Musical identity and social change: Articulating the national and the translocal in Hungary’s indie music scene

This paper explores some ways in which identity is expressed through rock music and the discourse about rock music through a case study of Hungary’s ‘indie’ scene. I attempt to identify, firstly, the relevant points of social-cultural reference along which ‘indie’ bands in Hungary define and position themselves; and secondly, what the genre label ‘indie’ signifies in relation to other labels such as ‘alternative’ and ‘underground’ in the Hungarian popular music world of the first decade of the twenty-first century. These questions are examined through a qualitative analysis of the presentation and self-presentation of indie bands and musicians in the media, in particular online platforms. Out of the significant choices and strategies, two issues are discussed in detail here: firstly, the language of the lyrics, and secondly, the use of genre labels. The analysis indicates that it is possible to identify ‘indie’ and ‘alternative’ within a framework of Bourdieu’s concepts of the ‘autonomous’ and ‘heteronomous principle,’ the notions of originality and authenticity, the relationship to the ‘pop’ label and discourse, and the (inter)national as referential point.