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Connan Mockasin as Mr Bostyn: the popular music artist in disguise, the performance of the popular music artist.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2025

Tessa Vannieuwenhuyze Open the ORCID record for Tessa Vannieuwenhuyze [Opens in a new window]
Tessa Vannieuwenhuyze*
Affiliation:
Ghent University, Ghent 9000, Belgium
*
E-mail: vannieuwenhuyze.tessa@gmail.com
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Abstract

The cross-pollination between popular music and performance that Philip Auslander has coined as ‘musical persona’ is a concept that is continuously renegotiated against ongoing developments on the intersection of music, performance, technology and new media. Zooming in on the entanglement of character, persona and real person in contemporary popular music culture, this article examines how the identity performance of indie musician Connan Mockasin stages the interlacement of fictional characters and other forms of self-presentation. The fictional music teacher character Mr Bostyn that Mockasin has introduced with the Jassbusters album exists in an intriguing interplay with his broader eccentric identity performance, as demonstrated by the artist's self-presentation with an album collaboration with his father, It's Just Wind. Through the prism of the fictional band frame and music documentary practices I argue that Mockasin's self-presentation across various media formats turns the interplay between theatrical play and performative display into a fundamental aspect of his persona.

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Article
Information
Popular Music , First View , pp. 1 - 22
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press

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References

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