Stockholm university
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Toivo BurlinSenior lecturer, associate professor

About me

Assistant Professor in Musicology.

Born in 1972. Education: Umeå, Uppsala and Gothenburg University 1993-2001, EMS, Stockholm, Ljungskile Folkhögskola, Sveriges Radio (Göteborg, Umeå), master of arts 2002, postgraduate studies in musicology at the University of Gothenburg 2004-2008, Ph D., musicology, University of Gothenburg 2008: The Imaginary Room: Recording Practices and Production of Art Music Phonograms in Sweden 1925-1983 (diss.). Supplementary education at Dalarna University and Stockholm University.

Teaching

Pedagogical experience

I have fourteen years of pedagogical experience full-time teaching in audio and Music production and Musicology, at several universities, including Dalarna university, University of Skövde and Stockholm university in Sweden, with longer guest lectures at, for example, Åbo akademi University in Turku, Finland, University of Oslo, Norway, and Universität Siegen, Germany.  
Previous and current education areas includes sound and music production, theory of science and scientific writing, 20th century Classical Music (including electro-acoustic music), Popular music (in all forms, including jazz and game music), Swedish Folk music and Ethnomusicology, and music media technologies.

Administrative assignments

University of Gothenburg: Member of the Institution Board Inst. Culture, aesthetics and media, 2007-2008. Dalarna University 2011–2014: Vice Chair / Chair of the Committee on Technology and Natural Sciences (ONTN), Program Manager Audiovisual Studies, 2013. Course responsibility for a large number of courses, including project- and sound and music production-oriented courses and distance education. University of Skövde: strategic development, 2014. Stockholm University: course responsible for several courses. Expert and opponent, several different assignments.

Research

Research areas: Sound and music production, music media technologies and mediatization, music and spatiality, 20th century Art music, Folk music and Popular music - with emphasis on production aspects and Swedish conditions.

Projects

Saivo's song: music, sounds and space in performances of the nature being represented by Vitra. (ongoing music technology project with sound studies and production perspective)

Music and spatiality in the amateur and semi-professional music production of the 21st century.

 

Publications

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

  • Lång-Kalles och Edvins sånger

    2019. Toivo Burlin.

    Article

    Lång-Kalle’s and Edvin’s Songs: Orally Transmitted and Mediatised Proletarian Music Culture from Chapbooks and 78’s to Tape and Digitised Sound

    In this article, etic-emic problems in the study of early 20th century Swedish working class culture are examined through the analysis of two Swedish and Norwegian proletarian songs; the navvy song “Järnvägsvisa”, from the Ofoten railway project in northern Norway in 1898–1903, and the strike song “Hamnarbetarnes Strejkmarsch”, from 1907. The songs are studied as orally transmitted and mediated tradition as well as technologically mediatised cultural artefacts. My perspective in this study is double: the songs represent working class history and the early labour movement in Sweden, but they are also a part of my own family history. The song tradition stems from Karl-Wilhelm “Lång-Kalle” Larsson, who was a navvy in Norway in 1902. Lång-Kalle learned the “Järnvägsvisa” song there, maybe from the songwriter Edvard Unger, and eventually taught his daughter Ragnhild the song, which later was recorded on reel-to-reel tape recorder in a family environment in 1970. Lång-Kalle and his brother Edvin Larsson were both well-known dockers in the Örebro port in the early 20th century. In that context the Larsson brothers were key individuals in organising the first dockers’ trade union in the town, and the strike song, “Hamnarbetarnes Strejkmarsch”, is probably connected to a conflict with English blacklegs. The “Järnvägsvisa” song was digitised from tape in 2017, and “Hamnarbetarnes Strejkmarsch” was reinterpreted as a song in 2018.

