From: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org (JMDL Digest) To: joni-digest@smoe.org Subject: JMDL Digest V2012 #1424 Reply-To: joni@smoe.org Sender: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk Unsubscribe:mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe Website:http://jonimitchell.com JMDL Digest Wednesday, September 19 2012 Volume 2012 : Number 1424 ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- new doctoral thesis about Joni [Jussi Pukkila ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2012 21:36:50 +0300 From: Jussi Pukkila Subject: new doctoral thesis about Joni I caiught this newsbit today: http://yle.fi/uutiset/vaitos_naismuusikko_ei_voi_olla_lapeensa_naisellinen/6300327 YLE is the 'BBC of Finland', so to speak, the state-run TV/radio/news company. Here's a translation: The general appearance of the female musicians is given increasingly more attention in the rock press. So says Anne Karppinen of the University of Jyvdskyld, who will present on Saturday her doctoral thesis about the musician Joni Mitchell. According to the study, women musicians were downplayed already in the 1960s and 70s in the American rock press. Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell often discussed womanhood in her texts from various angles. Especially in the early years of her career, she focused on the problems of the urban single woman, which was new at the time. The research dissertation of Phil.Lic. Anne Karppinen is unique. Not much academic research has been done abroad either. For example, Leonard Cohenista has been the subject of research already since the 70s. - - I would argue it is because Mitchell is a woman. In the rock press i have studied, the canon of rock has been built the way that men have been brought forward as central characters. Woman musicians aspire to be masculine For her dissertation, Karppinen has not only studied rock press but also Mitchell's nine studio albums. The reception the musician received by the press in the past was mainly good. - - It was a good thing that she was talked about, as some women artists were completely ignored. However, with each record, Mitchell had to prove herself to critics, unlike Bob Dylan or Cohen, whose albums were always waited with enthusiasm and eagerness. Mitchell was also the focus of criticism. - - Mitchell's voice and lyrics were ridiculed in the press, that she is a frivulous soprano writing about feelings. Karppinen's dissertation asserts that a credible woman/female rocker can't be thoroughly feminine. - - If you want to be a woman in rock, in some way you have to act and write songs like men, to get past/over your femininity. According to the dissertation, many female musicians, Mitchell included, deny their womanhood and want to be perceived as genderless or masculine. Women's appearance still in scrutiny According to Karppinen, the approach of the press to women artists has changed. - - Currently, all culture is visual and increasingly more attention is paid on the appearance/looks of women. On the other hand, the rock press is no longer as central/imporatnt as in the 60s and 70s. - - On the internet, fans have their own sites and artists market themselves, so it is no longer that important what the critics are saying, Karppinen says. Ville Vedenpdd Yle News ------------------------------ End of JMDL Digest V2012 #1424 ****************************** ------- To post messages to the list, sendtojoni@smoe.org. Unsubscribe by clicking here: mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe -------