Article manuscript submitted for publication by Music and Minorities (International Council for the Study of Popular Music) © Johannes Brusila 30.9.2008 Johannes Brusila, The Society of Swedish Literature in Finland E-mail:
[email protected] Tel.: +358 40 5414447
Johannes Brusila: Between minor and major. Discursive and neomaterialist reflections on Lasse Mårtenson and “Finland-Swedish” popular music.
Composer, pianist, singer and lyricist Lasse Mårtenson (b. 1934) has made a long and successful career in Finland. Already as a teenager he established a reputation as a prizewinning jazz pianist. During the following years he also worked as a musical conductor at many theatres, and produced his own floor shows in night clubs. After successes in the Finnish national selections for the Eurovision song contest in the 1960s, he made a career as a pop singer, recording hit songs written by Mårtenson himself and others. Mårtenson has also composed music for several popular movies and TV series. (For details on Mårtensons’s career, see e.g. Jalkanen 1992, 111-114.) It is, in other words, justified to call Mårtenson a very popular Finnish artist. However, when I interviewed him about his work, with a particular interest for questions related to his artistic and personal identity, he often emphasized how he had never felt at home with some of the central elements of Finnish mainstream music (interview 14.3.2007). According to Mårtenson, the Slavonic character of Finnish popular music, with its predominant use of minor keys, makes it too sentimental for his taste. It is also in some ways paradoxical that Mårtenson sings in Finnish on most of his records, although he is a so-called “Finland-Swede”; that is, he belongs to the 5.5 % of the Finnish population who speaks Swedish as their mother-tongue. In other words, despite of his success on the Finnish national music market, Mårtenson has been forced to negotiate his aesthetic and identity positions in many ways throughout his career. In the title of my article, ‘between minor and major’ refers to the position of a musician, such as Lasse Mårtenson, who has made a career in the mainstream and majority market, although his cultural background is rooted in a minority population. In this particular context the concepts minor and major also have musical connotations. In Finland, musical keys have come to symbolize cultural affiliations and positions. During the nation-building processes in the 19th century the Finnish national character was constructed in discourse surrounding music as being sentimental and melancholy, and these qualities were associated with minor keys (e.g. Jalkanen & Kurkela 2003, 84-85). Consequently, the culture of the Swedish-speaking population in Finland was constructed as being closer to Western culture, and therefore also more cheerful and happier. These ethnic characteristics were, in turn, associated with major keys. The juxtaposition of
1
major and minor has, in this case, both an ethnic and a musical function, although in a reverse way: the majority culture is associated with minor keys and the minority culture with major keys. The artistic career of Lasse Mårtenson is extensive; however the purpose of this article is not to cover it in detail, nor will I try, in this limited format, to describe in detail FinlandSwedish popular music or its special musical features (for a short historical overview, see e.g. Brusila 1999). Instead, I have chosen to examine theories of ethnicity and identity and how these can be used when studying the popular music culture of a minority such as the Swedish-speaking minority of Finland. A natural starting point for this discussion is probably to ask what is Finland-Swedishness, who is Finland-Swedish and what is Finland-Swedish culture, or maybe even: is there such a thing as Finland-Swedish popular music? On a more general level the discussion is about what theories one should choose when approaching the subject and ultimately how one should define the whole area of study. In my case these questions have become concretized not only because I have a bilingual Swedish and Finnish background, but also as a result of my engagement in the Society of Swedish Literature in Finland’s research project The Construction of Finland-Swedishness in Music. As a part of my work in the project I have examined different theoretical approaches to identity and ethnicity, focusing on aspects that are relevant in the study of minority musics (see Brusila 2008). In this article I have chosen to move further by concretizing my argumentation with the help of examples from Lasse Mårtenson’s career. Thus, I will discuss current debates in cultural studies, particularly between so-called essentialist and anti-essentialist (or constructionist) views on the categorisation of human beings and cultural traits, by asking how these theoretical models could be applicable to one particular musician. This also leads me to consider what possibilities later neomaterialist approaches could offer the study of for example the music culture of the Finland-Swedes.
The construction of Finland-Swedishness Lately, when I have told colleagues, students, journalists and other people in Finland that I am currently studying Finland-Swedish popular music, many persons have replied: “is there such a thing”? Some have expressed apparent astonishment; others have reacted more ironically and condescending, thereby implying that the topic was too insignificant to be worth a serious study. This has also been the case, or maybe I should say that this applies especially to members of the Swedish-speakers in Finland who have commented on my work. When mentioning my subject to colleagues abroad, it appears that few have ever heard of a minority called the Finland-Swedes. It is also evident that Finland-Swedish popular music does not exist as a genre with an own image, sound or musical structure comparable to, for example, Jewish klezmer, “Gypsy jazz” or bhangra. In fact, in an international comparison it is in some ways questionable if the Swedish-speaking population of Finland at all can be conceptualised as a minority. According to the Constitution, Finland is bilingual and the public authorities are required to provide for the
2
cultural and societal needs of both the Finnish-speaking and Swedish-speaking populations on an equal basis. In practice, leading to functional bilingualism for many native Swedish-speakers, is maybe not always the case but the official bilingualism of Finland clearly makes Finland-Swedes different from many of the suppressed minorities of Europe. Although the Swedish-speakers represent only about 5.5 % of the Finnish population, thus making it in numerical terms a minority, it is, in social and cultural terms, a relatively heterogeneous group of people, whose lifestyles in many respects resembles those of the majority. The majority of the Swedish-speaking population lives in the coastal areas and the archipelago of Finland, but there are no fixed regional borders that would mark a separate Finland-Swedish territory (with the exception of the autonomous region of Åland). The Finland-Swedes are usually also well integrated in the society and patriotic; they do not want independence, nor do they long to go back to some fatherland that they would have left behind. In Finland each citizen’s mother-tongue is registered by the national Population Register Centre. This official national language documentation is often taken as a starting point when the Finland-Swedish minority is studied in the social sciences. Consequently, the cultural habits of the registered Swedish-speaking population of Finland are often understood to be descriptive of, or at least to some extent a reflection of a FinlandSwedish culture (see e.g. the home page of Institutet för finlandssvensk samhällsforskning). The practical advantages of this method are obvious, especially if one wants to study the language issue in relation to for example social class, resource allocation, power or political activities (for a classical analysis see Allardt & Starck 1981). However, if one wants to be keenly aware of the different cultural aspects involved in the cultural formation called Finland-Swedishness, and maybe even question the idea that some cultural phenomena are categorized as being Finland-Swedish and others not, the method is not necessarily unproblematic. It is simply very hard to circumvent the fact that the idea of a “Finland-Swedish population” or “Finland-Swedish culture”, just as the whole basic concept “Finland-Swedishness” does not coincide historically, or even demographically, with the existence of a Swedish-speaking population in Finland. It is reasonable to say that the basis for a Finland-Swedish self-identification was laid during the period 1890-1920 when the educated class, including the researchers of culture, set out to unify the shattered Swedish-speaking population groups to one ethnic grouping. This was done by constructing a division between what was perceived of as, on one hand the Swedish language and culture of Finland, and, on the other hand, the Finnish language and culture of Finland (see Lönnqvist 2001a). In the beginning of the 20th century, music research was already a part of this Finland-Swedish nation building, as a result of Professor Otto Andersson’s groundbreaking work (see Nyqvist 2007). In a way this ethnic mobilization includes a certain basic essentialist idea of the culture that was studied. Finland-Swedishness was seen as a distinctive character, an essence, which was based on a natural, inherent internal similarity, and which was manifested in this ethnic group’s culture. In a sense the Finland-Swedish nation building was typical of the period. Following the spirit of the time, the categorization of human beings was founded
3