    Read more about Lång-Kalles och Edvins sånger

  • The making of virtual space in the King Crimson Box sets Larks tongues in aspic: Complete recordings, Starless, Road to Red, On [and off) the Road and Thrak Box

    2017. Toivo Burlin.

    Conference

    When the founding fathers of progressive rock, British (-American) group King Crimson, produced their groundbreaking LP In the Court of the Crimson king in 1969, they established an eclectic yet recognizable style, with a strong musical and production virtuosity. Continuing for four decades, they became the only band of its generation to continually developing and expanding it’s style and techniques. Their music is not easily categorized: from the advanced rock music inspired by modern jazz and art music on the first four LP albums – and a lot of changes in the band personnel and set up of instruments – the music developed in the mid 1970’s to a dynamic, experimental hard rock with an art music attitude, containing sound worlds of percussion, violins and softer melodic elements blended with heavy, rhythmically complex, asymmetrical guitar riffs: The albums Larks tongues in aspic (1973), Starless and bible black (1974) and Red (1974) was highly influential. When the band was reformed with partly new musicians in 1981, they arrived with a different, of New wave and minimalism, influenced style. In a short span of three years, 1981–1984, they released albums Discipline, Beat and Three of a perfect pair, and reformed once more in 1994 to release the CD Thrak.   

    Importantly, in the same period they managed to take total creative and commercial control of all their recorded output, and it put them in a uniquely strong independent artistic position, connected to their loyal followers. Guitarist Robert Fripp, together with producer David Singleton, started up the company Discipline Global Mobile (DGM), and took care of all the recorded material of King Crimson and their spin off projects. As a consequence, they were able to release a lot of older recordings, partly through their ”Collector’s Club”.

    From 2010 and onwards all of their back catalogue was systematically re-released, some of their albums was also re-packaged in deluxe box sets: In the court of the crimson king, Larks tongues in aspic: Complete recordings, Starless, The Road to Red, On (and off) the Road and Thrak Box: Live and Studio Recordings 1994–1997. They all covering both studio recordings and live recordings that was produced in and around the period of the original recording sessions, in a various set of mixes, alternate takes and sound codec’s. In this presentation the focus is on sketching out an analysis of the mixing strategies on the surround mixes in DTS-HD Master Audio and LPCM 5.1 Surround of the studio recordings and live recordings, as it can be heard, using models for analysis of recordings, the Representation Model and the Room Model (Burlin 2008, 2012, 2015), showing how emerging conventions for surround mixing of experimental rock music is connected to recording ideals of documentarism and hyper realism.

    Read more about The making of virtual space in the King Crimson Box sets Larks tongues in aspic: Complete recordings, Starless, Road to Red, On [and off) the Road and Thrak Box

  • Albert Löfgren (1872−1930)

    2016. Toivo Burlin.

    Other

    Gustaf Albert Löfgren (f. Andersson Gren) föddes 21 september 1872 i Hasslösa, Västergötland, och dog i närliggande Eggby 4 januari 1930. Han var musiker, dirigent, tonsättare och arrangör. På klarinett var den mångsidige instrumentalisten Löfgren en av sin tids mest framstående solister. Han skolades inom militärmusiken, medan kompositionerna utgick från folkmusiken. Rapsodierna Slåttergille, Svensk fantasi och Forna dar fick ett brett erkännande i samtiden.

    Read more about Albert Löfgren (1872−1930)

  • Gunnar Malmström (1892−1961)

    2016. Toivo Burlin.

    Other

    Erik Gunnar Malmström, född i Uppsala 25 mars 1892 och död i Stockholm 4 februari 1961, var tonsättare, arrangör, kapellmästare, musikdirektör och pianist. Hans viktigaste musikaliska insatser gjordes inom filmmusikens område, först inom stumfilm och sedan ljudfilm, både som arrangör och tonsättare. Han var en varm anhängare av konsekvent tillämpad wagneriansk ledmotivteknik i filmmusiken. Som tonsättare av konstmusik skapade han också flera kammarmusikverk och melodramer.

    Read more about Gunnar Malmström (1892−1961)

  • Sven Sköld (1899−1956)

    2016. Toivo Burlin.

    Other

    Sven Josua Sköld föddes på Lidingö, Stockholm, 20 juli 1899, och avled på samma ort 23 oktober 1956. Han var cellist, dirigent och tonsättare. Sina mest betydande musikaliska insatser gjorde han som tonsättare, arrangör och kapellmästare vid Radiotjänst och som kompositör av musik till svensk ljudfilm. I båda medierna tillhör han de mest produktiva och inflytelserika musikskaparna i Sverige under 1940- och 1950-talen.

