maker/ programme inventor/prison warden Byron Garcia sought to distance his facility from the Philippine prison majority. I then investigate the ‘mediation’ of ‘Thriller’ through three main issues. One, I examine the commodification and transformation from viral video to a thana-tourist destination; two, the global appeal of ‘Thriller’ is founded on public penal intrigue and essentialist Filipino tropes, mixed with a certain novelty factor widely suffused in YouTube formats; three, how dance performance and its mediation here are conducive to creating Foucault’s docile bodies, which operate as a tool of distraction for the masses and ultimately serve the interests of the state far more than it rehabilitates (unconvicted and therefore innocent) inmates.

Keywords: Internet media, dance/movement therapy, music, Philippines, rehabilitation, prison""

This paper examines the shift in musical narrative since viral videos, digital media and particip... more This paper examines the shift in musical narrative since viral videos, digital media and participatory culture technologies have become mainstream. Using case studies from recent YouTube music video phenomena, this paper focuses primarily on the “Bed-Intruder Song” by Antoine Dodson and The Gregory Brothers, (2010) to illustrate the real and potential issues this form of media presents us with, including themes surrounding the transition from local to global, copyright control, and human agency.
The “Bed-Intruder Song” can be read as symbolic of the overwhelming rise in the (re)construction of celebrity culture since the dawn of viral videos, and offers an interesting commentary on the rise of the amateur. It reveals how the Internet has created a new breed of five-minute celebrity: the celetoid - an extreme form of attributed celebrity exists in a temporary, wholly manufactured and disposable form. Building on theories from Walter Benjamin and Chris Rojek, this paper charts the possibilities between popular music and contemporary mass media.

Popular Music, Volume 33, Issue 1, Jan 2014

University of Liverpool, UK

Music, Sound, and the Moving Image, Jan 1, 2011

Books by Áine Mangaoang

Bloomsbury Academic, 2019

In 2007, an unlikely troupe of 1500 Filipino prisoners became Internet celebrities after their Yo... more In 2007, an unlikely troupe of 1500 Filipino prisoners became Internet celebrities after their YouTube video of Michael Jackson's ground-breaking hit 'Thriller' went viral. Taking this spectacular dance as a point of departure, Dangerous Mediations explores the disquieting development of prisoners performing punishment to a global, online audience. Combining analysis of this YouTube video with first-hand experiences from fieldwork in the Philippine prison, Áine Mangaoang investigates a wide range of interlocking contexts surrounding this user-generated text to reveal how places of punishment can be transformed into spaces of spectacular entertainment, leisure, and penal tourism.

In the post-YouTube era, Dangerous Mediations sounds the call for close readings of music videos produced outside of the corporate culture industries. By connecting historical discussions on postcolonialism, surveillance and prison philosophy with contemporary scholarship on popular music, participatory culture and new media, Dangerous Mediations is the first book to ask critical questions about the politics of pop music and audiovisual mediation in early 21st-century detention centres.

Routledge, 2020

Made in Ireland: Studies in Popular Music serves as a comprehensive and thorough introduction to ... more Made in Ireland: Studies in Popular Music serves as a comprehensive and thorough introduction to the history, sociology and musicology of 20th- and 21st-century Irish popular music. The volume consists of essays by leading scholars in the field and covers the major figures, styles and social contexts of popular music in Ireland. Each essay provides adequate context so readers understand why the figure or genre under discussion is of lasting significance to Irish popular music. The book is organized into three thematic sections: Music Industries and Historiographies, Roots and Routes and Scenes and Networks. The volume also includes a coda by Gerry Smyth, one of the most published authors on Irish popular music.

Table of Contents
Introduction: Popular Music in Ireland: Mapping the Field

ÁINE MANGAOANG, JOHN O’FLYNN AND LONÁN Ó BRIAIN

Part 1: Music Industries and Historiographies

1 A History of Irish Record Labels from the 1920s to 2019

MICHAEL MARY MURPHY

2 Broadcasting Rock: The Fanning Sessions as a Gateway to New Music

HELEN GUBBINS AND LONÁN Ó BRIAIN

3 Don’t Believe A Word? Memoirs of Irish Rock Musicians

LAURA WATSON

4 Raging Mother Ireland: Faith, Fury and Feminism in the Body, Voice and Songs of Sinéad O’Connor

AILEEN DILLANE

5 "Missing From the Record": Zrazy and Women's Music in Ireland

ANN-MARIE HANLON

6 "Alternative Ulster": The First Wave of Punk in Northern Ireland (1976-1983)

TIMOTHY A. HERON

Part 2: Roots and Routes

7 Irish Lady Sings the Blues: History, Identity and Ottilie Patterson

NOEL McLAUGHLIN AND JOANNA BRANIFF

8 The Politics of Sound: Modernity and Post-Colonial Identity in Irish-language Popular Song

TRÍONA NÍ SHÍOCHÁIN

9 Communal Voices: The Songs of Tom a’ tSeoighe and Ciarán Ó Fátharta

SÍLE DENVIR

10 Popular Music as a Weapon: Irish Rebel Songs and the Onset of the Northern Ireland Troubles

STEPHEN R. MILLAR

11 "…Practically Rock Stars Now": Changing Relations Between Traditional and Popular Music in a Post-Revival Tradition

ADRIAN SCAHILL

12 "Other voices" in Media Representations of Irish popular music

JOHN O’FLYNN

Part 3: Scenes and Networks

13 Assembling the Underground: Scale, Value and Visibility in Dublin’s DIY Music Scene

JAIME JONES

14 Parochial Capital and the Cork Music Scene

EILEEN HOGAN

15 Death of a Local Scene? Music in Dublin in the Digital Age

CAROLINE ANN O’SULLIVAN

16 Fit for Consumption?: Fanzines and Fan Communication in Irish DIY Music Scenes

CIARÁN RYAN

17 Hip Hop Interpellation: Rethinking Autochthony and Appropriation in Irish Rap

J. GRIFFITH ROLLEFSON

Coda

18 Making Spaces, Saving Places: Modern Irish Popular Music and the Green Turn

GERRY SMYTH

Afterword

19 Songs of Love: A Conversation with Neil Hannon (The Divine Comedy)

ÁINE MANGAOANG

Reviews
"There can be little doubt that Ireland is an enduring and prolific presence in the world of popular music. The editors of this book are to be congratulated on drawing together a quality cast of contributors, whose expertise in various aspects of Irish popular music serves to produce a rich and compelling exploration of the significance and legacy of Irish popular music artists in both local and global contexts."

- Andy Bennett (Griffith University), author of Popular Music and Youth Culture: Music, Identity and Place

"Made in Ireland is the most comprehensive and wide-ranging study of popular music (broadly understood) in Ireland currently available. The contributors come from a variety of disciplines and offer a number of illuminating perspectives that should make this book of interest to readers in popular music studies more broadly."

- Timothy D. Taylor (UCLA), author of Global Pop: World Music, World Markets

"This unique volume addresses a number of lacunae in Irish Music Studies in a way that broadens and deepens the field immeasurably. Extending far beyond the jigs and reels of pub sessions or performances at rural song circles, Made in Ireland is both urgent and immediate in its examination of Ireland’s direct engagement with rock, hip hop, country, punk, and other popular genres. Underlying these sounds is a pulse of identity, rebellion, and connection to place and scene that no other current book explores."

- Sean Williams (Evergreen State College), author of Focus: Irish Traditional Music

The Routledge Companion to Popular Music Analysis: Expanding Approaches, 2019

Public Engagement by Áine Mangaoang

Public Discussion // Exhibition // Live Music You are invited to a special celebration of two of... more Public Discussion // Exhibition // Live Music

You are invited to a special celebration of two of Liverpool’s most exciting cultural collections: The Institute Of Popular Music Archive & Open Eye Gallery’s Photography Archive

The Institute of Popular Music, University of Liverpool, in conjunction with Open Eye Gallery and Liverpooljazz, is proud to host a public talk, informal exhibition and live music inspired by the ongoing “Music, Photographs, and Stories from the Archives” project.

Running from 12 noon until 3pm on Saturday June 18, the event includes an exhibition of items from two of Liverpool’s hidden archives, the Institute’s Popular Music Arhcive and Open Eye Gallery’s archive, selected and curated by project participants. Live jazz from the Martin Smith Quartet will soundtrack the afternoon, along with new remixes from our IPM vinyl archive by DJs Adam Sadiq and Ben Riley. The event will close with a public discussion on the meaning of music, photography and materiality in the digital era. All welcome.

The event is free however booking is recommended.
To reserve your place please email Dr Áine Mangaoang aine.mangaoang@liv.ac.uk

MUSIC, PHOTOGRAPHS & STORIES FROM THE ARCHIVES
SATURDAY 18 JUNE
OPEN EYE GALLERY, LIVERPOOL
12PM-3PM
FREE // Drop In

The Blackpool Sentinel: Invited Contribution

The ICO "Sing Out With Strings" programme provides weekly workshops in singing, song-writing and ... more The ICO "Sing Out With Strings" programme provides weekly workshops in singing, song-writing and violin tuition for 300 children across Limerick city. The project was established in 2008 by the Irish Chamber Orchestra as a Community Engagement Programme.

Inspired by El Sistema, the Venezuelan model of music education, which provides free instrumental and vocal tuition countrwide, Sing Out With Strings has gained a significant place within the musical fabric of primary music provision in Limerick’s regeneration process. This important work has attracted local and national attention and recognition as an excellent model of instrumental music provision with primary schools. The project addresses issues of inclusion, equality of access and provision and highlights the numerous benefits that a long-term project of this nature has on the children, staff, parents and the wider community. Both at individual and collective levels, the project is uniting communities, building local pride, creating vehicles for expression, stimulating emotional responses and developing tangible musical knowledge and skills.

Sing Out With Strings aims to continue to expand, contribute and strengthen the social, cultural and creative capital of communities within Limerick city.

Motion: This House Would Ban Blurred Lines on Campus, Nov 2013

"Knowledge Lives Everywhere" 1 April 2011 - 12 June 2011 Throughout our 21-year history, FACT... more "Knowledge Lives Everywhere"
1 April 2011 - 12 June 2011

Throughout our 21-year history, FACT has been collaborating with communities across Merseyside to create art that celebrates creative technology and people, helping new voices be heard through programmes such as tenantspin (our award-winning community media project) and Freehand (our young people's programme).

Artist and activist Nina Edge brings 34 people into FACT’s Gallery 2. Come to 'The Week of Influence' to see how people make an impact. Be a contributor yourself, and expose yourself to new influences.

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Sound and Power Public Symposium

Join us for a day of discussion and interaction: 'Sound and Power' brings you some exciting and innovative research in music, popular culture, and society. This event explores recent developments in conjunction with the University of Liverpool, Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and FACT (Foundation for Arts and Creative Technology).

Afternoon proceedings commence at 1.30pm with presentations from Anahid Kassabian, Freya Jarman, Jacqueline Waldock, Áine Mangaoang, and Gurdeep Khabra. 'Sound and Power' closes with a discussion between audience members and the convenors of the day's sessions, providing a chance to debate power and sound in multiple areas including YouTube, soundscape and urban spaces, with particular attention to the audibility of underrepresented communities in Liverpool.