Academic literature on the topic 'Kima (Musical group)'

The Japanese goddess Arne no Uzume no Mikoto bound up her sleeves with a chord of heavenly pi-kage vine, tied around her head a head-band of the heavenly masaki vine, bound together bundles of sasa leaves to hold in her hands, and overturning a bucket before the heavenly rock-cave door, stamped resoundingly upon it. Then she became divinely possessed, exposed her breasts, and pushed her skirt-band down to her genitals. (Philippi 1968:84)This description of the possession dance of the goddess Ame no Uzume no Mikoto in the eighth century Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters) A.D. 712, to entice the sun goddess from her place of hiding, is held as the origins of kagura—a ritual dance performed by miko—female shrine attendants. The connection between myth and ritual is made early in Japanese history with the early ninth century Kogo shûi—a record of court rites stating that the successors of Ame no Uzume no Mikoto were an already extinct female priestly group, Sarume Kimi no Uji, and they in turn passed their skill on to the miko.

The process of inventing a national musical tradition for newly independent Vietnam demanded the inclusion of appropriate features from the minority cultures. Scholars compiled studies of these groups and ascribed musical instruments and styles to particular people. Composers and performers were then encouraged, via the awards and honors that were bestowed upon them by the Communist Party, to incorporate these features into their musical palettes. Lương Kim Vĩnh, a state-employed musician from the Viet majority, successfully modified the Hmong reed pipe for use in modern national music, and he became internationally renowned for his innovative compositions and performances on this instrument. Chapter 2 examines the evolution of his “Hmong” sound, which has become a synecdoche for a wider pan-minority sound in contemporary Vietnam. His development of the modified reed pipe is used as a lens for studying the assimilation of the musical Other into Vietnamese modern national music.

The American city, much like America itself, has always been a fantastic construct. More often than not, American cities are cities of illusion, as their representations tend to focus on images which connote order, power, and progress. These ideas gloss over the systemic realities of homelessness, unemployment, and social injustice characteristic of America’s urban centers. Fantastic Cities explores representations of American cities in science fiction, fantasy, and horror across a variety of media. These genres render the illusory character of American urban spaces explicit, as they realize that which usually remains veiled. In this volume, an international group of scholars investigates examples ranging from Samuel R. Delany’s science fiction classic Dhalgren and Jim Jarmusch’s urban vampire film Only Lovers Left Alive to the science fiction-western musical film serial The Phantom Empire and Kim Stanley Robinson’s fiction.

Abstract This chapter looks at how the Malaysian Chinese have created multiple identities through their musical cultures from the early twentieth century to the turn of the new millennium. These identities are often informed by contestations and challenges and can be understood in the contexts of the socio-political and historical conditions that led to their creation. Factors such as class, education, state policies, and cultural contact with other ethnic groups also influence the making of identities and musical works. This chapter emphasizes that Chinese musicians in Malaysia have continually crossed boundaries, mixed cultural elements of the country’s multiethnic society, and incorporated content about their experiences as Malaysians into their music. Nevertheless, selected Chinese cultural markers with flexible borders are maintained as icons of Chineseness.

This chapter first turns the spotlight on how fascist and socialist states approach popular music, both in respect to control and censorship and in attempts to create authorized pop repertories, arguing for a redefinition of “popular.” It then introduces the two North Korean pop bands established in the mid-1980s, Pochonbo and Wangjaesan. Two vignettes explore how pop songs functioned as a “state telegraph” during the 1994–1997 transition period to Kim Jong Il that began with Kim Il Sung’s death, and during 2009–2011 as the third leader, Kim Jong Un, was eased into power, following the death of Kim Jong Il. Featuring Moranbong as the major group, it next discusses the revival in pop culture that began around 2010, finding evidence for this revival stretching back to the beginning of the new millennium. An epilogue briefly considers 2018, when North Korea sent an expanded Samjiyŏn troupe with 130 musicians to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games and South Korea reciprocated, sending K-pop stars to Pyongyang. From 2015, with the second incarnation of Moranbong, and then in 2018 with the Samjiyŏn troupe, the clock was turned back, and songs once again became the primary musical tool of the northern regime, reinforcing ideology, and signaling changes both within North Korea and in North Korea’s relations with the outside world.

With the rise of K-Pop globally, demonstrated through popular groups like BTS, NCT, or AESPA, K-Pop's influence has also expanded into the West and leads to the question: Can—and should—white people be K-pop idols? This chapter seeks to answer this question by exploring the example of EXP-Edition, an all-white K-Pop group created by then-NYU MA student Bora Kim, who wrote a Master's thesis defending the creation and attempting to legitimize the group. This chapter critiques EXP and Kim's thesis through racial rhetorical criticism, examining how Korean and other Asian performers are both racialized—and how EXP and Kim's thesis erase their racial experiences. The chapter works through racial rhetorical criticism by unpacking concepts such as orientalism, white privilege, and aculturality, a concept that requires more in-depth interrogation. The chapter concludes with recommendations for the future study of intersections with music education and future directions for cultural and rhetorical scholars.