on an idea of some special features that were explained to be more or less given by nature, and which were seen to define a nationality. In general, the essentialist notion of ethnicity has, since the mid-20th century, met with growing criticism, particularly among cultural studies. One of the problems with the earlier definitions of ethnic groupings is that they easily emanate from a circular definition. An individual or phenomenon is said to be for example Finland-Swedish because he/she/it contains a Finland-Swedish essence, which therefore means that the he/she/it is defined as Finland-Swedish. Thus, in its ultimate appearance the argumentation gets the form of “A=A”, or “A is the same as itself”, in other words a structure which could be called tautological (compare e.g. Lechte 2003, 111). Several scholars have also questioned the idea of ethnicities as something stable that exists forever in a well-defined area (see e.g. Hall & du Gay 1996). This critical constructionist approach, with roots in, for example, post-structuralism, starts from the assumption that such cultural phenomena as ethnicity and identity are constructed through social and cultural processes. A key element in these processes is that identities are created as a difference to, or negation of, something else; in other words, what psychoanalytically influenced cultural analysis is usually called “the self”, which is constructed in relation to “the other” (see e.g. Hall 1996; Derrida 1981). These notions have, in different forms, influenced many studies on for example ethnicity (see e.g. Barth 1969), national identities (e.g. Anderson 1983), and the relationship between the West and the Rest (e.g. Hall 1992a, and on “world music” e.g. Brusila 2003). The anti-essentialist approach to the study of Finland-Swedish culture got probably its clearest academic manifestation in the beginning of the 21st century in a book named Gränsfolkets barn (Åström et al. 2001), which roughly could be translated as “children of the border”. In the book ethnologists Anna-Maria Åström, Bo Lönnqvist and Yrsa Lindqvist start out from the premise that a Finland-Swedish identity is not a characteristic feature of the individual, but a certain more or less permanent relationship to a constructed representation of the self, which is called Finland-Swedishness. Referring to for example the ethnographic research tradition, the scholars describe this FinlandSwedishness as a feeling of affiliation to a tradition of patterns of behavior, which appear in interaction with other collectives (see e.g. Åström 2001a, 53-54). Thus, FinlandSwedishness is described as a cultural construction that to a large extent is created in relationship to an opposite pole, or antithesis, which could be summarized in the concepts “Finnishness” or “the Finnish” (the latter, however, does not refer to the people, but to the phenomenon, or to the character of a phenomenon). This notion of identity as a construction is based on the idea of performativity (see e.g. Butler 1990). In other words, it is possible to say that different performative actions are repeated in society and that these actions do not only describe the phenomenon of Finland-Swedishness, but also produces, regulates and constrains it. The whole process can consist of verbal discourses, symbols and actions, which through repetition, so-tosay, make Finland-Swedishness. Thus, Åström (et al. 2001) and her colleagues analyze for example the Finland-Swedish song festivals or the Baltic herring markets as practices,
4
which not only symbolize Finland-Swedishness, but also contribute in constructing Finland-Swedishness in the form that we know the phenomenon today. Cultural conventions do not reflect some core, which could be found in all the phenomena that are called Finland-Swedish; instead, the conventions are conducive of producing the identification and notion of Finland-Swedishness, which in everyday expression are considered to constitute the basis for the representation. The meaning or consequences of an ethnic affiliation are of course not in any ways diminished by the fact that identification is explained to be founded on social or cultural construction. An identity is in general terms not insignificant, untrue or non-existent for a person who is affected by it. On the contrary, the identity finds its strength in the performative actions that promote the creation and re-establishment of it, and through these processes it can be rather concrete and significant for both individuals and institutions.
The Duck Pool Following the cultural analytical line of argument described above, it feels relevant to ask how the constructionist approach could be applied to Lasse Mårtenson and FinlandSwedish popular music. It is obvious that Finland-Swedishness is a constitutive part of Mårtenson’s public image and his ethnic background is often referred to as an explanation to his personal artistic style (see e.g. von Bagh & Hakasalo 1986, 447). His father’s ancestors came from the island of Korpo, in other words from the archipelago outside Åbo (Turku), which is usually seen as one of the centers of Finland-Swedish folk culture. Mårtenson has never lived in the archipelago himself, but the coastal areas have always been important to him, not least because of his life long interest for sailing. On the other hand, he grew up in Helsingfors (Helsinki), where his father Elis Mårtenson was professor at the conservatory (later Sibelius Academy) and organist at a Swedishspeaking congregation. Thus Lasse Mårtenson already from childhood learned to know the cultural life of the urban Swedish-speaking bourgeoisie. When interviewing Mårtenson it becomes clear that he, throughout his career, has been aware of this cultural background and of the representation of him as a Finland-Swedish artist. Today he also sees himself as belonging to the Finland-Swedish cultural sphere. However, Mårtenson’s relationship to the general representation of Finland-Swedishness and the ways in which Finland-Swedishness is constructed in different contexts can be rather complex. As was already mentioned, in the Finland-Swedish self-construction “the Finnish” (or “Finnishness”) usually represents “the other”, in other words, an opposite pole that the self can project itself in relation to. With regard to popular music, I find it meaningful to add to this scheme two more significant others, namely “the Swedish” (in this case the concept refers to the culture of Sweden) and “the International” (or “Anglo-American”, “English” etc.). In the relatively few cases when the existence of Finland-Swedish popular music is explicitly debated in public, Finland-Swedishness is constructed in relation to these anti-poles. In concrete terms the debate often focuses on the language and pronunciation of lyrics, to some extent also on the stylistic features of the music (see
5
e.g. Brusila 1999, 9-10 and Lindqvist 2001, 391 & 397). Also for Lasse Mårtenson these three others and the questions that have been discussed in relation to them are significant. The Finnish, the Swedish and the International are elements that form constitutive parts of his personal and creative self, but at the same time he is very much aware of their distance to, and difference from what he explains to be his own cultural background. I find it meaningful to approach Finland-Swedishness as a “discursive formation”, following the theories of Michel Foucault (1969/1972; 1976/1990; 1980) and Stuart Hall (1996; 1992a; 1992b). In the centre of this formation is an idea of Finland-Swedishness, which is based on the positioning of a self in relation to three fixed points: the Finnish, the Swedish and the International. In order to clarify my arguments I have chosen to visualize this formation in a scheme and call the core of the discursive construction Finland-Swedishness “the Duck Pool” (see picture). This core positions itself is in relation to the three fixed points of “the Horizon”; that is, its self-identification is based on a feeling of difference or distance to the Finnish, the Swedish and the International. Between the Duck Pool and the Horizon is “the Brackish Water”. I have chosen this term, which in natural science refers to a mixture of sweet and salt water, when describing the complex, diversified border zone where many Swedish speakers in practice have operated.
”THE HORIZON” -for individuals not necessarily periphery, but core
”THE BRACKISH WATER” -versatility and adaptation important
”THE DUCK POOL” The Swedish
The Finland-Swedish
The Finnish
-small-scale -third sector crucial -represents one type of Swedishness in Finland
The International
Picture. The discursive construction of Finland-Swedishness with the Duck Pool in the middle. In the outer periphery, the fixed points in the Horizon, is in relation to which the self-identification of the core is constructed. Between the Duck Pool and the
6
Horizon lies the Brackish Water, in other words, the border zone where many musicians and music industry personnel have operated. The Finland-Swedish formation links up with different discursive practices through which the identity processes are constructed and manifested. In popular music the most important practices are those of the music media and the music industry organizations. In order to illustrate these aspects I have chosen to use the concept “arena”, following the Swedish project Music, Media Multiculture (Lundberg, Malm & Ronström 2000). Arena is a metaphor for the conditions, possibilities and restrictions that influence the musical activities in society. These can include norms, rules and regulations, but also economic or practical aspects. For different sections of the population, not least minorities, it is of great importance which arenas they have access to and under what conditions. The denomination Duck Pool refers to the Finland-Swedish self-ironic way of describing the own, small-scale, homogenous and static milieu, where “everybody knows everybody” and old-boy-networks are important elements of ones daily life. The selfperceived uniformity and introvert nature of the minority can of course be seen as one part of the discourse’s core, as also the love-hate-relationship that Swedish-speaking Finns sometimes have to what they perceive of as a narrow Finland-Swedish spirit of community. However, it is worth pointing out that I use the concept Duck Pool mainly in a neutral, rather than an ironic sense. The Duck Pool also includes phenomena that are more or less explicitly denominated Finland-Swedish, or usually associated with some kind of Finland-Swedishness. In other words, it consists of for examples genres and arenas that exist in at least a more or less permanent relation to the so-called Finland-Swedishness, although it would be impossible to create some kind of a quantitative, demographic, geographic, or even linguistic definition on their degree of Finland-Swedishness. The genres of the Duck Pool prevail in small scale arenas in the private sphere and in the work and activities of associations. These include for example choir singing, the Nordic singer-songwriter tradition called “vissång”, the variety tradition of the youth organizations, children’s music and drinking songs. Partly included is the dance band music (in Swedish “dansbandsmusik”), which has flourished on the dances organized by youth associations and other organizations mainly in the countryside. As for the rock bands, the few who sing in Finland-Swedish dialects can also be included in this core. A typical interconnection amongst all of these genres and artists is that they usually are deeply rooted in the arenas of the core, rather than those in the Horizon. They also lack an identity function for the Horizon, except occasionally as an “other” of, for example, the Finnishness of the Horizon. Yet, within the Duck Pool they can play a significant role in the identification processes. As was mentioned earlier, the Finland-Swedish background of Lasse Mårtenson is often explained to make up a key element of his artistic style and the minority culture also forms an important part of his self-perception. However, Mårtenson’s creative career is only partly rooted in the Duck Pool. It was not until he received the Georg Malmstén scholarship in 1974 that he, for example, became interested in what he calls “skärgårdsmusik” (archipelago music) (interview 14.3.2007). As a result of the
