Lions of the North: Sounds of the New Nordic Radical Nationalism

Benjamin R. Teitelbaum

Jan 2017 · Oxford University Press

About this ebook

Often labeled "neo-Nazis" or "right-wing extremists," radical nationalists in the Nordic countries have always relied on music to voice their opposition to immigration and multiculturalism. These actors shook political establishments throughout Sweden, Denmark, and Norway during the 1980s and 1990s by rallying around white power music and skinhead subculture. But though nationalists once embraced a reputation for crude chauvinism, they are now seeking to reinvent themselves as upstanding and righteous, and they are using music to do it. Lions of the North explores this transformation of anti-immigrant activism in the Nordic countries as it manifests in thought and sound. Offering a rare ethnographic glimpse into controversial and secretive political movements, it investigates changes in the music nationalists make and patronize, reading their puzzling embrace of lite pop, folk music, even rap and reggae as attempts to escape stereotypes and craft a new image for themselves. Lions of the North not only exposes the dynamic relationship between music and politics, but also the ways radical nationalism is adapting to succeed in some of the most liberal societies in the world.

About the author

Benjamin R. Teitelbaum earned his Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from Brown University in 2013. He is Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology and former Head of Nordic Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and has been affiliate faculty in Music and International Affairs since 2012. His research focuses on western ultraconservatism, music in the Nordic countries, and music and politics.