Published in 2022
147 pages
Anna Szemere has taught courses on the sociology of popular culture at the University of California, San Diego, USA, Emory University, USA, and the Central European University, Budapest, Hungary. She is the author of Up From the Underground: The Culture of Rock Music in Postsocialist Hungary (2001). She has served on the International Association for the Study of Popular Music as well as on Popular Music‘s editorial board; currently she is a consultant for Bloomsbury’s Popular Music and Sound Studies.
András Rónai has a PhD in Philosophy from University of Debrecen, Hungary. He is a music journalist extensively covering Hungarian popular music and the music industry, among other topics. His English language articles have been published in volumes like Made in Hungary: Studies in Popular Music (2017) and Popular Music, Technology, and the Changing Media Ecosystem (2020).
What is this book about?
For decades, the state-run music industry in Hungary has artificially isolated musical worlds. The 2010 album I’ll Be Your Plaything is a concept album comprising at times drastically re-imagined cover versions of Hungary’s most popular hits from the socialist era. As such it is a testament to music as a medium’s aptness to reflect on public and personal pasts. The album moreover exemplifies how rich and appealing synthesis of sounds and traditions can be concocted when folk, classically trained, rock, and jazz musical artists collaborate. Along with this freedom to blend and synthesize, the album opens up some long overdue space for women; playing with personas, voices, and singing styles, Palya reflects on issues of femininity, maternity, sexuality, and coupledom across generations.