7
scholarship he composed lyrics written by Swedish-speaking poets such as Hjalmar Krokfors and Lars Huldén, who have lived in, or have been inspired by the archipelago. Although the songs do not necessarily form a large part of Mårtenson’s production in quantitative terms, they have still constituted an important element of his creative career and image. Mårtenson also identifies them with a search for himself, after years with jazz and Finnish pop songs, or as he explains it: “I never felt quite at home with [working in] Finnish or jazz, I did not come back home to myself, so to say, until [I started working] in Swedish and in the archipelago milieus” (interview 14.3.2007). Mårtenson’s compositions of the archipelago lyrics have been inspired by the Scandinavian “vissång” tradition, the national romantic song tradition and the popular songs recorded in Sweden in the 1940s and 1950s. The original compositions are usually monophonic with acoustic guitar or accordion accompaniment. Typical structural elements are for example diatonic harmonies in mainly major keys, symmetric phrases separated by clear cadences and 4/4 rhythms, or relatively frequently also 3/4 waltz rhythms. In general, the tonal and rhythmic micro variations, which are constitutive elements of older folk music traditions of the coastal areas (for example the monophonic fiddle playing and the medieval ballad singing), are not that common. Instead, the standardized structures of the popular song and vissång traditions stand out as basic features. In fact, the structures are so clear that Mårtenson can even play with them while keeping in mind the listeners’ expectations. An example of this can be found in the song Flundervalsen, which was included in the theatre play Smugglarkungen. The song tells about the pleasures of fishing, preparing and eating flatfish, and it could be called a representative archipelago waltz with accordion accompaniment. It is composed in F major, with occasional modulations to Bb and C. In the last verse of the song, Mårtenson has added a semitone modulation, from F to F#, which in a way could be called archetypal of standard popular songs. However, the modulation occurs unexpectedly in the middle of a melodic phrase, as also the sudden return to F in the end of the last stanza, giving the modulation and the whole song a rather comical color. Thus, the music underlines the humorous character of the song by winding up everything with an unanticipated tonal twist. This clearly is possible because the listeners have certain predetermined expectations of how an archipelago song such as this should be structured, and accepts the new contrasting element as a result of the composer’s personal input in the tradition. The archipelago songs have been released on several records, also with original lyrics in Swedish (on Visor från skären och sjön and Lasse Mårtenson och Jubilate-kören and the compilation Lasse Mårtenson på svenska). These releases are, in fact, rather exceptional in Mårtenson’s recording career, which otherwise mainly consists of records with lyrics in Finnish, or of instrumental music. On the other hand, the dissemination of the songs with Swedish lyrics has not been limited to Mårtenson’s recordings of them. They have been spread as sheet music and as a part of the repertoire of many amateur choirs and troubadours functioning on the Finland-Swedish arenas. Although the use of Swedish language is an important part of Mårtenson’s archipelago songs and an element that for him clearly signifies Finland-Swedishness, it is worth
8
noting that language forms only one part of the discursive formation called FinlandSwedishness. In some situations Finland-Swedishness is expressed in words and by choice of language, but the formation is not only constituted by verbal utterances or verbal actions. In the Foucauldian analysis tradition, the discourse is seen to create knowledge and our comprehension of things, but this can also happen through practices of different kind. It is, in other words, important to analyze how the concrete social and institutional aspects contribute in creating our understanding of a phenomenon (see Foucault 1969/1972, 49 and Hall 1992a, 291). A crucial point is that one has to be able to set oneself free from the conventional contradictions between thought and action, or between talk and practice, and instead study the discursive practices which contribute in the manifestation of the formation. As a discursive construction, the concept of popular music is of course in many ways just as complex as Finland-Swedishness. With the risk of simplifying the variety of approaches to defining and studying popular music, it is perhaps possible to state that, at least in the Nordic countries, the practices of the private music industry are often regarded as an important defining factor of popular music (for academic discussions on the subject, see e.g. Tagg 1982; Manuel 1988: 1-23; Middleton 1990: 3-7). It is through the practices of the music industry that the commercially produced, distributed and consumed popular music is defined as something else than folk music; folk music is associated with traditions and a social community including both performers and audience, and is different from art music, which is defined by means of aesthetic value judgments. However, in the construction of Finland-Swedishness, or Finland-Swedish popular music, it is hard to find a connection to the private music industry. The Swedishspeaking population of Finland is too small to viably uphold a music industry of its own, or even to form an own profitable niche market. Only very few records with lyrics in Swedish have made it to the sales charts in Finland and generally speaking only few artists have had an opportunity to get a recording contract with a Swedish-language repertoire. The linguistic distribution of the songs that Lasse Mårtenson has recorded should therefore not be seen as an expression of his own self-identification, but of the economic conditions under which the industry and the artists function. According to law, the public authorities are required to provide for the cultural needs of the Swedish-speaking population, but in general terms the Government and municipal institutions have not had any substantial impact on the popular music culture. In popular music, mainly the operetta, musical, revue and cabaret traditions of the theatre houses exist within the framework of public funding. Also, Lasse Mårtenson found his way to this stage music sphere in the 1950s and 1960s, when he worked as an orchestra conductor at Lilla Teatern in Helsingfors and Åbo Svenska Teater. Swedish-language theatres such as these have had a major impact on the Finland-Swedish cultural life in the larger cities on the coast of Finland. The revue and cabaret traditions have offered possibilities to combine the creativity of young talented writers and musicians in humoristic and topical productions. Also, later in his career Mårtenson has returned to the theatre, composing, for example, the successful musical Smugglarkungen for The Swedish Theatre in Helsingfors. He has also scored music for many films and TV-series,
9
which usually have been produced, or at least co-produced by the Finnish Broadcasting Company. As a consequence of the small-scale nature from the commercial operations, the main emphasis of the discursive practices, in regards to the Duck Pool, has shifted to the so called third sector during the last ten to fifteen years; that is, the discursive practices have shifted to non-governmental foundations and associations. Many very wealthy foundations exist whose explicit purpose is to promote Finland-Swedish culture, and ever since the 1980s they have also supported popular music. However, during the most active period of Lasse Mårtenson’s career, this support had not been developed yet. Particularly in economic terms, the main focus of his career has therefore been situated outside the Duck Pool.
The Horizon The Horizon, with its fixed points, is naturally just as processual and continuously changing as the whole formation of Finland-Swedishness. Thus, it should not be understood as a solid construction, but as something that moves and becomes redefined depending on the perspective. The identity is constructed when somebody or something is positioned in relation to something else, and when the perspective changes, also the fixed points and their positions change. For Lasse Mårtenson the three fixed points, the Finnish, the Swedish and the International, have always been very important, but in differing ways. For example jazz has always been of vital significance for Mårtenson, and the African American musical styles have been a key reference point for him during his career. Mårtenson still remembers the groundbreaking impact that Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five and Hot Seven records and Armstrong’s visit to Finland in 1949 had on his generation. Much to the annoyance of his father, Mårtenson started playing boogie woogie on the piano and formed his own Dixieland band as a teenager. He also recalls how he could listen to jazz programs on BBC and Voice of America during the night. If his father was at home, this had to be done secretly, under a blanket, because jazz was not considered “hygienic” in the home (interview 14.3.2007). The death of his father in 1957 made Mårtenson feel “liberated” in his musical thinking, and a trip to the United States gave him an opportunity to acquaint himself with the bebop scenes in New York and Chicago. The jazz influences can be heard in many of Mårtenson’s compositions, but it was impossible for him to earn a living by playing jazz, as jazz was a rather distant, international style in Finland in the 1960s and 1970s (one of the few preserved recordings where Mårtenson plays jazz can be heard on a re-release of Sinikka Oksanen’s radio sessions from 1961). Mårtenson feels that for his generation of Finnish musicians, American jazz served as an appreciated model, while at the same time it clearly belonged to another remote tradition: “because jazz is, after all, not our culture” (interview 14.3.2008). Thus, jazz has been an important reference point, which has interested and inspired, but yet remained somehow distant.
