Like Lockdown Never Happened: Music and Culture During Covid - Joy White

Like Lockdown Never Happened: Music and Culture During Covid - Joy White in conversation

In this pertinent and topical in conversation, author and researcher, Joy White will discuss how Black music and culture framed how we passed the time in the first 18 months of the pandemic.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, music listening increased as people used it to help to counter the psychological fallout of lockdown and reduce its effects of isolation, restriction and boredom. At the same time, concerts and other musical events moved online, and even when lockdown eased, social distancing meant that group musical and cultural events took on a different format.
With a focus on contemporary Black music, this in conversation focused on Joy’s book takes a deep dive into a few of the various forms that popular culture took over this period, including Kano's Newham Talks series; Steve McQueen's BBC anthology Small Axe; the Verzuz DJ Battle series; TikTok's Don't Rush Challenge; radio station theresnosignal; and many more.
An attempt to make sense of chronological and kairotic time in the early era of the pandemic, this event and Joy’s book explores the way that Black joy and sonic Black geographies were key to the culture of this period, and how Black music and Black creative expression soundtracked and sustained us during the pandemic.

We have two ticket options available: * Event Only and *Event with Discounted Book Combo deal - books will be available for collection at the Festival.

Our event will be followed by a dedicated signing event with Joy. RRP books will also be available for purchase on the day.

Dr Joy White is a Senior Lecturer in Applied Social Sciences at the University of Bedfordshire and the author of Terraformed: Young Black Lives in the Inner City.

Her previous work includes Urban Music and Entrepreneurship: Beats, Rhymes and Young People’s Enterprise, one of the first books to foreground the socio-economic significance of grime music.

Recent publications include Growing up under the influence: A sonic genealogy of Grime, and (with Jonathan Ilan) Ethnographer Soundclash: A UK rap and grime story. Joy has also written for The Quietus, The Conversation, Trench, Google Arts + Culture, Red Pepper and Prospect.

Host or Publisher Louder Than Words Festival