Barbara Lebrun traces the evolution of 'protest' music in France
since 1981, exploring the contradictions that emerge when artists
who take their musical production and political commitment
'seriously', cross over to the mainstream, becoming profitable and
consensual. Contestation is understood as a discourse shaped by the
assumptions and practices of artists, producers, the media and
audiences, for whom it makes sense to reject politically
reactionary ideas and the dominant taste for commercial pop.
Placing music in its economic, historical and ideological context,
however, reveals the fragility and instability of these
oppositions. The book firstly concentrates on music production in
France, the relationships between independent labels, major
companies and the state's cultural policies. This section provides
the material background for understanding the development of rock
alternatif, France's self-styled 'subversive' genre of the 1980s,
and explains the specificity of a 'protest' music culture in
late-twentieth-century France, in relation to the genre's tradition
in the West. The second part looks at representations of a
'protest' identity in relation to discourses of national identity,
focusing on two 1990s sub-genres. The first, chanson neo-realiste,
contests modernity through the use of acoustic instruments, but its
nostalgic 'protest' raises questions about the artists' real
engagement with the present. The second, rock metis, borrows from
North African and Latino rhythms and challenges the 'neutral'
Frenchness of the Republic, while advocating multiculturalism in
problematic ways. A discussion of Manu Chao's career, a French
artist who has achieved success abroad, also allows an exploration
of the relationship between transnationalism and anti-globalization
politics. Finally, the book examines the audiences of French
'protest' music and considers festivals as places of
'non-mainstream' identity negotiation. Based on first-hand
interviews, this section highlights the vocabulary of emotions that
audiences use to make sense of an 'alternative' performance,
unveiling the contradictions that underpin their self-definition as
participants in a 'protest' culture. The book contributes to
debates on the cultural production of 'resistance' and the
representation of post-colonial identities, uncovering the social
constructedness of the discourse of 'protest' in France. It pays
attention to its nation-specific character while offering a wider
reflection on the fluidity of 'subversive' identities, with
potential applications across a range of Western music practices.
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