10
The music cultures of Sweden have also been an important source of influence. In fact, when mentioning his interest for jazz, Mårtenson often refers to Swedish musicians such as Svante Thuresson and Bengt-Arne Wallin, who have combined jazz with Swedish music traditions and lyrics. Swedish records have always been played and listened to in most of the Swedish-speaking regions of Finland. Mårtenson’s knowledge of Swedish music also originates from the World War Two period, when he was evacuated to Sweden (altogether 70.000 Finnish children) and from the Swedish-speaking areas of Ostrobothnia on the Finnish west coast, where Swedish music has been particularly popular due to the audibility of Swedish radio. Later, during his professional career Mårtenson also performed in several cabarets and shows at theatres and restaurants in Stockholm. In Finland he became a key figure in introducing the floorshow format in local restaurants, influenced by not only Frank Sinatra but also by Swedish artists such as Thore Skogman. From the end of the 1960s until the beginning of the 1980s he produced regularly his own shows in restaurants in the capital area of Finland. Despite the obvious influence on his own work, Mårtenson has always experienced a distance between the Swedish entertainment world and the traditions that most of his colleagues and the listeners in Finland were accustomed to. He wanted, for example, to “raise the bar” of Finnish musical stage entertainment by using influences from Sweden, for example “sharp lyrics and some more swing and hipness”, but felt that his attempts were doomed to failure because of the “squareness” of the Finnish entertainment tradition (interview 14.3.2008). Finnish culture probably represents the most complex and in some ways also paradoxically most distant relationship between Mårtenson and the Horizon. Already during his upbringing he learned to know the majority culture through his mother, who descended from a Finnish-speaking family from the eastern parts of Finland. As a child Mårtenson was sent to his mother’s relatives for a couple of weeks during the summers in order to strengthen his Finnish language skills. During these periods he acquainted himself with Finnish tango and other popular dance music. However, looking back at it, he explains that this did not happen with great enthusiasm: “I forced myself to like, accept this Finnish tango”, and he compares the period under Finnish cultural influence with being in prison: “in the same way, as if you happen to end up in prison, and if you are smart, you persuade yourself to thinking that this is the present situation, and it’s best to make the most out of it” (interview 14.3.2007). According to Mårtenson, he has never liked the sentimental, melancholy Slavonic style of Finnish popular music. Consequently, it was not until relatively late that he started performing Finnish mainstream popular music. A starting point was when the legendary Finnish record producer Toivo Kärki persuaded him to participate in the Finnish national selections for the Eurovision song contest in 1963 with Kärki’s and Reino Helismaa’s song Kaikessa soi blues, and when he, the following year, won the national selections with his own composition Laiskotellen. Both songs contain certain jazz elements and Mårtenson’s hesitance to sing Finnish pop was not necessarily related to linguistic questions as much as to his identity as a jazz musician, who did not appreciate the Finnish mainstream “schlager” (popular song) tradition.
11
Mårtenson has composed several original texts by for example Jukka Virtanen, Sauvo Puhtila and Juha Vainio, who are some of the most appreciated authors of Finnish pop song lyrics. However, a lot of of Mårtenson’s Finnish hits are cover versions of international popular songs. For many listeners he is first and foremost famous for cover songs such as Nousevan auringon talo (House of the Rising Sun), Tien kuningas (King of the Road), Mä lähden stadiin (Jackson), On ihmeen hyvä tulla kotiin taas (Green Green Grass of Home), Muistako syyskuun (Try to Remember) and Rikas mies jos oisin (If I Were A Rich Man). Interestingly enough, Mårtenson not only recorded the songs but also often wrote the lyrics to them, even if Finnish is not his mother tongue. This is partly explained by his distrust in some of the Finnish writers who translated the song lyrics into Finnish. In Mårtenson’s opinion it is hard to combine Finnish language with the groove that he appreciates as a key element of music. According to him this is particularly clear when comparing how Finnish has been combined with jazz with the ways in which musicians in Sweden have managed to combine their mother tongue with jazz phrasing. It seems that the rhythm and melody of the Finnish language, with its varying short and long vowels and consonants, form a framework that, for him, is rather distant. Thus, Mårtenson preferred to write his own Finnish lyrics so that the phrasing would suit his style. Many of Mårtenson’s lyrics have been published under the pseudonym “Leonidas Vaajakorpi”, which he invented because “if you are called Mårtenson with a Swedish ‘å’ and you write Finnish schlager lyrics they simply will not believe you” (interview 14.3.2007). The credibility question was crucial for Mårtenson in the beginning of his career when his Finnish pronunciation had a noticeable Swedish accent. In fact, his linguistic background was brought up for public discussion when he was elected to represent Finland in the Eurovision song contest. It was even asked if it is suitable to send a Swedish-speaker to represent Finland in an international context (see Pakala 2006, 207211). However, for the most part Mårtenson’s personal pronunciation and style seems to have been met with appreciation. Despite of his Swedish mother-tongue and public Finland-Swedish image, many of his compositions and cover versions have become Finnish popular music evergreens (many of the songs have been released on the compilation Kaikessa soi… Lasse Mårtenson). As these examples from Lasse Mårtenson’s career show, the position of an artist, who somehow associates himself with both the Duck Pool and the fixed points of the Horizon, can be rather complex. At times Mårtenson seems to have found some elements of the International, the Swedish and the Finnish interesting and desirable, but simultaneously some other elements have been rather distant. He has also felt detached from the fixed points, and sometime even deliberately kept up a distance to them. Yet, on some level, he seems to have been conscious of their existence throughout his career. Mårtenson belongs to a generation for whom an international career was not a realistic choice. Today, the fixed points of the Horizon can, on the other hand, be much more than another that one views from a distance. The arenas of the Horizon can in fact form a natural goal to strive for, or even a starting point for a whole career. In that sense, for example, some rock musicians have followed rock musician Dave Lindholm, by aiming at the national majority market, from the very beginning, singing in Finnish, although their mother-tongue is Swedish. Several rock bands have also tried to cross the language
12
border in Finland by using English, or then the choice has been explained by the fact that English has signified credibility within the genre conventions of rock. When aiming at the International arenas, English has naturally been the most common choice of language for most artists. Many dance bands have imitated the musical style and pronunciation of similar successful bands in Sweden, at least partly aiming at the arenas in Scandinavia. It is also worth noting that the connections to the Duck Pool can be strong, despite of the direction of an artist’s career. For example Gjallarhorn, which has built a career on the international world music market, is musically attached to the folk tradition of the core, at the same time as it mainly functions in the outer circle. In the light of these examples, it seems that a large proportion of the musicians, who somehow feel a connection to the formation Finland-Swedishness and its core elements, actively reconstruct their identities during their careers. The sense of identity always exists in a field of tension and includes paradoxical aspects, which the individual actively negotiates. This process can also incorporate a contrast between, on one hand, the Finland-Swedishness, which is manifested in the core of the Duck Pool, and the daily life of the individual person. The Swedishnesses in Finland creates a heterogeneity and flexibility, which is typical of discourses such as this. At the same time the public Finland-Swedish discourse can include demands of uniformity, which in turn can result in a feeling of marginality on the level of the individual (see e.g. Lönnqvist 2001c, 449450). From an individual musician’s point of view, the question concerns ultimately to what extent an individual can balance between only being an object, subordinate to the discursive power, and being a subject that really can negotiate a position in relation to the surrounding demands and expectations.
The Brackish Water As was already mentioned, my schematic outline of the Duck Pool can give a false picture of the discursive formation as something solid and compact. In fact, it is in the nature of cultural formations such as this, that they are processual and relative. It is especially worth remembering that the discursive construction, which here has been visualized as the Duck Pool, is in no way the core of all the heterogeneous and kaleidoscopic “Swedishnesses”, or forms of Swedish language for that matter, which exist in Finland. In order to better reflect the multiplicity of how different individuals can relate themselves to the construction of Finland-Swedishness, I have chosen to add a middle zone to my scheme, and name it the Brackish Water. By doing so, I want to emphasize how many persons, both musicians and music industry personnel, who come from the Swedish-speaking minority, always have negotiated themselves a position on the majority arenas. For them the language border has not necessarily meant an obstacle but a border to be negotiated during the development of their career. From this perspective it is possible to say that the history of popular music in Finland, in fact, is also the history of many Swedish-speaking popular musicians. The Swedish-speaking musicians of the coastal cities have often been the first intermediaries of international styles and many of
13
these pioneers have had a major impact in the creation of an acculturated national music, from earlier schlager stars such as Georg Malmstén to the first rock bands. In this context the large impact that the Swedish-speaking population has had on the development of Finland’s music industry is also worth mentioning. Important companies such as Westerlunds musikaffär, Fazer and Love Records have been founded and run by members of the linguistic minority. Lasse Mårtenson is in many ways a good example of a musician who has actively negotiated himself a position without excluding any linguistic or cultural affiliations. His career in the national arenas incorporates the use of Finnish lyrics and sensitivity for the preferences of the majority, but at the same time both he and his audiences have been aware of his identification with the music cultures of the Swedish-speaking population. At times, these aspects of his career are also evident in his aesthetic preferences and creative choices. Particularly worth noting, Mårtenson’s rejection of what he describes as the excessive sentimentality of Finnish popular music, he associates with the use of minor keys. Mårtenson explains that he usually avoids minor tonalities and when using minor chords he usually adds a minor seventh to the triad, and juggles with minor and major thirds, in order to soften the harmony. By doing this, he is not fixed to “either minor or major, but can move in between, and sort of swim in between all the time” (interview 14.3.2007). In Finland Mårtenson’s personal style is often explained as a reflection of his interest in jazz (e.g. Nissilä 2007); with that being said, he personally brings out the importance of particularly Swedish folk music and other Swedish musical traditions, and even Irish harmonies (interview 14.3.2007). An analysis of Mårtenson’s compositions shows that most of them are, indeed, in major keys; when minor keys are used, however, they usually introduce a dramatic, rather than a melancholy, element to the song. Mårtenson often uses minor seventh chords, but at times also minor sixths. In general, four-note chords are common and they are sometimes created through suspensions and appoggiatura-like melodic movements. The minor seventh harmonies can also be related to the use of a natural minor scale in the melody, as in Morgondimma. Even in the relatively few compositions that are written in a minor key, the melody often modulates in some section of the song to, for example, the parallel major key (e.g. Marraskuu, Jumala rakastaa maailmaa and Hän on mennyt vuorten taa), the dominant major key (e.g. Kielletyt käskyt), or the relative major key (e.g. Mitt endaste hopp). The modulations can also occur in a succession, as in Sång om väntan, which modulates from the opening minor seventh chord on the first degree, to the minor subdominant key, and finally to the second degree, which has been altered to a major key. The same harmonic elements can also be found in Mårtenson’s possibly most successful composition Stormskärs Maja (Stormskjaer’s Maja). Originally Mårtenson composed this song for Åke Lindman’s TV-series, which was based on Anni Blomqvist’s popular archipelago novels. In the TV-series the composition occurs in many versions as a leadtheme, but it was later arranged in different versions. Today it can be called a true Finnish evergreen and one of the few successful instrumental popular compositions. The piano sheet music version of it has sold at least 27.000 copies, which is far more than any other piano sheet music in Finland (Nissilä 2001). Stormskärs Maja consists of two contrasting
14
sections. The composition starts with a slow section, “andante con anima”, which, according to Finnish ethnomusicologist Pekka Jalkanen (1992, 114), in some ways resembles the Russian romance tradition. This section consists of a short introduction in A minor and the main theme, which starts in D minor but fluctuates between D minor and A minor, giving the tonality a Dorian feeling. Once again the chord progressions show Mårtensson’s special liking for minor seventh and minor sixth chords. In the second section the mood changes. The general character becomes dance-like, reminiscent of Swedish polskas, but with meters changing back and forth between 3/4 and 5/4. The second section starts off in A minor, but moves on through several modulations to finish in A major. However, the overall tonal character is strongly influenced by the Dorian elements in the melody and by the open chords, which come to signify the traditional archipelago context. As Lasse Mårtenson’s preference for minor seventh chords show, he has been able to negotiate himself a position in Finland both creatively and in terms of career choices. He also sees himself as a person who, in all fields of life, has tried to “build bridges across the language-barriers” in Finland (interview 14.3.2007). In many ways he is descriptive of the musicians and industry staff members in what I have termed the Brackish Water. He has worked using both Swedish and Finnish, but without ever anchoring his career or public image exclusively in either linguistic group or its arenas. A person’s existence in the Brackish Water can seem rather paradoxical if it is approached from an essentialist view on identity. After all, essentialism takes for granted that the identity should be solid, separate and unchangeable. During the last few decades, however, scholars have emphasized how identity during the “postmodern” or “late modern” period is, in fact, understood as flexible. Or, as Zygmunt Baumann (1996, 19) expresses it, stressing the project-like character of the word: “’identity’, though ostensibly a noun, behaves like a verb, albeit a strange one to be sure: it appears only in the future tense”. The increasing global waves of immigration and growing media flows have forced scholars to reappraise the ethnic borders and thereby also their theoretical positions. The fundamental idea of identity as something which is constructed through a positioning in relation to something else has usually been preserved, but the focus has turned to border zones, fragmented identities and constantly living hybridities, which question simplified binary explanation models (e.g. Gilroy 1993; Bhabha 1994). The careers and linguistic negotiation models of the Finland-Swedish musicians and industry staff within the Brackish Water can be described as a kind of double identity, where the individual can vary his or her identification according to what seems fruitful for the individual at a given moment. This is by no means unique for the much Swedishness in Finland. In fact it can be called a characteristic for the so called “InlandSwedishness”, in other words, the forms of Swedishness that exist mainly in the central, eastern and northern parts of Finland. The Swedish speakers in these areas have always lived in two cultures, at the same time as they have been conscious about the specific differences between the cultures and have kept them apart (see Åström 2001b, 59). The bilingual links, combined with popular music’s symbolic connections to the urban and modern, often classified as “low culture”, have presumably contributed in keeping these
15
individuals and cultural artistic expressions outside the core of the Finland-Swedish construction (for discussions on the dramatization of Finland-Swedishness see Lönnqvist 2001b). In fact, it is possible to say that many Swedish-speaking musicians have had not only a double identity, but also some form of a multiple identity. In the beginning of the 20th century the urban forms of Swedishness incorporated many immigrants for whom music became a way of earning a living. Many Swedish-speaking musicians in the larger cities in Finland have also had a Jewish background. Whether all these people have identified themselves as Finland-Swedes, and in exactly what situations, remains an open question. The point I would like to make is that within both the private and the public exists a flow of ethnic contacts, mobilities and identifications, which are activated in different ways in different contexts. The flows across ethnic boundaries do not mean that the boundaries would disperse. In fact, they seem to form the very foundations on which embracing social systems are built (Barth 1969, 10). The ethnic is in other words an identificational entity, which contents are important for those who feel that they belong to a certain group, but the contents can be used in different ways depending on the situation; at times the ethnic signals are important and at times unimportant.
