An anthology that evokes the music, residents, and vibrant nightlife of migrants in cities around the world.
Sonic Signatures interprets the music of contemporary migrants from Montreal to Rotterdam, Oslo to Tokyo. Drawing on research in urban musicology, international migration, and the emerging field of night studies, this edited volume illustrates that sonic signatures are fundamental to nighttime cityscapes, a way of experiencing space and belonging. Contributors to the anthology consider a wide array of genres—including EDM, batida do gueto, and iSicathamiya—to understand how migrants resist oppression, long for people and places, and shape their adopted cities through music.
Table of Contents:
List of Figures
1. Sensorial Belonging and Urban Migration: An Introduction to Sonic Signatures
Derek Pardue
PART 1: COLLABORATION
2. Music, Memory and Migration at Night: Relational Ways of Knowing through Arts-Based Collaborations
Katie Young and Ailbhe Kenny
3. Resonating Restrictions: Dreaming with EDM ‘In-between’ Casablanca and Montreal
Jillian Fulton-Melanson
Interlude 1. ‘How “Free” Is the Free Africa Festival?’
Willians Santos and Derek Pardue
PART 2: STREET SOUNDS
4. Nocturnal Polyphony: Mobile Music-Making as Urban Composition
Nick Dunn
Interlude 2. ‘Tokyo After Hours’
Nick Prior
PART 3: HISTORICITY
5. Manolo D’Aro Postmortem: The Eternal and the Futurible in the Musical Landscapes of Francoist Experiential Capitalism
Pol Esteve Castelló
6. Dancing Down Memory Lane: (Re)experiences of Cape Verdean Nightlife in Rotterdam
Seger Kersbergen
Interlude 3. Karingido: Vigilante Tricksters and Feedback-Loop Approaches to a Liberation Struggle
Masimba Hwati and Austin T. Richey
PART 4: BELONGING
7. Lisbon Under Construction: The Nocturnal Stylings of batida do gueto
Jacqueline Georgis
8. (Be)Longing: Irish Musicking and Place-Making in Oslo, Norway
Áine Mangaoang
Interlude 4. ‘New York Ne Dort Pas’
Brendan Kibbee
PART 5: DISCORD
9. Urban Outcasts and the Defiant iSicathamiya Music
Sipho Sithole
10. Rooms for Resistance: Migration and Social Markers of Difference in Berlin Queer Underground Electronic Music Scene
Gibran Teixeira Braga
Interlude 5. Sounding In, Sounding Out: Remembrance and Resistance at the Border
Emilie Amrein and André de Quadros
Notes on Contributors
Index
About the Author :
Derek Pardue holds a Ph.D in cultural anthropology and is an associate professor in global studies at Aarhus University, Denmark. He has conducted fieldwork and archival research in Brazil, Portugal, Denmark and Cape Verde.
Ailbhe Kenny is a senior lecturer in music education at Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick. Her research is widely published internationally; she is the author of Communities of Musical Practice (Routledge, 2016) and co-editor of Musician-Teacher Collaborations: Altering the Chord (Routledge, 2018).
Katie Young holds a Ph.D in music and is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at Brock University, Canada and editorial assistant for Ethnomusicology Forum journal. Katie has conducted research in Ghana, Ireland and Canada, and has published in a range of journals and edited volumes.
Review :
'Sonic Signatures is a compelling and multifaceted exploration of what urban soundscapes at night mean for migrants. Edited by Derek Pardue, Ailbhe Kenny, and Katie Young, the collection distinguishes itself from previous literature on cities and night time through its unique points of view and articulations as well as its innovative approaches and analyses to investigating the multisensorial aspects of darkness.
Overall, Sonic Signatures offers invaluable insights on how music serves as a tool of cultural resilience, allowing migrants to maintain connections to their roots while adapting to new environments. The concept of the “sonic signature” emerges as a space where memories are encoded, and resistance is articulated, illustrating the deep connection between music and historical consciousness. The authors’ explorations of night-time as a time of creativity, solidarity, resistance, and cultural expression provides fresh perspectives on the significance of the nocturnal. This novel approach of engaging with the night as a cultural space uncovers the hidden narratives of marginalized communities, demonstrating how the night can be a canvas for social transformation and sonic expression. Furthermore, the unique transdisciplinary structure of the book enriches the exploration of music and migration among a diverse range of contexts. It argues that music is not just a form of entertainment but a means of cultural resistance, enabling marginalised communities to assert their existence and adapt to new surroundings. The breadth of insights on the nocturnal musical experiences of migrant communities from South Africa to Germany to Brazil to Japan and further beyond provide much needed and comprehensive contributions to understanding how music serves as a medium for both adaptation and resistance within various migratory contexts.'
'The plural histories documented in Sonic Signatures are instructive, particularly when read in relation to other theories of cultural production, the construction of difference, sociality, and auditory communities. The volume’s focus on migratory flux and cross-pollination models a scholarly approach that is both deeply historically and culturally specific, but also takes into account change and the ongoing multiple directionalities of communication and influence, particularly vis-à-vis various forms of media. Modalities of music-making, reception, and circulation are always feeding back into one another, and across social, cultural, and linguistic borders. ‘We want the aural imaginary and it wants us’, Kheshti wrote over a decade ago; the essays in Sonic Signatures testify to that desire.'
