Gender Identities, Stardom and the Italian Popular Music - Essay Example

Gender Identities, Stardom and the Italian Popular Music Introduction Music now days could not be merely viewed as art but it has turned into craft that requires exhibition and tactical utilization of wide range of tools and clichés. The trend of sagacious use of specific codes and genre for music presentation has interconnected the phenomenon of stardom to that of spectacle. The concept of spectacle in simple terms could be explained as use of toe tapping, humming and presenting tailored representation of authentic events to engage the audience in performance in such a manner that they mindlessly perceive the images real as intended by the performers. The spectacle has eventually projected a star as someone different from an artist and popular music as something different from Avant-grade. The central role of spectacles in music is backed by gendered stereotypes and it has been observed that the pop starts are mostly gendered directed. The role of gender construct in creating stardom could never be overlooked. In fact, it could be said that the role of gender identities in the construct of stardom phenomenon is an old debate. The following essay aims to discuss the role played by gender in stardom construction specifically in Italian popular music. It has been unveiled that gender affects the audience of the music industry in such a strong manner that it has made clear distinction in the positioning of male and female singers. The male singer and songwriters are commonly taken as an artist whereas the female singers are easily positioned as star. This important role of gender within Italian popular music has been discussed in the essay with reference to Fabrizio De Andre and Mina. The essay strived to explain how these people get different positions in the music industry due to their gender identities. Music, Gender and Stardom It is obvious that stardom is linked to the notion of spectacle which means that it is not possible to achieve stardom without doing something spectacular. The relationship between music and spectacle is a difficult one as the lyrics alone may not create powerful attraction. Hence, the singer has to tactfully perform in order to create spectacle. The singer has to evolve as a performer to manipulate the viewers with the use of specific gestures and language. Music making is a craft and artists tend to use different criteria to gain the attention of the audience. One of their techniques is to manipulate their appearances to attract the viewers that are playing with their gender. They often do it by adopting features similar to their opposite sex. Contrary to Jackqueline Warwick, who argues that pop stars are feminine, a phenomenon that may be restricted to male pop stars but not to female artists. In the case of female pop stars, they tend to imitate masculinity in their performances to become the centre of attraction. Gender criterion has played a vital role in the construction of stardom. Male and female singers get different reception from the audience due to their gender identities because the conventional and widespread perceptions about the roles of men and women have made some specific boundaries for the performances and approached of men and women when they perform in media. Men presenting their looks, singing and dancing skills in front of people to be looked and admired often become stars but the conventional thought rejects them while judging on the standards of masculinity because this is considered permissible for women to attract people by exposing their pretty faces, figures and styles. Men, on the other hand are supposed to play with different musical instruments like electronic guitar, violin, drums and trumpet because playing with these instruments comply with the masculinity standards. It is another important reason that authenticates the role of gender in stardom construction. Gender Based Stardom and Italian Popular Music Music occupies a special and unique position when it comes to Italy and it is believed that music lives in Italy whereas other forms of arts use to speak a dead language (Burney, 1773, p. 3). Gender identities have very important role to play within the Italian music industry as well. The history of Italian music especially the popular music is filled with several examples where the females tend to play dominating role when it comes to stardom. The female singers like Laura Paisini, Polzelli, Anna Oxa, Raffaella Carra, Ornella Vanini, Mina and many more were commonly viewed as musical stars by the people whereas Zucchero, Tiziano Ferro, Nek and Vasco Rossi simply gained fame as musicians and singers and were not commonly marked as Italian music stars. It has been observed that throughout different phases of musical progression in Italy, the male singers or song writers are usually not accepted as start due to a common mindset of the people that women are supposed to be looked by the people and the males are not meant to attract the audience through their looks and appearances. This mindset has been playing role in constructing stardom for several decades. Looking back to 1930s we can take the example of crooners that were mostly mistrusted by the male audience. Rather taking them