This article examines the celebrated Malaysian song ‘Cindai’, performed by Dato’ Sri Siti Nurhaliza, as an important cultural work that captures and shares key ideas of Malay philosophy and thought. While popular music is often seen as entertainment, this study suggests that ‘Cindai’ is a complex piece of lyrical poetry that requires deeper analysis. Using qualitative content analysis based on semiotics and metaphor, the paper unpacks the song’s complex lyrics to show its philosophical structure. The analysis finds and explores a group of repeating themes, including the temporary nature of life, the tension between outward appearance and inner reality, the fragility of hope, and the deep strength of the human spirit when facing hardship. The findings show that the song’s clever use of traditional poetry and nature symbols acts as a modern channel for the Malay worldview. Ultimately, this study argues that ‘Cindai’ is more than just an artistic work; it is an act of continuing and reviving culture. In today’s global world, the song confirms and spreads fundamental cultural values, showing the powerful role of popular music in shaping and preserving cultural identity.
This study investigates how contemporary music production challenges traditional ideas of authorship and compensation within Australia’s independent music scene. As producers increasingly shape the emotional and structural identity of songs, questions emerge about whether their contributions should be recognized as creative authorship or treated as professional service. Drawing on my perspective as a practising producer, I conducted interviews with 17 industry professionals, including producers, artists, and beatmakers, to examine how creative input is understood, negotiated, and valued. While some participants felt that production decisions merit recognition beyond a standard fee, others viewed such input as part of the producer’s role. A key conceptual finding was the distinction between the song as a core composition and the recorded version shaped through production, and how each may be recognized differently under copyright. Rather than proposing a fixed model for reform, the study reflects on how contributors define their roles and what this reveals about shifting expectations of authorship, ownership, and reward.
Visual-kei was the first genre of Japanese popular music to achieve relatively significant success in Europe and America. In Germany for example, a youth subculture emerged in the second half of the 2000s, whose members called themselves ‘Visus’ and identified through the consumption of the music of the Japanese bands they had discovered online. Quite a few ‘Western’ visual-kei fans invest a lot of time and money to travel to Japan and experience their favourite bands ‘on site’. Based on multi-sited field research in Japan and Germany, this article attempts to answer the questions why, of all Japanese popular music genres, visual-kei has exerted such a strong appeal on ‘Western’ youth, and where they are actually heading to when they board a plane to Japan.
Japanese people have engaged with foreign performing arts in diverse ways, often creating hybrid styles and assigning them new meanings and functions. The Hawaiian dance tradition of hula as adapted in Fukushima, however, differs from many other examples in that it has become closely tied to the region’s local identity. Hula in Fukushima dates back to 1966, when a resort facility featuring ‘hula girls’ opened in Iwaki City. Local young women trained by professional dancers helped revitalize the region as the coal mining industry declined. The story—popularized by the film Hula Girls (2006)—encouraged local people to view hula as part of their own culture. The Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 further strengthened this association, as the hula girls toured nationwide to support recovery efforts. Through these experiences of overcoming economic crisis and natural disaster, hula has become firmly established as a key symbol of Fukushima’s local identity.
This research explores the barriers to entry and the challenges and frustrations for Australian First Nations music producers. The proliferation of software-based technology in the recording studio sector resulted in notions of technological democracy. However, this democratization is often contested for not including women and various marginalized and minority groups. Through an Indigenous-led music production workshop project, the research team conducted daily yarning sessions at the conclusion of each day. The findings found many challenges and frustrations for the participants and mentors in the program as they attempted to participate in the recording sector including access to suitable housing and infrastructure, agency and cultural safety in recording studios, ongoing discrimination in the music industry, and lateral violence and jealousy around perceived success. This project seeks to understand these barriers and look toward approaches to improve education, diversity, equity, inclusion and participation for First Nations music producers.