The critique of constructionism The different ways in which the individual negotiates an identity position implies an ontological problem for the most austere social constructionist models of explanation. A key question is how one should define the relationship between the identity construction and the individual, or the all-embracing discourse and the subject. If there is no essence and everything is just social construction without any, so to say, concrete or material dimension, one must ask if the individual should be seen as both cause and effect, both subject and subjected (see e.g. Hall 1996, 10-13; Grossberg 1993, 9; Wiley 2005, 69-70). The analyses presupposing that identity categories are created through negation also include a risk. For example stating that Finland-Swedishness can only be viewed as something different in relation to the fixed points the Finnish, the Swedish and the International, can also contribute in cementing the processual, multi-faceted identity construction in a stable matrix. In other words, it is possible that the analysis in fact reconstructs what was supposed to be deconstructed. This usually happens when the borders of the subaltern are defined through a negation in relation to the dominant, so that the heterogeneity of the discourse and the material realities are overlooked (see Grossberg 1993, 11-12). During the last few years the ontological premises of the performativity theories and social constructionist approaches have also been criticized in cultural studies (for a philosophical discussion, see Hacking 1999). The debate has touched upon old philosophical issues concerning the existence of reality and to what extent do phenomena have on an existence outside the conceptual level. Generally speaking, the social constructionist approach often aims at questioning conventional ways of understanding
16
and categorizing reality and therefore it analyzes ideas from a social perspective. Thus, questions regarding the objects’ material forms of existence and their more concrete effects fall outside the issue. The critique of the reconstructing character of social constructivism and its ontological premises brings up explanation models that incorporate material dimensions and more nuanced social analyses of ethnic groups. In popular music studies certain materialist aspects have, of course, always been present due to the large influence of neomarxism and the intellectual heritage of Theodor Adorno. These approaches are certainly also applicable in explanations on the material conditions under which the music industry practices are formed. Changes in ownership have for example led to a situation where all important national record companies in Finland have gradually been bought by transnational media companies, and in a similar way the music retail sector has moved from specialty shops and small village shops to large chains. Internet has, in principle, offered new ways of spreading a wide variety of music for a low cost, but so far the new technologies have offered no real solutions to the problems of the industry. The structural adjustment of the music industry has most likely contributed in diminishing the role that the wealthier urban Swedish-speakers have played in the music industry and in making it harder to function in the Brackish water, thereby shifting the emphasis to the third sector of the Duck Pool and the arenas of the Horizon. From an industrial perspective the fundamental problem of the minority still persists. The musical styles, which the Swedish-speaking population groups in Finland create and consume, are just as heterogeneous as these groupings themselves. Consequently, in business terms the Swedish-speakers in Finland do not form a functioning commercial genre category. In practice this means that Swedish-speakers have to adjust to this linguistic and cultural situation if they want to earn their living as professional musicians. It is descriptive that, for example, Lasse Mårtenson’s commercially most successful records have generally been Finnish cover versions of international pop hits. The most salient exceptions to the rule are Stormskärs Maja and Mårtenson’s Eurovision song Laiskotellen. The archipelago songs, with their roots in the Duck Pool have mainly been released by Mårtenson’s own publishing company and with the help of Finland-Swedish cultural institutions. In fact, Mårtenson has, at times, felt that it has been hard to deal with music industry staff that lacks sensitivity for linguistic matters. A recent publication project, with printed bilingual versions of 50 of his songs (Kari 2007), proved hard to accomplish, as the editors did not want to approve of Mårtenson’s demands that the notes should be written according to the rhythmic phrasing of the original Swedish texts, and not according to the Finnish phrasing (interview 14.3.2007). In other words, the linguistic negotiations can be rather concrete for a musician. Although industrial explanation models can be useful when explaining some aspects of a minority’s existence, it is of course possible to ask to what extent an economical theory alone can explain ethnicity related questions. The risk of economic reductionism and determinism is, after all, obvious and the cultural dimensions of ethnicity are easily overlooked. In fact, it is now more common to emphasize how social structures are both more flexible and complex than traditional Marxist analyses explain and the analyses of
17
social categories have shifted from basic structural models of social order to mappings of small scale individual actions and their influence (see e.g. Brown & Lunt 2002: 9-11). The study of subcultures and of music as an expression of an oppressed ethnic or social minority has a long history within popular music research, at least partly as a result of the influence of the Birmingham school. However, it is not necessarily always easy to apply this research tradition to a study of the Swedish-speaking population of Finland. As was already mentioned, the Finland-Swedes do not necessarily admit of comparison with the most common definitions of minorities. It would be questionable to define FinlandSwedishness as an identity position, which in all contexts is oppressed in relation to some superior social category. Hence, of all ethnicity studies that have been carried out in popular music scholarship, the most relevant for Finland-Swedishness are maybe the ones that deal with such identity constructions that are not necessarily even conceptualized as clear-cut ethnicities, or studies that question the most common conceptualizations, as for example studies on the role of the Jews in American rock (e.g. Billig 2001), Irishness in British pop (Campbell 2002), or “whiteness” in American country (Mann 2008) and South Africa (Ballantine 2007). A common problem with much of the subcultural studies carried out in the field of popular music is that it presupposes that the music, in case, somehow reflects or represents a group of people and its uniform social values. This homology has been criticized by, for example, Simon Frith (1996, 108-9), who argues that these theories are seldom convincing as an explanation of everyday practice of music making and listening. Talking about the heterogeneous Swedish-speaking population of Finland, it is also hard to locate any simple homology, or some shared Finland-Swedish social ideals that would be expressed through some given musical structures. It is probably more fruitful to assume that the Swedish-speaking Finns, in so far as they feel any group membership at all, not only reflect this affiliation through their musicking, but also experience the affiliation and learn to know themselves as a group through their musical practices and aesthetic judgments. Finland-Swedishness is, in other words, not only reflected in the music; instead the music can be said to contribute in creating the whole experience of Finland-Swedishness (for a similar discussion on country in the construction of “whiteness” in USA, see Mann 2008).
Neomaterialist approaches One of the possibly most significant attempts to bridge the tension between the constructionist and the materialist approaches can be found in so-called neomaterialist thinking, which has influenced many disciplines from philosophy (e.g. Deleuze & Guattari 1987; DeLanda ) and cultural studies (e.g. Grossberg 1993 & 1996) to sociology (e.g. Brown & Lunt), gender studies (e.g. Grosz) and the study of art and music (e.g. Buchanan & Swiboda 2004; Kontturi & Tiainen 2004; Parikka & Tiainen 2006; Wenzer 2007). These theoretical currents take as their starting point an attempt to incorporate the concurrent and overlapping functions of both the material and the discursive, yet without falling back to older essentialist presuppositions.
18
Neomaterialist thinking problematizes constructionist theories, which take for granted that human discourses and representations are needed in order for the material world to become true for human beings (for a concise summary of central features, see e.g. Parikka & Tiainen 2006). Instead, the so-called neomaterialists emphasize that the differences between objects and phenomena, including for example social categories, can exist outside of human epistemological explanation models. Hence, it is also possible to question such definitions of ethnicity that are dialectical and binary, that is, based on the assumption that identity is always constructed as a positioning in relation to something else (e.g. Grossberg 1993& 1996). In general terms, the focus is on underlying currents and elements that overlap and challenge conventional notions of ethnicity, and on the relationship between individual and society or between submission and power. Neomaterialism is, just as most other “–isms”, a loosely connected approach, rather than a school of thought or a solid theory. Although it does not offer any easily applicable methodological models, it poses questions that are relevant also for the study of ethnicities and the music of different groups of people. I have chosen to discuss some of the possibilities, which the neomaterialist approaches can offer, by concentrating on three concepts: rhizome, becoming and assemblage. “Rhizome” refers to a network-like structure. The concept originates in Gilles Deleuze’s and Felix Guattari’s (1987, 3-25) critique of tree-like analytical models, which according to them tends to split reality in for example the world and representations of the world. Instead, Deleuze and Guattari argue, the rhizome consists of a network-like structure where every point, or node, can be connected with every other point and where there is no fixed format about the direction in which one should proceed. Thus, the rhizome evokes openness, and a non-totalizing whole without a central principle; it does not consist of anything except its connections and it is open for multifaceted plural explanations (see e.g. Wenzer 2007, 189). The concept “becoming” (in French “devenir”), is used by Deleuze’s and Guattari’s (1987, 232-309) to explain the continuous production of difference as an ontological actuality. Instead of describing reality as consisting of separate, solid phenomena, which under the influence of external determination undergo changes, Deleuze and Guattari see the active, ongoing production of differences as a fundamental character of reality (see e.g. Wiley 2005, 70). Thus, the concept becoming puts attention to change, processes and movement. This implies that, for example, identity and ethnicity are not viewed as stable products of cemented binary oppositions, such as Finland-Swedishness contrasting with the fixed points the Finnish, the Swedish, or the International, but rather as cultural flows and dynamics that are in constant movement. As a result, the research has to free itself from a solid construction “Finland-Swedishness” and instead study how ethnicity continuously so to say becomes in endlessly varying ways. The rhizome gives rise to heterogeneous “assemblages” (in French “agencemant”), or processes of becoming, which consist of elements that interact, although they, by nature and background, can be very different from each other. It is the arrangement of the
