Förändrade medialiseringar av barnmusik och etnicitet

Arne Alligators väg från finlandssvenska barnestrader till internationella strömningstjänster

Abstrakti

In the article, the role of children’s music in a changing cultural and media environment is studied by focusing on Arne Alligator & Djungeltrumman (Arnie Alligator and The Jungle Drum). The band (or project) started with very popular children’s live shows and CD releases among the Swedish-speaking minority of Finland (the so-called “Finland-Swedes”) but moved gradually into video production for also Finnish and international audiences. Today, its videos have had altogether more than 300 million views.

Children’s music holds a special place in upholding an ethnicity. It plays a role as part of the culture that is expected to be transmitted to the next generation for the whole ethnicity to live on. For minorities that are primarily constructed around a linguistic belonging, as the Swedish-speaking population of Finland, it is also a central, concrete upholder of a language. However, for the children’s music to survive, be meaningful, and live on in a changing world, it must renew itself and adapt new transmission techniques and norms to reach out to the next generation. This involves the challenge of negotiating ideas of tradition, education, ethnicity, and creativity. Based on the case study, it is possible to say that the technological changes have offered new possibilities for both producers and consumers of children’s music in a minority framework. However, the realization of this potential and the evaluation of the outcome depends on many contextual factors.