The Interdisciplinary Forum for Popular Music – ifPOP– is the working title of a project that explores music in popular cultures in Southern Africa. It is a platform where academic and public domains meet; it’s a provocation for conversation and artistic response.
The ‘if’ of ifPOP puts a question mark next to the notion of the “popular”: not all the music the project takes in its purview may be populist, commercialised, or mainstream. Yet “pop” captures the ethos of a vernacular – that which develops independent of institutions and formal training – and provides a starting point to unravel the histories and debates for which “popular” serves as a placeholder.
ifPOP’s intellectual project is to develop critical frameworks from an African context to trace the creative strategies and social dynamics of popular musics in South Africa. Through a series of public talks, symposia, performances, and conversations, it interrogates the ways that the notion of the popular finds expression and is challenged in Africa.
Why a Forum?
A forum is a platform for debate and exchange, and captures the public dimension of the project.
ifPOP embraces a spirit of collaboration, notably between
- different disciplines
- academic and the public domains, bringing together scholars, performers, artists, collectors, recording studios, producers, and music journalists.
- popular music and the archive. While the idea of popular music is often connected with current music (current hits, the latest releases), it also has a historical aspect. DOMUS houses one of the most extensive archives of popular music, the Hidden Years Music Archive, as well as important collections such as the Kaganof, Anton Goosen, Nico Carstens collections. IfPop not only engages with these archives, but also creates and contributes an archive of contemporary South African practices.
What is a forum?
The idea of a forum is significant: in Roman times it was a public space (often a square or a market)
where matters of public concern were discussed. In more recent usage, the internet Forum is a virtual
space where a virtual community share ideas, and tap into each other’s knowledge and experience.
IfPop is conceived as a forum, embracing the public dimension of popular music, but also in
acknowledgment of how knowledge has shifted. It’s not only the preserve of specialists, but also
something that resides within a community and something that is gained through practice and
experience. IfPop strives to bring knowledges that exist within music communities and among music
practitioners into the academic space.
Project Leader
Stephanie Vos
The Interdisciplinary Forum for Popular Music
(ifPOP) is a platform to discuss, debate and
explore popular music in South
Africa.
Through a series of conversations, symposia, workshops and conferences, ifPOP creates spaces of interaction between music writers, producers and practitioners; between different disciplinary approaches to studying popular music; and between current practices and the archive.
Upcoming Events
Conversations
The ifPOP Conversations are a series of public events where musicians, researchers and writers discuss their work and their artistic process. It has a fluid format. Sometimes a performance, sometimes a talk, sometimes a panel discussion, the ifPOP Conversations endeavour to make it an evening to provoke, inspire and inform.
Conference
The ifPOP Conference ‘Africa Synthesized: Electronic Music Pre-MP3’ brings together scholars, artists, producers and archivists to map 20th-century itineraries of electronic music in Africa.
Collaborations
Joint events with other projects. We connect with like-minded people and pool ideas to explore the synergies and frictions that emerge from embarking on projects together.
The Interdisciplinary Forum for Popular Music – ifPOP– is the working title of a project that explores music in popular cultures in Southern Africa. It is a platform where academic and public domains meet; it’s a provocation for conversation and artistic response.
The ‘if’ of ifPOP puts a question mark next to the notion of the “popular”: not all the music the project takes in its purview may be populist, commercialised, or mainstream. Yet “pop” captures the ethos of a vernacular – that which develops independent of institutions and formal training – and provides a starting point to unravel the histories and debates for which “popular” serves as a placeholder.
ifPOP’s intellectual project is to develop critical frameworks from an African context to trace the creative strategies and social dynamics of popular musics in South Africa. Through a series of public talks, symposia, performances, and conversations, it interrogates the ways that the notion of the popular finds expression and is challenged in Africa.
Why a Forum?
A forum is a platform for debate and exchange, and captures the public dimension of the project.
ifPOP embraces a spirit of collaboration, notably between
- different disciplines
- academic and the public domains, bringing together scholars, performers, artists, collectors, recording studios, producers, and music journalists.
- popular music and the archive. While the idea of popular music is often connected with current music (current hits, the latest releases), it also has a historical aspect. DOMUS houses one of the most extensive archives of popular music, the Hidden Years Music Archive, as well as important collections such as the Kaganof, Anton Goosen, Nico Carstens collections. IfPop not only engages with these archives, but also creates and contributes an archive of contemporary South African practices.
