Introduction to the special issue

Popular music constructs, negotiates, and circulates representations of the past, thereby conveying historical knowledge and contributing to our understanding of the past. In short, popular music writes and rewrites history. Building on the notion that history constitutes an interpretation of past events strung together via narrative, the issue examines the critical role of popular music in constructing and negotiating historical narratives. By analyzing musical examples through various disciplinary and interdisciplinary lenses and drawing from a range of geographical contexts, including Italy, the Netherlands, Nigeria, the Philippines, the United States, and Uruguay, this issue contributes to an understanding of how music narrates the past through lyrics, musical motifs, song structure, genre, sound effects, images, intertextual references, musical instruments, as well as performative practices acknowledging the body as a means of ‘acting out’ of or ‘singing history’. Ultimately, the contributions suggest that history is not a chapter that is closed once it has been written. Instead, the articles demonstrate that when writing and rewriting history through popular music, the past is continually (re)negotiated, actively informing our present and taking a vital role in shaping our future.