19
elements which is fundamental to an assemblage, not the nature of the elements themselves (see e.g. Lechte 2003, 189). It is important to note that the concept assemblage is not necessarily confined to social phenomena. In fact, it is used in order to put under question common ways of structuring reality and interpretations of it. The concept comprises openness in the sense that all persons and phenomena always participate in different assemblages, which are all equally fundamental or secondary. The identity of any assemblage at any level of scale is always the product of a process and it is always precarious, since other processes can destabilize it. A general feature in, for example, Manuel DeLanda’s “New Philosophy of Society” (2006) is that assemblages can not be reduced to either micro-level explanations, such as individual rational choice, or macro-level explanations, such as world-historical totalities. Manifoldness is a characteristic feature of assemblages and they can be analyzed at any level. Consequently the discursively constructed Finland-Swedishness can be understood as one dimension in a single musician’s career, but the same construction can, nevertheless, have different meanings in different contexts when an individual makes aesthetic, economic and other concrete choices. Neomaterialist approaches to rhizomes, becoming and manifold assemblages offer a possibility to move further from a constructionist view on Finland-Swedishness. A discursive analysis, which includes both the level of formation and practice, forms a functioning framework for an understanding of this specific identity, but at the same time it runs a risk of becoming total. Especially the complexity in the individual’s ways of negotiating an identity, or multiple identities, is easily neglected. It is possible to say that Foucault’s discourse theories describe how a subject is produced as an effect through and within a discourse, while revealing little about why it is that certain individuals occupy some subject positions rather than others (see e.g. Hall 1996, 10-13). According to Lawrence Grossberg (1992, 116-117; 1993, 9), a problem with many constructionist identity theories is that they tend to conflate the subject (as a unified source of knowledge and position in a phenomenological field), agency (the possibility to move to certain positions of power and a position of activity) and the self (as a sign or bearer of social identity), and assume that all three coincide in individual or collective actors defined by logics of difference. It is this conflation that, according to Grossberg, leads to a paradoxical situation where the individual at the same time is both cause and effect or both subject and object. Following Deleuze and Guattari, Grossberg prefers to see the human being as an assemblage, with a certain degree of autonomy, coherence and agency, at the same time as he emphasizes how a human being is never only this. Each person is an assemblage, but also a component of many other micro- and macroassemblages that do not necessarily coincide with the biological boundaries of the person’s perception and cognition (see also Wiley 2005, 76-77). Each of these assemblages can, in turn, be larger or smaller social entities. Hence, from a neomaterialist perspective it is possible to see both Finland-Swedishness and an individual as assemblages, which, in turn, form integral parts of other assemblages. An individual musician such as Lasse Mårtenson can be said to form an assemblage consisting of many material and discursive elements, which at first glance seem to be most heterogeneous and incoherent. The so called Finland-Swedish formation
20
and practice, which I have described as the Duck Pool, can form one nod in the rhizome. The arenas where the music is performed, both physical places (such as dance halls) and for example broadcasting media can also be understood as nods in the pattern. Economic transactions and entrepreneurship of different kinds, both discursive constructions and material practices, are connected to artistic activity. Lasse Mårtenson does not possess a stable identity in relation to a larger discursive binary construction, but he is continuously becoming as a Finland-Swede, as a professional bi-lingual musician on the different arenas, and in many other related assemblages. One of the rhizomes in Mårtenson’s career, and the assemblage Finland-Swedish popular music, is Swedish language, but not as some kind of a Finland-Swedish essence. It is rather a question of language as action, concretized in sound waves, and as an entity in a complex web. Language incorporates a communicative comprehension horizon, including many symbolic values and aspects of identification. At the same time it forms an integral part of the phonotext, that is, of the artist’s vocal expression or utterance of the song’s lyrics (see Lindberg 1995). Moreover, it is possible to say that language can be seen as constituting the whole discourse surrounding music and our ways of conceptualizing musical phenomena (see e.g. Feld & Fox 1994 and Berger 2003). In music, language is combined with tonal flows and concrete corporeal actions, which, in turn, link up with the handling of musical instruments and a variety of acoustic processes. For Lasse Mårtenson, these aspects are very concrete in questions relating to pronunciation, phrasing, rhythmic groove and the sound of the music. Thus, the concept Finland-Swedish includes on one level the idea of the Swedish language and Swedishness in Finland, and the discursive formation which is constructed around this idea, but also, on an other level, the concept is connected to many other material and cultural dimensions in a diversity of assemblages.
Concluding thoughts In the introduction to my discussion on Lasse Mårtenson and the concept FinlandSwedishness, I mentioned how Mårtenson does not feel at home with the melancholy minor keys of the mainstream Finnish popular music. On the other hand, he has always managed to successfully combine many different cultural elements, including minor keys, in his personal style. By dong this, he has also been able to associate himself with different cultural groups. Perhaps this observation does not match earlier, more essentialist notions of identity, where a person is expected to represent an essence of some ethnic group, nor does it fit ideas of homology between ethnicity and music. However, I prefer to view Finland-Swedishness as a discourse with an identity formation and a practice, which includes many processual and flexible characteristics. In the core of it we find a certain type of Swedishness in Finland, which is based on an often explicitly expressed Finland-Swedishness and which is constructed in opposition to the three fixed points of the Horizon: the Finnish, the Swedish and the International. Needless to say, many musicians such as Lasse Mårtenson, have not exclusively functioned within the Duck Pool core, nor necessarily exclusively on the arenas of the Horizon. Instead, they have negotiated themselves multiple identity positions, often functioning in the Brackish
21
Water. This does of course not mean that the Duck Pool and the Horizon have not formed important reference points for their self-identification. The analyses of ethnicity, which, like my Duck Pool model, have been influenced by poststructuralism and assume that identity is always a negation created in relation to something else, are of course by no means unproblematic. A basic dilemma is the vague power relationship between the individual and the discourse and the relationship between the discursive and the non-discursive dimensions of reality. These considerations lead me to discuss alternative approaches within the neomaterialist frame of thinking, which I, in short, have applied with the help of three concepts: rhizome, becoming and assemblage. This approach offers an opportunity to link together different entities that at first glance seem to be incompatible, but which become in different connected assemblages. Thus, the construction Finland-Swedish can be circumvented so that, for example, Lasse Mårtenson can be studied as becoming on an equal basis with the Duck Pool core and other musical, aesthetic, acoustic, linguistic, geographical and personal phenomena. This opens up new perspectives for studies that incorporate different material aspects, cultural dimensions, practices, identification models etc. Also neomaterialism has, of course, its problems. In fact, it can be argued that its theoretical and methodological risks are in many ways substantial. The neomaterialist approach implies a questioning of several common cultural analytical models, maybe even causal explanation models, and rhizomatic analyses of assemblages can, in worse case, become arbitrary and subjective (see e.g. Lechte 1990, 190; Wenzer 2007, 32-33). Its strength lies in the possibilities it offers to further develop the constructionist models, especially by offering conceptual tools for grasping the pluralism that constitutes our cultural and social reality. The aim of my argument has, naturally, not been to solve some of the most fundamental ontological questions, neither to choose sides in age-old debates between realists and anti-realists. Instead I have aimed at discussing new theoretical approaches to studying Finland-Swedishness and Finland-Swedish popular music with the help of examples from Lasse Mårtenson’s career. With this in mind, I hope that I have been able to prove how both the constructionist and the neomaterialist explanation models incorporate elements that can be applied to ethnicity focused music research and which thereby can contribute in increasing our understanding of the complex relationships between music and minority identity.
REFERENCES
Interviews Lasse Mårtenson, interview 14.3.2007, Kyrkslätt. Interviewer: Johannes Brusila.
22
Discography Kaikessa soi… Lasse Mårtenson. WEA 5051055-6882-2-5. Lasse Mårtenson och Jubilate-kören. Mårtensong mslp 001. Lasse Mårtenson på svenska. Mårtensong MSCD 2. Sinikka Oksanen & Antero Stenberg: Radio Sessions 1959-1966. Artie Music AMCD 1015. Visor från skären och sjön. Scandia SLP 688.
Printed music Kari, Virpi (ed.) (2007) Lasse Mårtenson: Lauluja, pianokappaleita, jazzmessusävelmiä, iskelmiä. Helsinki: F-Kustannus.
Literature Allardt, Erik & Starck, Christian (1981) Språkgränser och samhällskultur. Finlandssvenskarna i ett jämförande perspektiv. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell Förlag AB. Anderson, Benedict (1983) Imagined Communities. London: Verso. von Bagh, Peter & Hakasalo, Ilpo (1986) Iskelmän kultainen kirja. Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. Ballantine, Christopher (2004) “Re-thinking ‘Whiteness’? Identity, Change and ‘White’ Popular Music in Post-Apartheid South Africa.” Popular Music, Vol. 23 Issue 2, pp. 105132. Barth, Fredrik (1969) “Introduction.” Ethnic Groups and Boundaries. The Social Organization of Cultural Difference. Red. Fredrik Barth. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, pp. 9-38. Bauman, Zygmunt (1996) ”From Pilgrim to Tourist – or a Short History of Identity.” Questions of Cultural Identity. Red. Stuart Hall & Paul du Gay. London: Sage Publications, pp 18-36. Berger, Harris M. (2003) "Introduction." Global Pop, Local Language. Red. Harris M. Berger & Michael T. Carroll. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, pp. ix-xxvi.