What is a forum?
The idea of a forum is significant: in Roman times it was a public space (often a square or a market)
where matters of public concern were discussed. In more recent usage, the internet Forum is a virtual
space where a virtual community share ideas, and tap into each other’s knowledge and experience.
IfPop is conceived as a forum, embracing the public dimension of popular music, but also in
acknowledgment of how knowledge has shifted. It’s not only the preserve of specialists, but also
something that resides within a community and something that is gained through practice and
experience. IfPop strives to bring knowledges that exist within music communities and among music
practitioners into the academic space.
Activities
2019.08.23
Second Vinyl Listening Session features Ntone Edjabe and Michael Bhatch
The Interdisciplinary Forum for Popular Music (ifPOP) and Hidden Years are hosting the second Hidden Archives Vinyl Listening Session, featuring selectors Ntone Edjabe and Michael
more
2019.04.02
New event series: Hidden Archives Vinyl Listening Sessions
On Wednesday 3 April, Stellenboschers will have a rare opportunity to listen to vinyls from the Hidden Years Archive, one of the most extensive archives
more
2018.12.17
SAMUS Vol. 38 Soundclips
A transcription of the interview with Kyle Shepherd from the first Jazz Conversation, is featured in the South African Music Studies Journal (SAMUS) Vol. 38.
more
2018.06.06
Record | Memory | Achive concert, in collaboration with Hidden Years
This beautiful film of the Record | Memory | Archive concert was made by Rob Ruhrmund. This concert was jointly organised by Hidden Years and
more
2018.06.06
Aidan Erasmus on Rock&Roll and protest
Soundclip from ifPOP Conversation #3, featuring Aidan Erasmus:
more
2018.06.06
Aidan Erasmus on The Genuines and the questions their music raise
Aidan Erasmus on the ghoema-punk band The Genuines and the questions their music raise for conceptualising Afrikaans punk. Soundclip from ifPOP Conversation #3, featuring Aidan
more
2018.06.06
Kyle Shepherd on the directions in which his music is developing
A soundclip from ifPOP Conversation #2, featuring Kyle Shepherd:
more
2018.06.06
Kyle Shepherd on the importance of developing one’s own artistic voice
A soundclip from ifPOP Conversation #2, featuring Kyle Shepherd:
more
2018.06.06
Kyle Shepherd on the Jazz University
A soundclip from ifPOP Conversation #2, with Kyle Shepherd:
more
2018.02.25
Remembering Hugh Masekela
Hugh Masekela and his music were both the doors into thinking about South African exile in my doctoral thesis and a source of inspiration when
more
2018.02.25
Kyle Shepherd featured in Business Day
Running up to ifPOP Conversation #2, this feature about Kyle Shepherd written by Tsepang Molefe appeared in Business Day. Read the article here.
moreThe Interdisciplinary Forum for Popular Music – ifPOP– is the working title of a project that explores music in popular cultures in Southern Africa. It is a platform where academic and public domains meet; it’s a provocation for conversation and artistic response.
The ‘if’ of ifPOP puts a question mark next to the notion of the “popular”: not all the music the project takes in its purview may be populist, commercialised, or mainstream. Yet “pop” captures the ethos of a vernacular – that which develops independent of institutions and formal training – and provides a starting point to unravel the histories and debates for which “popular” serves as a placeholder.
ifPOP’s intellectual project is to develop critical frameworks from an African context to trace the creative strategies and social dynamics of popular musics in South Africa. Through a series of public talks, symposia, performances, and conversations, it interrogates the ways that the notion of the popular finds expression and is challenged in Africa.
Why a Forum?
A forum is a platform for debate and exchange, and captures the public dimension of the project.
ifPOP embraces a spirit of collaboration, notably between
- different disciplines
- academic and the public domains, bringing together scholars, performers, artists, collectors, recording studios, producers, and music journalists.
- popular music and the archive. While the idea of popular music is often connected with current music (current hits, the latest releases), it also has a historical aspect. DOMUS houses one of the most extensive archives of popular music, the Hidden Years Music Archive, as well as important collections such as the Kaganof, Anton Goosen, Nico Carstens collections. IfPop not only engages with these archives, but also creates and contributes an archive of contemporary South African practices.