Abstract
In Portugal, the contemporary specificities stemming from a socio-history marked by a decades-long dictatorship mean more unstable forms of youth transition extend throughout life and become a social condition in adulthood. This circumstance goes far beyond the professional dimension of life: it is mirrored in the family, parenting, leisure, body awareness and sociability. This chapter focuses on the analysis of the ageing experiences of DIY music scene producers from the late 1970s to the present. Armed with a diachronic view and with a synchronic cut-out, it is believed that these cultural/creative producers aged 50 or more, through their participation in DIY music scenes (punk, indie-rock, rap, EDM), have contributed decisively to the reconfiguration of Portuguese contemporaneity through their cultural, artistic and creative experiences (where music is mixed with design, illustration, street art and digital arts). Thus, the chapter’s fundamental objective is to systematise the lifestyles in these composite cultural scenes poured into cultural/creative experiences translated into the body, fashion and style; mirrored in family relationships, parenting and gender; experienced in careers, professions, alternative economies and training experiences throughout life; and materialised in practices, discourses and patrimonial and mnemonic objects.
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Notes
- 1.
This chapter was supported by FCT—Foundation for Science and Technology, within the scope of UIDB/00727/2020.
- 2.
This chapter follows on from the development of the project Keep It Simple, Make It Fast! Prolegomenons and Punk Scenes, A Road to Portuguese Contemporaneity (1977–2012) (PTDC/CS-SOC/118830/2010), known as KISMIF, was funded by FEDER through the COMPETE Operational Program from the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT). The information with which we work here is the result of semi-structured interviews with 214 individuals who have/had strong links to the Portuguese punk scene in a variety of different ways. The development of this chapter is part of the project Lost and Found Sounds: Cultural, Artistic and Creative Scenes in Pandemic Times, which is being developed at the Institute of Sociology of the University of Porto and the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, Queensland, Australia. Additionally, it is part of the progress of a research network led by Paula Guerra and Andy Bennett around DIY cultures and underground creative-music scenes. Project details can be found at www.kismifcommunity.com
- 3.
Throughout the chapter, I will make use of excerpts from the discourse of the interviewees as a form of illustration. All participants are assigned a fictitious name in kee** with the guidelines of the Code of Ethics of the American Sociological Association.
- 4.
One of the most emblematic Portuguese bars of the 1980s, situated in Bairro Alto, the trendiest neighbourhood in Lisbon. It rapidly became a meeting point for the burgeoning Portuguese subcultures.
- 5.
Frágil Lapa is a Portuguese punk vocalist, played in several bands such as Senisga, Renegados de Boliqueime, Speedtrack, Motornoise and Religião and Moral. He has been a legendary figure in Portuguese punk since the 1980s.
- 6.
Caetano, 45 years, bachelor’s or equivalent, record dealer, Aljustrel, Alentejo.
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Guerra, P. (2024). Live Fast, Die Old. Experiences of Ageing in Portuguese Punk DIY Scenes since the Late 1970s. In: Way, L., Grimes, M. (eds) Punk, Ageing and Time. Palgrave Studies in the History of Subcultures and Popular Music. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-47823-9_6
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