”Må Gud välsigna dig med ilskans vrål” - En performativ analys av Sara Parkmans album Vesper
(2021) MUVK02 20202Division of Musicology
- Abstract
- In the last ten years, there has been an ongoing cultural conflict between the nationalist political party the Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna) and a big group of active Swedish folk musicians. The conflict concerns the definition of ’folk music’ and the question if the genre is to be considered as an inherently more ‘Swedish’ form of cultural expression than other types of music. The Sweden Democrats present folk music as a foundation of Swedish traditional culture, which upsets the musicians who do not want to be associated with the nationalistic agenda of the party. Furthermore, the musicians argue that Swedish folk music has always been influenced by many other cultures and should continue to be influenced by the multicultural... (More)
- In the last ten years, there has been an ongoing cultural conflict between the nationalist political party the Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna) and a big group of active Swedish folk musicians. The conflict concerns the definition of ’folk music’ and the question if the genre is to be considered as an inherently more ‘Swedish’ form of cultural expression than other types of music. The Sweden Democrats present folk music as a foundation of Swedish traditional culture, which upsets the musicians who do not want to be associated with the nationalistic agenda of the party. Furthermore, the musicians argue that Swedish folk music has always been influenced by many other cultures and should continue to be influenced by the multicultural society of today, rather than being merely a museal art form in need of preservation. One of the front figures on the folk musician’s side in the conflict is Sara Parkman, whom this paper is about. In November 2019 she released her third full-length album Vesper, which immediately was praised by the critics. A couple of months after the album release, Parkman released a music video on YouTube to one of the songs on the album: ’Vreden’. The video is filled with symbols, both religious and political. In the video there are also actors wearing political badges representing the Sweden Democrats as well as another right-wing party, the Christian Democrats (Kristdemokraterna).
The purpose of this essay is to examine the possible reasons to why Sara Parkman chose to have these specific political parties represented in her video. This is achieved by looking at the political texts of the parties and statements done by their leaders, to see how their politics might be in conflict with Parkmans artistic and personal views. Based on Judith Butler’s theory of performativity, as well as on theories of nationalism and religious profanation, the essay examines the ways in which Parkman as well as the two parties try to create different identities by creatively using specific symbols: visual and linguistic, as well as musical. The conclusion that is made is that both ‘sides’ in the conflict use symbols as a way of not only portraying themselves, but also of portraying an ideal for how they wish things would be – the Sweden Democrats and the Christian Democrats want to have a more conservative version of Sweden and the Swedes, while Parkman wants a version of Sweden where the nationalists have no political power over culture and where the church is an inclusive place, open for everyone. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9043812
- author
- Velinder, Anna LU
- supervisor
-
- Tobias Lund LU
- organization
- course
- MUVK02 20202
- year
- 2021
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- folkmusik, Sara Parkman, Sverigedemokraterna, Kristdemokraterna, performativitet, nationalism, kulturpolitik, kristendom
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 9043812
- date added to LUP
- 2021-05-19 08:31:58
- date last changed
- 2021-05-19 08:31:58
@misc{9043812,
abstract = {{In the last ten years, there has been an ongoing cultural conflict between the nationalist political party the Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna) and a big group of active Swedish folk musicians. The conflict concerns the definition of ’folk music’ and the question if the genre is to be considered as an inherently more ‘Swedish’ form of cultural expression than other types of music. The Sweden Democrats present folk music as a foundation of Swedish traditional culture, which upsets the musicians who do not want to be associated with the nationalistic agenda of the party. Furthermore, the musicians argue that Swedish folk music has always been influenced by many other cultures and should continue to be influenced by the multicultural society of today, rather than being merely a museal art form in need of preservation. One of the front figures on the folk musician’s side in the conflict is Sara Parkman, whom this paper is about. In November 2019 she released her third full-length album Vesper, which immediately was praised by the critics. A couple of months after the album release, Parkman released a music video on YouTube to one of the songs on the album: ’Vreden’. The video is filled with symbols, both religious and political. In the video there are also actors wearing political badges representing the Sweden Democrats as well as another right-wing party, the Christian Democrats (Kristdemokraterna).
The purpose of this essay is to examine the possible reasons to why Sara Parkman chose to have these specific political parties represented in her video. This is achieved by looking at the political texts of the parties and statements done by their leaders, to see how their politics might be in conflict with Parkmans artistic and personal views. Based on Judith Butler’s theory of performativity, as well as on theories of nationalism and religious profanation, the essay examines the ways in which Parkman as well as the two parties try to create different identities by creatively using specific symbols: visual and linguistic, as well as musical. The conclusion that is made is that both ‘sides’ in the conflict use symbols as a way of not only portraying themselves, but also of portraying an ideal for how they wish things would be – the Sweden Democrats and the Christian Democrats want to have a more conservative version of Sweden and the Swedes, while Parkman wants a version of Sweden where the nationalists have no political power over culture and where the church is an inclusive place, open for everyone.}},
author = {{Velinder, Anna}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{”Må Gud välsigna dig med ilskans vrål” - En performativ analys av Sara Parkmans album Vesper}},
year = {{2021}},
}