![]() In doing so, sociologists have not only avoided questions about the “meaning” of music, but also the music itself. For nearly fifty years, the sociology of music has attempted to distance itself from an approach focused on “‘readings’ of art works or styles in order to uncover (decode) the ways that they reflect or run parallel to ‘Society’ (to, that is, ideology or relations of production)” (DeNora 1995:296 Zolberg 1990 Hennion 2015 McCormick 2006). However, returning to the question at hand (“what is going on here?”) is not a simple feat. Drawing from my doctoral ethnographic research of Sofar Sounds’ events (Riom 2021a), this article aims to explore the ways music is played at concerts. Rather, magic in this case acts as a qualifier that measures the capacity of “performers to leave their audience spellbound” (de Jong and Lebrun 2019:1). ![]() ![]() I build on Erving Goffman’s (1974) question (“What is going on here?”) – as addressed in Christopher Small’s (1998) analysis of the concert opera – to explore Sofar Sounds’ “magic.” Here, the term should not be understood in the same sense of magic as conceived through the practice of shamanism. Created ten years ago, Sofar Sounds centers around the mission of “bringing back magic to live music.” Since then, the company organizes “secret shows” in “unconventional spaces,” such as this Parisian office. This unusual setting is what Sofar Sounds offers to artists to perform music. Spectators (or “guests” in Sofar Sounds’ vernacular language) are sitting on the floor, waiting for artists to appear. There is no stage, no seats, no massive PA system, or stage lighting - all elements that generally characterize music venues. About fifty people are gathered in an office space in eastern Paris, somewhere close to République.
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