Music of place: Community identity in contemporary Australian music festivals

Music of Place introduces the communities of three very different Australian festivals: the proudly multicultural City of Moreland in inner Melbourne; the 'Top Enders' who travel each Queen's birthday weekend for their annual gathering of Australian folk music; and Sydney's diverse Asian musical cultures. Each festival has its own underlying notions that structure the relationship between place, community and identity. These individual community festivals are used to promote each community's identity, created through certain musical styles or genres that are linked to certain identities, lifestyles and ideologies. These festivals appear to be about an ideal notion of community, and the music of these festivals inherently about how each community's 'home' is imagined. Yet, each community draws on the musical repertoire of its members, and in doing so, helps shape and give meaning to that particular community's histories, cultures and everyday spaces. This book explores these festival moments, capturing the ways in which music, geography and culture intersect and interact within specific locales, so bringing into being what may be experienced as distinct Australian communities