Small Nation Strategies for Dealing With the Anglosphere: The Case of Denmark

This project examines how and with what consequences processes of cultural Anglicization and Americanization may have influenced the development of Danish pop and rock in the period from approximately 1975 to 1985. The aim is to generate new knowledge about how the interactions between Danish music on one hand and its external influences on the other can be understood.

The project is based on the hypothesis that Danish pop and rock do not exist in a 'pure' form but are fundamentally shaped by norms, conventions, and approaches from the Anglosphere’s music, which in this regard has constituted and continues to constitute a significant cultural authority.

The project is particularly interested in the influence of British rather than American music, as this influence appears to have been underexplored in research on cultural influences in the music life of smaller countries.

By employing a musico-ethnographically oriented theoretical approach and methodology, the project aims to provide greater clarity on the complexity expressed in the relationship between Danish and foreign music. In this regard, several active musicians from the period will be interviewed and asked to identify the connections to the Anglo-American sphere that they recognize in their own practice.

The project is expected to be of particular interest to music and cultural research in other smaller Western European countries, for whom significant cultural influences from the Anglosphere likewise appear to be a fundamental premise