Books by Donna Weston
Pop Pagans
Part of the rationale for this volume is the proposal that Paganism is a human impulse which has ... more Part of the rationale for this volume is the proposal that Paganism is a human impulse which has been to a great degree ‘rationalized’ out of the West and has been pushed back into the unconscious as somehow primitive and uncultured. Pop Pagans is the first study of Pagan popular music, the global genre Pagan Metal, Celtic music, World Music, Progressive Rock, folk music, Rave Culture and other examples of contemporary Pagan belief and practice as articulated – implicitly and explicitly - through popular music from Pagan and non-Pagan artists. In looking at which genres and artists give voice to the multiple expressions of Paganism, the chapters in this volume expand our understanding of popular culture and music by raising questions regarding intent versus interpretation and insider/outsider, emic/etic points of view. It is of interest to students and scholars of popular music, cultural studies and pagan studies as well as those engaged in studies of religion, particularly popular religion.
Book Chapters by Donna Weston
Paganism and Popular Music
Through musicological analysis of songs represented across a range of online Pagan resources such... more Through musicological analysis of songs represented across a range of online Pagan resources such as Websites, Blogs and Podcasts, this chapter identifies similarities in the style and content of popular music (in its broadest sense) described on these sites as relevant to Pagan culture. Based on the premise that this online ‘snapshot’ is indicative of the broader, Pagan community, a preliminary musical and paramusical typology of Pagan music is proposed. The findings support a consistency of musical style, which aligns with paramusical attributes that are closely aligned with Pagan thought. While there is stylistic musical coherence across all of the songs analyzed, it is proposed that paramusically, while Pagan music may explicitly express Pagan ideology, it can equally simply express a mode that aligns with these ideals.
Killing the Muse: Listening Creativites and the Journey to Creative Mastery
Towards a Definition of Pagan Music
Rememberings of a Pagan Past: Popular Music and Sacred Place
Bringing together [the] two concepts of memory and place this chapter examines how a collective c... more Bringing together [the] two concepts of memory and place this chapter examines how a collective cultural memory of sacredness of place might find its expression in popular music, and argues that attachment to conceptual place is the expression of unconscious 'rememberings' of a Pagan past.
Journal Articles by Donna Weston
This article puts forward a reimagining of the concept of community in an immigration detention c... more This article puts forward a reimagining of the concept of community in an immigration detention centre that emerged from the creation of cultural and performative spaces. It is argued that conceptualizing immigration detention centres as accidental communities can contribute to an understanding of the impact of participatory music-making activities in these spaces on the well-being of detainees. The research is based on the analysis of music facilitators' narratives of their experience in an Australian detention centre in 2012. Accidental communities are defined as those in which people are connected not through common culture or region, but who have been brought together by circumstance, and whose shared experience therefore forms the basis of their relationships within the community. It is proposed that participation in music-making activities in an accidental community informs a cultural space on the basis of expression of that experience rather than cross-cultural sharing and that the resultant politics of inclusion have a positive impact on the well-being of the detainees.
Arts & Health
Background: There is growing evidence that participatory music can be supportive and empowering f... more Background: There is growing evidence that participatory music can be supportive and empowering for marginalised, culturally diverse populations. Amid largely hostile reception of asylum-seekers in Australia, a group of music facilitators regularly attends an Immigration Transit Accommodation facility to share music and singing activities with detained asylum-seekers, to counter significant mental and emotional distress resulting from indefinite detention.
Methods: This paper outlines the key themes of a narrative analysis, from a health and wellbeing perspective, of music facilitators’ monthly written observations recorded in 2012.
Results: By drawing on examples from observational narratives, we outline a framework that suggests links between music and singing, and the health and wellbeing of detained asylum-seekers. The framework includes four intertwined concepts: i) Humanisation; ii) Community; iii) Resilience; and iv) Agency.
Conclusions: The framework suggests the potential for participatory music to counter the significant impact of traumatic experiences and detention on asylum-seekers’ health and wellbeing.
Béarn Folk Rock: Language, Place and the Soundscape of the New Europe
It is argued in this article that Nadau, a folk rock group from the Béarn region of South-west Fr... more It is argued in this article that Nadau, a folk rock group from the Béarn region of South-west France, are representative of a New Regionalism in which border cultures and identities are celebrated within New European constructs. Through taking a philosophical approach, it is argued that language and place are central to Béarn identity and that the Pyrenées mountains, as both ideological space and physical place, form the basis of that identity. Further, it is argued that the soundscape – of language, music and venue - created by Nadau’s concerts is an acoustic manifestation of place that affirms that identity. This proposition is first approached through a lyrical analysis of a selection of Nadau’s repertoire, based on Gaston Bachelard’s concept of the poetic image. Edward Casey’s philosophy of place is drawn on to explore the relationship between that identity and the place, and sonic space, within which it is expressed.
