“A Line from a song that punches you in the stomach”: Music and the negotiations of cultural memory in Facebook

This study examines the role music and social media can play in forming and revising cultural memory. We analyze responses to a call delivered on Facebook to suggest and discuss the Israeli “soundtrack of memory” and compare this user-generated “playlist” to the list of songs broadcast over Israel’s Memorial Day. We show that users conduct a critical dialogue with the traditional memory culture within the new media environment. By exploring music and memory within the context of competing modes of media, our analysis shed light on the essence of memory processes emerging from new and participatory media environments.