Research

Micro genres of music

5 intersting facts
25 objects- 5 colours, symbols, textures,
playlist


textures: feather(representing the feather boa in melfest),

 disco ball, feather boa, wind machines, dance routine, hearts

With looking at the website : Everynoise.com , the genres of which interested me to research into more were :

Swedish pop

eurovison

Swedish idol pop

schlager  

disney

Motown

tropical house

With the genre of Swedish pop appealing the most to derive the project from, it was concluded that this would be too obvious so I had a look into schlager, with the want to focus on Swedish schlager specifically.

Schlager music is ' a style of popular music which is generally a catchy instrumental accompaniment to vocal pieces of pop music with easy to understand, happy-go-lucky and often sentimental lyrics.'
Prevalent in central and northern europe. The origins date back to the 1950's in east Germany and west germany. The word is synonymous with the type of song 'a schlager' and is German for hit song (to hit= schlagen). The genre isn't just popular in Germany and Austria, with the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden and Finland all having rich traditions of schlager music.

according to 'musicmap' the roots lie in traditional folk music with the style evolving into a more popular form of music starting as early as the thirties in some countries. Schlagers are emotional, sentimental ballads, though often superficial in nature. They tell tales about love, misfortune or happiness, but always in a conservative and politically correct manner. After world war 2 and the rock and roll revolution, schlager singers went on the defence as they felt threatened by this new type of popular music. Since Blues, Jazz and country had little influence in prewar Europe, the rise of rock 'n' roll was even a greater shock and more significnace there. Thus a much greater production of schlagers saw the light, produced in a lightweight pop manner with piano, guitar, accordion or folk instruments. Each country has its own history and differences when it comes to schlager, but the common thread outlined here stretches outside borders. Schlager remains an underlying genre, alive in many 'folky' bars, community centres, or at huge schlagerfestivals.

Sweden specifically : 

on wikipedia - It has a large place in Swedish culture, with it perhaps being considered as too 'popular and commercial'. Schlager music became more pop orientated during the 60's and 70's. Since the early 90's schlager songs began to include elements of rock and techno. With modern schlager little resembling that of the 1940's. Many old schlager tunes are popular still with Swedish people, with being performed at song shows. Melodifestivalen is also called schlagerfestivalen since it has traditionally been characterised by schlager songs. Two characteristics of Swedish schlager are a pronounced key change before the final chorus and their three minute length (mainly for the use of having the song at Eurovision). Swedes may describe schlager as all popular music, 'older sounding' popular music, melodifestivalen songs, Eurovision songs and songs with a 'catchy' chorus.

the local.se- the background of Swedish music scene - Sweden is the third largest exporter of music in the world, with Swedish pop gaining more than 820 million dollars  in 2010. the swedes love a melody, with songwriter Ekberg who wrote songs for the likes of Ace of Base, insists that for most Swedish songwriters the tune always comes first, "because English is our second language, we always try to reach as many people as we can, so we have feel-good melodies and simple lyrics so everyone can have fun".

Then there's the Swedes' love of melody. Ulf Ekberg, songwriter for nineties pop titans Ace of Base, is insistent that for most Swedish songwriters the tune always come first. 

"Because English is our second language, we always try to reach as many people as we can, so we have feel-good melodies and simple lyrics so everyone can have fun," he said.

This love of melody stems from Swedish schlager music which derived from traditional Swedish folk, classical, and cabaret music. Schlager generally consists of short, simple, light songs about love that feature big, instant hooks. The ultimate schlager band was the mighty Abba, who blended sixties pop's fluid rhythms with schlager's giant melodic hooks to not inconsiderable success.

And the ultimate celebration of schlager is the Melodifestivalen, the contest to provide Sweden's song for the Eurovision Song Contest. The seriousness with which Swedes take Melodifestivalen surprises every newcomer. But those that deride Melodifestivalen are often those that fall for the schlocky variants of X Factor, a show that prefers to concentrate on the individual's pursuit of fame at the expense of the song. And most Swedes are far too canny to fall for that malarkey.

But, thanks to the current government, not all is set fair for the Swedes' continued domination of pop music. The government is in the process of dismantling policies that encouraged music and had been producing excellent results since the 1960s.

Music is no longer compulsory in schools and state funding of cultural activities has been slashed. It's short-sighted, counter-productive and idiotic - why take funds away from a Swedish success story?

Sweden is the largest exporter of pop music per capita in the world. In fact, regardless of population, Sweden is currently the third largest exporter of music in the world, just behind the US and the UK. In 2010, it is estimated that Swedish pop music exports totalled more than $820 million.