Performing the double rupture: Kraftklub, popular music and post-socialist urban identity in Chemnitz, Germany. (July 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Erbacher, Eric; Nitzsche, Sina
• Is Part Of: International journal of cultural studies. Volume 20:Number 4(2017:Jul.)
• Page Start: 437
• Page End: 455
• Publication Date: 2017-07
• Subjects: city marketing -- creative industries -- deindustrialization/shrinkage -- GDR -- Germany -- popular music -- socialist heritage; Culture -- Periodicals; Mass media -- Periodicals; Popular culture -- Periodicals; 306.05
• DOI: 10.1177/1367877916638730
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1367-8779

Abstract

Popular music constitutes an important mode of public expression which can stimulate not only a change in the public image of place but also wider social and cultural communities in shrinking cities. Focusing on the internationally successful indie-rap band Kraftklub from the Eastern German city of Chemnitz, we analyse how they visually, rhetorically and musically address shrinkage and the GDR as a critical comment on municipal memory and identity politis. Contextualizing Kraftklub's oeuvre with the official city marketing campaign, we show that popular music scenes help establish a new, inclusive and confident post-industrial identity as well as contribute to a more positive urban image.