    Read more about Sven Sköld (1899−1956)

  • Björn Schildknecht (1905-1946)

    2015. Toivo Burlin.

    Other

    Björn Albert Schildknecht, född 7 juni 1905 i Stockholm och avliden där 10 juli 1946, var tonsättare, arrangör och kapellmästare. Hans kompositionsverksamhet utvecklades huvudsakligen inom film- och teatermusik, men han komponerade även symfonisk orkestermusik, piano- och kammarmusik, schlager, sånger och visor. Hans symfoni tillhör de mer experimentella symfoniska verk som skrevs i Sverige under 1930-talet. Operan Giorgione väntar fortfarande på sitt uruppförande.

    Read more about Björn Schildknecht (1905-1946)

  • Experimentell musikproduktionsvetenskap som kulturforskande musikvetenskap

    2015. Toivo Burlin. Danish musicology online, 7-27

    Article

    The article discusses how musicological research on recorded music and “Music Production Studies” perspectives, respectively, together can help shape a media and production-centered research paradigm in musicology. It begins with an overview of how the production of music has been studied as a scientific object. A proposal is presented on how the interdisciplinary field of research – studying production of music and the mediatization of recorded music – can be developed into a broader media paradigm in musicology as a discipline. “The production perspective”, which includes production as a method, is then introduced. It is exemplified by a case study. 

    Read more about Experimentell musikproduktionsvetenskap som kulturforskande musikvetenskap

  • Helmer Alexandersson (1886-1927)

    2015. Toivo Burlin.

    Other

    Karl Helmer Alexandersson, born on 16 November 1886 and died in Stockholm on 24 December 1927, was a composer and violinist. During his life he gained considerable success both with his second symphony and his film music, although without achieving true recognition. Within film music he was one of the most important Swedish pioneers. However, he died early, at the age of 41 in extreme poverty.

    Read more about Helmer Alexandersson (1886-1927)

  • Hjalmar Meissner (1885-1940)

    2015. Toivo Burlin.

    Other

    Carl Hjalmar Meissner was born 1 March 1865 in Helsinki, Finland and died 28 May 1940 in Stockholm. He was a Finnish-Swedish pianist, conductor, arranger, composer and author. As a conductor, he worked mainly as a bandleader for military music and theatre ensembles, but also as an opera and symphony orchestra conductor. His profession as a composer arose mostly from his work as pianist and conductor. He was married to operetta singer Emma Meissner in 1899.

    Read more about Hjalmar Meissner (1885-1940)

  • Musik av Urminnes Hävd

    2015. Toivo Burlin. Musikk, folk og landskap, 201-236

    Chapter

    Denne boken belyser ulike musikkpraksiser i nordområdene. Bidragene i artikkelsamlingen kommer fra norske og svenske forskere innen musikkvitenskap og spenner fra forskning på nyere samisk musikk, rock, rap, reggae til folkemusikk.

    • Når kom egentlig The Beatles til Korgen?
    • Er Nord-Norge og Nord-Sverige preget av mer musikalsk kreativitet enn sentrale strøk?
    • Hva betyr verdensmusikksjangeren for sørsamisk identitet?
    • Kan man spille samisk musikk, uten å være same?
    • Hvorfor blir rap og reggae ofte knyttet til Bodø?
    • Hva er sammenhengen mellom følelser av vemod og nordsvensk populærmusikk?

    Alle disse spørsmålene berøres og diskuteres i denne boken, i tillegg til andre tema. Det gis ingen entydige svar, men sammenhenger mellom musikk og geografi er sentralt for mange av tekstene.

    Read more about Musik av Urminnes Hävd

  • Vilhelm Svedbom (1843-1904)

    2014. Toivo Burlin.

    Other

    Per Jonas Fredrik Vilhelm Svedbom, född 8 mars 1843 i Stockholm, död 25 december 1904 i Stockholm, var litteraturhistoriker, pianist, tonsättare, musikpedagog (konservatorielärare) och musikadministratör. Hans kompositionsverksamhet utgick väsentligen från de miljöer vari han utbildades och hade sin yrkesverksamhet; akademin i vid mening. Hans kompositioner omfattar i huvudsak pianoverk, solosånger för piano samt körsånger. Svedboms hustru var pianisten Hilma Svedbom, född Lindberg (1856–1921); de gifte sig 1884.

    Read more about Vilhelm Svedbom (1843-1904)

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