Popular Music Research Unit
Director: Keith Negus
Advisory Group:
Prof. (Emeritus) John Baily
Dr Lisa Busby
Simon Deacon
Ian Gardiner
Dr. Berta Joncus
Dr. Barley Norton
Dr. Tom Perchard
Bringing together creative practice and critical debate, the Goldsmiths Popular Music Research Unit was formed in January 2011, with the aim of focusing and extending the Department of Music’s growing expertise in and reputation for innovative research into popular music. The Unit will be addressing contemporary issues of significance to musicians, industries involved directly and indirectly with popular music, voluntary and state organisations and the public, and will encompass repertoire that is broad in historical range and geographical scope.
The Unit hosts the new MA in Music (Popular Music Research) and facilitates recognition of the research activities of staff, students and alumni of the successful BMus Popular Music. The Unit will also showcase the research of doctoral students, and we welcome applications from prospective MPhil/ PhD students.
The Unit seeks to facilitate a variety of traditional and more innovative ways of researching popular music; focusing on musical texts, reception, creativity and production in both contemporary and historical contexts. It will showcase research of University based scholars, performers and composers as well as creative practitioners. It will also engage with and seek to emphasize the significance of popular music research in a variety of non-academic contexts (music related industries, marketing, arts management, museums and archives, the sciences).
Karpe Diem, a still from their video for Byduer i Dur. For details on this event, go to the Events Archive
Latest Events
The Life and Music of A.L. Lloyd
A talk by Dave Arthur to coincide with the publication of his book Bert: The Life and Times of A.L. Lloyd (Pluto Press).
When: Tuesday 29 May, 5.00 pm, followed by a drinks reception in the SCR
Where: Small Hall Cinema, Goldsmiths
All welcome, no need to book
Folk singer and folk music collector, writer, painter, journalist, art critic, whalerman, sheep station roustabout, Marxist, and much more - this is the story of A. L. (Bert) Lloyd's extraordinary life. A. L. Lloyd played a key part in the folk music revival of the 1950s and 60s, but that is only part of his story. Dave Arthur documents how Lloyd became a member of the Communist Party, forceful antifascist, trade unionist and an important part of left-wing culture from the early 1930s to his death in 1982. Following his return from Australia as a 21-year-old, self-educated agricultural labourer, he was at the heart of the most important left-wing movements and highly respected for his knowledge in various fields.
Dave Arthur recounts the life of a creative, passionate and life-loving Marxist, and in so doing provides a social history of a turbulent twentieth century. Dave Arthur is writer, painter, singer and instrumentalist (guitar, banjo and melodeon), writer of plays for stage, community and puppet theatre and Director of the Society for Storytelling.
More details of Dave can be found here
The Goldsmiths library houses the A.L. Lloyd Collection and Archive.
For information on past events, go to the events archive.