Abstract
On the basis of interviews with music audiences, heritage practitioners, and cultural industry workers, this article explores how language use in Dutch popular music relates to local and historically situated taste patterns and music practices. Most popular music in the Netherlands is sung in English, Dutch, or dialects of the Dutch language. We discuss how these languages are used in Dutch popular music as an expression of cultural taste, cultural identities, and local heritages. Furthermore, we describe historical trends in the attention to various languages and their associated genres, focusing on processes of classification and cultural legitimization.
Acknowledgements
This research has been supported as part of the Popular Music Heritage, Cultural Memory and Cultural Identity (POPID) project by the HERA Joint Research Program (www.heranet.info), which is co-funded by AHRC, AKA, DASTI, ETF, FNR, FWF, HAZU, IRCHSS, MHEST, NWO, RANNIS, RCN, VR, and the European Community FP7 2007–13, under the “Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities” program.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Arno van der Hoeven
Arno van der Hoeven is an assistant professor in the Department of Media and Communication, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. His main research interests include popular culture, memory studies, and cultural identity.
Susanne Janssen
Susanne Janssen is a professor of sociology of media and culture and chair of the Department of Media and Communication at Erasmus University Rotterdam. She is the academic director of the Erasmus Research Centre for Media, Communication and Culture (ERMeCC). Her research and teaching activities lie in the fields of cultural sociology, media and communications research, and the sociology of the arts and literature.
Simone Driessen
Simone Driessen is a lecturer and PhD candidate in the Department of Media and Communication, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Her main research interests include popular culture, cultural identity, and audience research.