What is it about?
This article discusses the topic of nostalgia in popular music. It uses the example of a Portuguese song, 'Coimbra', which became popualr in the English-speaking world as 'April in Portugal' during the 1950s. The article explores the song and its various cover versions as examples of the representation of other spaces, places and times, connecting to the gap between 'here' and 'there', 'now' and 'then' that is at the heart of nostalgia.
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Why is it important?
When music and nostalgia are discussed together, it is usually with reference to the music from one's past acting as a reminder of that past in the present; in other words, music reminds listeners of things that really happened in their lives. This article argues that it music has also been used to create false memories, or imaginings, by representing experiences that listeners have not had.
Perspectives
This article is an attempt to bring together three of my interests: 1. Portuguese popular music, espcially the genre of fado, about which I've written a book. 2. The relationship between nostalgia, memory and the imagination. 3. A particular genre of once-popular recordings that I refer to as 'holiday records', but which might also be thought of as souvenir records (recordings bought on holiday), exotica, mood music, world music or easy listening.
Dr Richard Elliott
University of Newcastle
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: “Time and Distance Are No Object”, Volume !, December 2014, OpenEdition,
DOI: 10.4000/volume.4204.
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