as star, people often call them sissies and they were not considered deserving adoration from the women especially from white women (McCracken, 1999, p. 365). In present times, the fame of some white males like Justin Bieber that he got from his singing and dancing skills is a mean of discomfort for many people who believe that stardom is gendered feminine. This mindset could be understood by the conception presented by John Berger in European Art analysis in which he wrote that men act and women appear. Men look at women, Women watch themselves being looked at (Berger, 1972, p. 47). This is very famous analysis of art that also explains why male singers are not likely to be star whereas the women even having lesser singing and dancing skills turn out to be star in the eyes of the people. People generally accept women and stars but for the male listeners and audience it becomes difficult to view and accept as male singers or song writer as star. There are many singers and music artists in the history of Italian popular music that were treated in different manner by people mainly because of their gender identities. In fact, the role of gender in stardom construct could be well explained through the examples of Fabrizio De Andre and Mina. Mina was somewhat different from the conventional sketch that the European society tends to have for the women artists or singer. Rather, she exhibits some masculine features due to which she invited wave of criticism and dislike for her. The European society wants to see women singing softly with low tones having no gestures of masculinity but still she gained fame and ruled the Italian pop music for years. Mina has been considered as one of the most successful and popular Italian pop singers during 1960s and 1970s who reached heights of success by cleverly adopting characteristics that exhibits signs of masculinity. She was a leading figure in the Italian pop music and was known for the great extension and the agility of her soprano voice. She rules the Italian music chart for almost 15 years. Mina was recognized as the most versatile singer of the time since she combined several modern styles with the traditional Italian melody. She remained the Queen of Italian popular music for over a decade and recorded over 1000 songs, 110 albums, sold 76 million records, and also scored 70 singles in Italian popular music charts. In 1959 she was hailed as the first female rock and roll singer. Her loud syncopated singing earned her the title of “Queen of Screamers”. She also became known as “Tiger of Cremona” for her wild gestures that she gave during his performances and the body shakes that she adopted to attract people. These characteristics are unusual to a common woman. Females are generally assumed to utter in mellow tone. Loud tone or shouting are often seen as characteristics of masculinity. Nonetheless, a woman making wild moves publically is considered disdainful in a cultured society. Apart from this Mina’s lifestyle did not concede with the dominant Catholics and bourgeois moral. Consequently, she was banned from the Italian TV and radio channels in 1963. Even after the ban, the Italian broadcasting service tried to restrict her songs which were supported controversial or unethical issues such as religion, smoking or sex (e.g. the songs "Ta-ra-ta-ta" and "Sacumd? Sacumd?") (Fabbri and Plastino, 2013, p. 167) Mina was linked with the success of another renowned Italian singer and song writer Fabrizio De Andre. He gained recognition for his sympathetic views and inclination towards anarchism, libertinism and pacifism. Since the early days of his childhood De Andre recognized his flair and love for poetry, music and theatre. He was a law student at the University but played guitar and violin in jazz and folk concerts. His inclination towards music drew him from his career as a lawyer and he abandoned his degree. De Andréa started his music career in 1958. However, he witnessed his greatest break after recording a song with Mina, “La Canzone di Marinella” which gained tremendous success (Fabbri and Plastino, 2013, p. 166). De Andre’s work highlighted the marginal lives of the prostitutes and gypsies, also disclosing the hypocrisies of the Catholic Church. He had written number of religious songs though few found controversial. However, certain of his songs are played in the church. In 1970 De André wrote “La Buona Novella” ("Glad Tidings"), which was very controversial, especially the song "IL testamento di Tito" ("Tituss Will"), in which one of the thieves crucified with Jesus violently refutes the Ten Commandments (Young, 2002, p. 23). His other songs include "Preghiera in Gennaio", "Prayer in January", and "Si chiamava Gesù", "His Name Was Jesus" in which he showed a Christian-like open-minded spirit and in the meantime invited the audience in his own delicate way to think about the manipulation of the church. In 1971 he introduced another album, Non al denaro non allamore né al cielo ("Neither to money, nor to love, nor to Heaven"). Fabrizio De Andrés name began to be associated with literature and poetry, and some of his songs found their way into school books (Touring club italiano, 2001, p. 47). He wanted to make a revolution in the field of poetry and music. Hence, in 1975 he