TOWARD A TRANSNATIONAL HISTORY OF POP MUSIC FESTIVALS (1960-1980). MUSIC, COUNTERCULTURE AND CULTURAL EXCHANGES DURING THE 60s AND 70s

As generational landmarks and truly memorable places, Pop Music Festivals had a crucial impact on the making of a transnational music culture during the second half of the twentieth century. Dedicated to jazz, songwriters, rock, pop or folk music, festivals attracted a wide variety of people and were covered by the media as never before, which promoted an immense exchange of cultural diversity. In Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, in Vina del Mar and Mexico City, in Dakar and on the Isle of Wight, in Monterrey, Montreux and Juan-Les-Pins, festivals consecrated new musical icons and played a part in the formation of a new "youth culture" breaking away from the established order. This article explores the genesis and the evolution of pop music festivals in the Western world during the sixties and the seventies and discusses three major issues: 1) the invention of a "festival form" distinct from the traditional practices of recital and concert; 2) the economic, political and diplomatic dimensions of festivals as international meetings; 3) the cultural transfers and appropriations which occurred during those musical events.