Alexandra Kolesnik at a Conference on Heavy Metal Studies in Nantes

Senior research fellow Alexandra Kolesnik took part in a conference ‘Locating Heavy Metal Music and Culture’, which was held on June 17–20, 2019 in Nantes (France). The conference was organised by the International Society for Metal Music Studies and University of Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris 3. Alexandra presented her paper on ‘‘Cityness’ of Heavy Metal in Russia: ‘Moscow Metal Club’’.

Senior research fellow Alexandra Kolesnik took part in a conference ‘Locating Heavy Metal Music and Culture’, which was held on June 17–20, 2019 in Nantes (France). The conference was organised by the International Society for Metal Music Studies and University of Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris 3. The conference was aimed at discussing heavy metal cultures taking into account various cultural and geographical contexts, as well as modern approaches to heavy metal studies (from musicology and cultural studies to cultural history and black metal theory). Locations and positions can be understood in the proper sense, that of the geography, the territories or the physical spaces and places of metal practices, communities and scenes, as well as in the figurative sense, as social space. Among the questions discussed were the following: What is metal’s relation to the urban environment? Is it always a suburban music, or is it also a rural, countryside music? What effects do space and place have on the passion for metal, on concert or festival attendance, or on the acts of purchasing and listening to records? How do other cultural or social variables (class, nationality, gender, etc.) influence the rural or urban dimension of metal practice, and where are its scenes located? How can we associate the local dimension of musical practices with the music’s aesthetic features? Alexandra presented a paper ‘‘Cityness’ of Heavy Metal in Russia: ‘Moscow Metal Club’’. The paper was focused on the specificity of the Soviet tradition of Russian heavy metal, which was closely associated with Moscow and its iconic urban landmarks among the musicians and Russian metalheads. The conference also included workshops, meetings and interviews with representatives of record companies, promoters and music managers. In particular, a founder of one of the biggest world's heavy metal festivals  HellFest Yoann Le Nevé told about the history of the festival and the specifics of the modern music festivals industry.

The conference programme