This article explores the genre of Pagan Metal, specifically located in the Basque country, in an... more This article explores the genre of Pagan Metal, specifically located in the Basque country, in an aim to define what kind of identity it represents. It is argued that Basque Pagan Metal expresses a specific musical identity, with links to the ideology of the 1980s Basque punk movement Rock Radikal. Further, Basque Pagan Metal has diverged from this musical heritage, in that the identity it expresses is apolitical: while Rock Radikal expressed an openly political identity, that expressed in Basque Pagan Metal is explicitly culturalist, resonating more with primordial nationalism espoused by the ‘father of Basque nationalism’, Sabino Arana. A discussion of the genre within the social and cultural context of the rise of Basque nationalism in the late 19th century, the emergence of radical nationalism, and the Rock Radikal movement, is problematized through a discussion of interpretation versus intent. The group Numen is put forward as a representative case study.
Open Air Music Festivals and the Environment: A Framework for Understanding Ecological Engagement
The World of Music, 2015
This paper presents a model for understanding the ways in which open air music festivals proactiv... more This paper presents a model for understanding the ways in which open air music festivals proactively engage with environmental and ecological issues. It focuses on the Australian context, with two case studies of well-known and well-established festivals providing the basis for a framework that discusses four domains of environmental engagement: promotional, operational, conceptual and spatial. This framework is illustrated with examples drawn from ethnographic observations and interviews undertaken in 2012, during and after the running of each of the case study festivals. The paper argues that, through the examination of elements within these domains, new perspectives on musical engagement with the environment can be obtained.
Staying in Sync: Keeping Popular Music Pedagogy Relevant to an Evolving Music Industry
This article explores the potential role of popular music studies when integrated into popular mu... more This article explores the potential role of popular music studies when integrated into popular music practice programmes in higher education, and proposes that purely theoretical popular music studies could inform creative practice in the education of popular music practitioners. In bringing popular music studies and popular music practice together under the banner of popular music education, it is proposed that popular music practice educators should consider the study of popular music from a sociocultural perspective as well as a practical one. The argument is informed by two field reports that map higher education in popular music in the United Kingdom and in Australia, respectively, supported by responses of students to the integration of popular music studies into an Australian popular music practice programme. The findings show that students of popular music practice benefit-ted from the inclusion of popular music studies into their curriculum through the development of critical listening skills and songwriting ability, expansion of a range of vocational skills and a stronger sense of purpose within the music industry.
The aims of this paper are firstly to show the principal ways in which music and musical thought ... more The aims of this paper are firstly to show the principal ways in which music and musical thought are associated with the New Age Movement and to demonstrate how these are related to New Age ideologies, and secondly to show that the musical thinking of the movement reflects a trend originating in the late nineteenth century. It is proposed that music plays an important and integral role within the movement, and that the way in which it is viewed in this context is not specific to the New Age, but rather is based on a tradition which can, like the movement itself, be traced back to late nineteenth century esoteric thought and indeed, further. Consequently, New Age music and its associated ideologies constitute the culmination of an important trend in musical thinking which stretches over an entire century and beyond.
Reviews by Donna Weston
The Oxford Handbook of Music Revival
Musicology Australia, 2015
Transforming Folk. Innovation and Tradition in English Folk-Rock Music
Musicology Australia
Transforming Folk. Innovation and Tradition in English Folk-Rock Music
Musicology Australia, 2014
Conference Papers by Donna Weston
Pop pagans: The sacredness of place in popular music
Popular Music Worlds, Popular Music Histories: Conference Proceedings, Liverpool 2009, 2011
griffith.edu.au
This case study uses peer review exercises as a way to support engagement in critical reflection ... more This case study uses peer review exercises as a way to support engagement in critical reflection on the issues raised in lectures and set readings.
Stuck in the Middle: the Mainstream and its …, Jan 1, 2008
Gascon folk rock and the soundscape of Bearnais identity
This paper draws on theories of place to explore ways in which local ethnic identity might be exp... more This paper draws on theories of place to explore ways in which local ethnic identity might be expressed through music and soundscape, using the music and performances of Béarn folk rock group Nadau as a case study. While able to fill concert halls in Pau and Paris, Nadau more often play to small crowds in 'out of the way'open air concerts where the natural landscape rather than walls forms the perfect backdrop to their sound. Singing entirely in the Occitan dialect of Gascon, wherever they perform, Nadau create an acoustic territory in ...
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Books by Donna Weston
Book Chapters by Donna Weston
Journal Articles by Donna Weston
Methods: This paper outlines the key themes of a narrative analysis, from a health and wellbeing perspective, of music facilitators’ monthly written observations recorded in 2012.
Results: By drawing on examples from observational narratives, we outline a framework that suggests links between music and singing, and the health and wellbeing of detained asylum-seekers. The framework includes four intertwined concepts: i) Humanisation; ii) Community; iii) Resilience; and iv) Agency.
Conclusions: The framework suggests the potential for participatory music to counter the significant impact of traumatic experiences and detention on asylum-seekers’ health and wellbeing.
Reviews by Donna Weston
Conference Papers by Donna Weston