TY - CHAP

T1 - Building Scene and Cultural Memory in the Weser Hills.

T2 - The Case of Glitterhouse Records and Orange Blossom Special Festival

AU - Kuchar, Robin

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG. 2023.

PY - 2023/3/22

Y1 - 2023/3/22

N2 - To date, there has been very little research on regional and rural music scenes in Germany. In this chapter, the case of Glitterhouse Records/Orange Blossom Special as important and rural actor of the German Independent/Underground Music Scene will be described and analyzed in terms of scene building and cultural memory. Started as a DIY Fanzine in 1981, the history of Glitterhouse Records as mailorder and record label began in 1984 in close relation to the North-American underground music of that time, e.g. as European partner of Sub Pop and Amphetamine Reptile Records. Founded and driven in Beverungen, a small town next to the river Weser in Eastern Westfalia and retaining a strong sense of its regional identity, the label gathered a strong meaning in the German scene and has not only outlasted many other urban-based labels, but gained even more importance through Orange Blossom Special, a festival that has taken place in the garden of the label’s premises since 1997. The festival constitutes a yearly crowd of about 2000-2500 people – most of them returning every year. Taking into account the socio-spatial setting of festivals, scenes and their connection to ‘the rural’, the analysis presented in this chapter focuses on the ability of Glitterhouse and OBS to build rural based memory as well as a community around music, linked to shared attitudes connected with the trans-local independent music scene. The chapter draws on interviews with the founders of Glitterhouse Records and OBS as well as festival attendees.

AB - To date, there has been very little research on regional and rural music scenes in Germany. In this chapter, the case of Glitterhouse Records/Orange Blossom Special as important and rural actor of the German Independent/Underground Music Scene will be described and analyzed in terms of scene building and cultural memory. Started as a DIY Fanzine in 1981, the history of Glitterhouse Records as mailorder and record label began in 1984 in close relation to the North-American underground music of that time, e.g. as European partner of Sub Pop and Amphetamine Reptile Records. Founded and driven in Beverungen, a small town next to the river Weser in Eastern Westfalia and retaining a strong sense of its regional identity, the label gathered a strong meaning in the German scene and has not only outlasted many other urban-based labels, but gained even more importance through Orange Blossom Special, a festival that has taken place in the garden of the label’s premises since 1997. The festival constitutes a yearly crowd of about 2000-2500 people – most of them returning every year. Taking into account the socio-spatial setting of festivals, scenes and their connection to ‘the rural’, the analysis presented in this chapter focuses on the ability of Glitterhouse and OBS to build rural based memory as well as a community around music, linked to shared attitudes connected with the trans-local independent music scene. The chapter draws on interviews with the founders of Glitterhouse Records and OBS as well as festival attendees.

KW - Culture and Space

KW - Music education

KW - History

KW - Geography

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/12701f9b-c6cb-3d1d-97e2-8979cc84aa25/

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85174965450&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/978-3-031-08615-1_11

DO - 10.1007/978-3-031-08615-1_11

M3 - Contributions to collected editions/anthologies

SN - 978-3-031-08614-4

SN - 978-3-031-08617-5

T3 - Pop Music, Culture, and Identity

SP - 163

EP - 178

BT - Popular Music Scenes

A2 - Bennett, Andy

A2 - Cashman, David

A2 - Green, Ben

A2 - Lewandowski, Natalie

PB - Palgrave Macmillan

CY - Cham

ER -