A weekend with the King: the Porthcawl Elvis Festival 2021
A weekend with the King: the Porthcawl Elvis Festival 2021
My PhD project explores the social life of music in post-industrial, working-class communities in South Wales. My research focuses on often overlooked and marginalised musical experiences—from Elvis impersonators down the club to karaoke singalongs and amateur music societies—and asks what these experiences can tell us about ideas of community, cultural identity, and collective memory. In September 2021, I conducted ethnographic research at the Porthcawl Elvis Festival as part of this wider project. Despite the festival’s worldwide appeal, it is often described as a ‘particularly Welsh event’ and one that is very well supported by the people of the South Wales Valleys. I took the opportunity to chat to as many fans, festivalgoers, locals, and Elvis Tribute Artists as I could and ask: ‘Why Elvis?’ and ‘Why Wales?’.
South, West & Wales Doctoral Training Partnership
Bevan-Clark, Nyle
8fbc383e-4d81-4571-8e96-ac9d23aa4ee0
11 November 2021
Bevan-Clark, Nyle
8fbc383e-4d81-4571-8e96-ac9d23aa4ee0
Nyle Bevan-Clark (Author)
(2021)
A weekend with the King: the Porthcawl Elvis Festival 2021
South, West & Wales Doctoral Training Partnership
Abstract
My PhD project explores the social life of music in post-industrial, working-class communities in South Wales. My research focuses on often overlooked and marginalised musical experiences—from Elvis impersonators down the club to karaoke singalongs and amateur music societies—and asks what these experiences can tell us about ideas of community, cultural identity, and collective memory. In September 2021, I conducted ethnographic research at the Porthcawl Elvis Festival as part of this wider project. Despite the festival’s worldwide appeal, it is often described as a ‘particularly Welsh event’ and one that is very well supported by the people of the South Wales Valleys. I took the opportunity to chat to as many fans, festivalgoers, locals, and Elvis Tribute Artists as I could and ask: ‘Why Elvis?’ and ‘Why Wales?’.
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Published date: 11 November 2021
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Local EPrints ID: 486911
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/486911
PURE UUID: bce52826-4f2d-4848-874d-eb20a95ad70e
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Date deposited: 08 Feb 2024 17:38
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 03:59
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