launched another album which showed great influence of modern poetry in De Andre’s work. He is also known for his sensibility and kind heartedness. Fabizio and his soul-mate were kidnapped for ransom by Sardinis. After the couple was released, Andre was called as a witness before the court. He displayed compassion towards certain kidnappers by saying, “They were the real prisoners, not I.” De Andre was inspired by the hard life of Sardinian and he published his new album. Though the album was unnamed but due to the picture of a Native American present on it, it was known as “L’Indian” (The Indians) (Touring club italiano, 2001, p. 45). Fabizio De Andre is considered as an artist in the musical industry of Italy rather than a pop star like Mina. Perhaps De Andre’s work was not merely commercial but rather social, provoking awareness among people. His lyrics became the voice of the unheard in the society. He empowered Italian literature and music. Andre’s work was worth citing; hence it became a part of educational books. His actions were thoughtful and so he forgave his culprits. On the other hand, the bad image that Mina carried played a major role in wining her lime light. Although both Fabizio and Andre have good voice quality but what earned Mina more success was her ingenious manipulation of gender and hence her appearance. Smoking, wearing dyed blonde hair and shaving eyebrows were her attempts to deviate from feminism. Mina added a sexual appeal which attracted a large audience towards her and hence these tactics gained her lot of successes and she became able to become a prominent figure of Italian popular music. The careers of Mina and Fabrizio De Andre and their reception among the masses also show that the gender plays vital role in constructing stardom. The European music audience and specifically the Italian music listeners and performance viewers have a mindset in which there is little place for the male pop stars whereas the female stars are welcome to attract the audience through their appearances, looks, figures and sexual appeals. It implies that men are not supposed to gain fame on the basis of their appearance or any sort of appeal based on their physical looks whereas the women singers might rule the music charts on the basis of their skills of exposing their figures, faces and make them appealing to the people. The gender role in stardom construct is an established fact and it is not possible to understand the dynamics of stardom without paying attention towards the phenomenon of gender identities. In fact, to understand stardom it is imperative to understand the attitude of people towards certain gender and their expectations with different gender groups. This is because gender is deeply embedded to the social systems and people want to see male and females performing those particular types of activities that are acceptable for them in the social scenarios. The females tend to present them beautifully in front of the people and thus, in music also the people want the females to present them attractively in front of the audiences. On the other hand, the males are not expected to show any sexual or physical appeal to the audience rather they have to exhibit outstanding talent to be famous and successful. They can gain success and fame using their physical skills like dancing and acting but it is never accepted from males to show sexual appeals to become star rather people feel uncomfortable with such artists and give them different names like ‘sissies’ etc. It also shows that men have to work harder than the women in order to become famous and renowned in the eyes of the masses whereas the women can use their appearance as their tool that often overshadows their weaknesses. The popularity of Mina despite her musicality exhibition also shows that women might do experiment with their figures and appearances whereas males have little scope here. The entire discussion could be sum up with the conclusion that stardom has different meanings for male and the females. Males are supposed to be artists, musicians, song writers and singers whereas women singer can soon become star because the European audience want to see the appearance of the females and performance of the male. It affirms that gender is among the leading factor in the construct of stardom and to be a star one must understand the response of people towards certain gender in the society because without this understanding one can not think about winning the heart of people and become popular among them. References Berger, J. 1972. Ways of Seeing. London: Penguin. Burney, C. 1773. The present state of music in France and Italy: or, the journal of a tour through those countries, undertaken to collect materials for a general history of music. Google eBook. Fabbri, F. and Plastino, G. 2013. Made in Italy: Studies in Popular Music. London: Routledge. McCracken, A. “God’s Gift to Us Girls”: Crooning, Gender, and the Re-Creation of American Popular Song, 1928-1933,” American Music, 17 (4), pp. 365-395: 366. Touring club italiano. 2001. The Italian Riviera: A Complete Guide to Liguria, Including Portofino, Cinque Terre, Portovenere, Genoa and Sanremo. Italy: Touring Editore. Young, R. 2002. Music, Popular Culture, Identities. London: Rodopi. Read More