Popular music as living heritage: theoretical and practical challenges explored through the case of Slovenian folk pop

Abstract

Produced, distributed, and consumed in a de-territorialised way, modern popular music presents a set of challenges to cultural heritage policies which largely rely on spatial frameworks, as needs for the preservation of local, regional, or national cultural heritage are typically highlighted. Moreover, certain popular music genres dating back to the mid-20th century are both representations and re-inventions of local and ‘folk’ or ‘traditional’ music and have become a part of many living heritage practices. Slovenian folk-pop (FP) music is a case in point: a modern genre in terms of history and production conditions, nationally registered as intangible cultural heritage. This article offers an analysis of how FP music is integrated into authorised heritage discourse in Slovenia, foregrounding the results of extensive interviews with 14 heritage gatekeepers, such as organisers of FP festivals and curators of thematic museums. The article discusses how operational definitions of FP as heritage, used by various gatekeepers that operate locally, regionally, and internationally deviate from the definition provided in the national intangible heritage register. The analysis traces how discourses about national and cultural identity get intertwined with music and establishes that gatekeepers’ understandings of culture as either territorialised or dynamic significantly impact their heritage activities.