23
Bhabha, Homi K. (1994) The Location of Culture. Lodnon & New York: Routledge. Billig, Michael (2001) Rock n’ roll Jews. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press. Brown, Steven D. & Lunt, Peter (2002) “A Genealogy of the Social Identity Tradition: Deleuze and Guattari and Social Psychology.” British Journal of Social Psychology, Vol. 41 Issue 1, March 2002, pp. 1-23. Brusila, Johannes (1999) “Soundet som icke är? En spelöppning i finlandssvensk populärmusikforskning.” Folk och musik 1999. Publikationer utgivna av Finlands svenska folkmusikinstitut 25. Red. Anna-Maria Nordman. Vasa: Finlands svenska folkmusikinstitut, pp. 9-34. Brusila, Johannes (2003) ‘Local Music, Not From Here’ -The Discourse of World Music examined through three Zimbabwean case studies: The Bhundu Boys, Virginia Mukwesha and Sunduza. Finnish Society for Ethnomusicology Publ. 10, Helsinki. Brusila, Johannes (2008) “Den finlandssvenska populärmusikens vara eller inte vara. Diskursiva och nymaterialistiska utgångspunkter för etnicitetsinriktad musikforskning.” Etnomusikologian vuosikirja 20/2008, pp. 301-321. Buchanan, Ian & Swiboda, Marcel (red.) (2004) Deleuze and Music. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Butler, Judith (1990) Gender Trouble. Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge. Campbell, Sean (2002) “Sounding Out the Margins: Ethnicity and Popular Music in British Cultural Studies.” Across the Margins: Cultural Identities and Change in the Atlantic Archipelago. Red. Gerry Smyth & Glenda Norquay. Manchester University Press. DeLanda, Manuel (2006) A New Philosophy of Society. Assemblage Theory and Social Complexity. London & New York: Continuum. Deleuze, Gilles & Guattari, Félix (1987) A Thousand Plateaus. Capitalism and Schizophrenia. Minneapolis & London: University of Minnesota Press. Derrida, Jacques (1981) Positions. Chicago: Chicago University Press. Feld, Steven & Fox, Aaron A. (1994) “Music and Language.” Annual Review of Anthropology 23, pp. 25-53. Foucault, Michel (1969/1972) The Archeology of Knowledge & The Discourse on Language. New York: Pantheon Books.
24
Foucault, Michel (1976/1990) The History of Sexuality. An Introduction. London: Penguin Books. Foucault, Michel (1980) Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-1977 (ed. Colin Gordon). New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf. Frith, Simon (1996) “Music and identity.” Questions of Cultural Identity. Red. Stuart Hall & Paul du Gay. London: Sage Publications, pp 108-127. Gilroy, Paul (1993) The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness. Cambridge Mass.: Harvard University Press. Grossberg, Lawrence (1992) We Gotta Get Out of This Place: Popular Conservatism and Postmodern Culture. New York & London: Routledge. Grossberg, Lawrence (1993) “Cultural Studies and / in New Worlds.” Critical Studies in Mass Communication, Vol. 10 Issue 1, March 1993, pp. 1-22. Grossberg, Lawrence (1996) “Identity and Cultural Studies – Is That All There Is?” Questions of Cultural Identity. Red. Stuart Hall & Paul du Gay. London: Sage Publications, pp. 87-107. Grosz, Elizabeth (1995) Space, Time and Perversion. Essays on the Politics of the Bodies. New York & London: Routledge. Hacking, Ian (1999) The Social Construction of What? Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Hall, Stuart (1992a) “The West and the Rest: Discourse and Power.” Formations of Modernity. Red. Stuart Hall & Bram Gieben. Cambridge: Polity Press & Open University, pp. 275-320. Hall, Stuart (1992b) “The Question of Cultural Identity.” Modernity and its Futures. Red. Stuart Hall, David Held & Tony McGrew. Cambridge: Polity Press & Open University, pp. 273-316. Hall, Stuart (1996) “Introduction: Who Needs ‘Identity’?” Questions of Cultural Identity. Red. Stuart Hall & Paul du Gay. London: Sage Publications, pp. 1-17. Hall, Stuart & du Gay, Paul (red.) (1996) Questions of Cultural Identity. London: Sage Publications. Institutet för finlandssvensk samhällsforskning (2008) Barometern – Baskoncept, http://www.samforsk.abo.fi/barometer_topic1.html (read 19.9.2008).
25
Jalkanen, Pekka (1992) Pohjolan yössä. Suomalaisia kevyen musiikin säveltäjiä Georg Malmsténista Liisa Akimofiin. Helsinki: Kirjastopalvelu. Jalkanen, Pekka & Kurkela, Vesa (2003) Suomen musiikin historia: Populaarimusiikki. Helsinki: Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö. Kontturi, Katve-Kaisa & Tiainen, Milla (2004) “Taiteentutkimus ja materiaalisuuden haaste: Feministisiä suunnanavauksia.” Kulttuurintutkimus 21: 3, pp. 17-27. Lechte, John (2003) Key Contemporary Concepts. London: Sage Publications. Lindberg, Ulf (1995) Rockens text. Ord, musik och mening. Stehag: Brutus Östlings förlag. Lindqvist, Yrsa (2001) “Den rikssvenska dimensionen.” Gränsfolket barn. Red. AnnaMaria Åström; Bo Lönnqvist & Yrsa Lindqvist. Helsingfors: Svenska Litteratursällskapet i Finland, pp. 383-397. Lundberg, Dan, Krister Malm and Owe Ronström (2000) Musik, medier, mångkultur: Förändringar i svenska musiklandskap. Kungl. Musikaliska akademiens skriftserie 93. Hedemora: Gidlunds förlag. Lönnqvist, Bo (2001a) ”Retoriken i den etniska mobiliseringen.” Gränsfolket barn. Red. Anna-Maria Åström, Bo Lönnqvist & Yrsa Lindqvist. Helsingfors: Svenska Litteratursällskapet i Finland, pp. 16-25. Lönnqvist, Bo (2001b) ”Symboler och etnisk dramatisering.” Gränsfolket barn. Red. Anna-Maria Åström, Bo Lönnqvist & Yrsa Lindqvist. Helsingfors: Svenska Litteratursällskapet i Finland, pp. 223-225. Lönnqvist, Bo (2001c) ”Diskursen oh det oartikulerade varandet. Ett ifrågasättande av identitetskonstruktionen.” Gränsfolket barn. Red. Anna-Maria Åström; Bo Lönnqvist; Yrsa Lindqvist. Helsingfors: Svenska Litteratursällskapet i Finland, pp. 443-450. Manuel, Peter (1988) Popular Musics of the Non-Western World. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press. Mann, Geoff (2008) “Why Does Country Music Sound White? Race and the Voice of Nostalgia.” Ethnic & Racial Studies, Vol. 31 Issue 1, Jan 2008, pp. 73-100. Mattila, Ilkka (2007) “Isi, koska ollaan perillä?” Nyt-liite (Helsingin Sanomat), nr 22/2007 1.6-7.6.2007. Middleton, Richard (1990) Studying Popular Music. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.
26
Nissilä, Pekka (2001) “Välimaaston mies. Lasse Mårtenson.” Selvis 3/2001. Nissilä, Pekka (2007) ”Lasse Mårtenson.” In: Lasse Mårtenson: Lauluja, pianokappaleita, jazzmessusävelmiä, iskelmiä. Ed. Virpi Kari. Helsinki: F-Kustannus. Nyqvist, Niklas (2007) Från bondson till folkmusikikon: Otto Andersson och formandet av ”finlandssvensk folkmusik”. Åbo: Åbo Akademis förlag. Pajala, Mari (2006) Erot järjestykseen! Eurovision laulukilpailu, kansallisuus ja televisiohistoria. Jyväskylä: Nykykulttuurin tutkimuskeskus. Parikka, Jussi & Tiainen, Milla (2006) “Kohti materiaalisen ja uuden kulttuurianalyysia – tai representaation hyödystä ja haitasta elämälle.” Kulttuurintutkimus, 23: 2, pp. 3-20. Said, Edward W. (1978/1995) Orientalism: Western Conceptions of the Orient. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. Tagg, Philip (1982) “Analysing Popular Music.” Popular Music, 2, pp. 37-67. Wenzer, Jakob (2007) Resonanser. En neomaterialistisk analys av independentscenen i Göteborg. Göteborgs Universitet. Wiley, Stephen B. Crofts (2005) “Spatial Materialism. Grossberg’s Deleuzean Cultural Studies.” Cultural Studies, Vol. 19 No. 1, January 2005, pp. 63-99. Åström, Anna-Maria (2001a) ”Kulturmöten och kulturell kontrastering.” Gränsfolkets barn. Red. Anna-Maria Åström; Bo Lönnqvist & Yrsa Lindqvist. Helsingfors: Svenska Litteratursällskapet i Finland, pp. 53-57. Åström, Anna-Maria (2001b): ”Inlandssvenskhetens genealogi”. Gränsfolkets barn. Red. Anna-Maria Åström, Bo Lönnqvist & Yrsa Lindqvist. Helsingfors: Svenska Litteratursällskapet i Finland, pp. 58-71. Åström, Anna-Maria; Lönnqvist, Bo & Lindqvist, Yrsa (red.) (2001) Gränsfolkets barn. Finlandssvensk marginalitet och självhävdelse i kulturanalytiskt perspektiv. Helsingfors: Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland.
27
