Wanted Dead or Alive

Rap—perhaps uniquely among musical styles—invites expressions that explicitly draw on the prisoner identity as a vital resource for artistic credibility and creativity. Progressive rock often privileges an aesthetic of compositional complexity and technical proficiency on a musical instrument, whilst punk is often associated with DIY ethics and antivirtuosic approaches to musicking. How can such apparently disparate attitudes towards music making be met, respected and reconciled in music therapy group work in prison, and how do these attitudes correspond to different strategies for “being a prisoner”? This article explores music therapy in a Scandinavian prison with a focus on prisoner participants’ notions of authenticity in musical performance. Through the presentation of two cases derived from an ethnographic enquiry into music therapy in prison, I introduce the musicking persona as a concept for understanding how the participants’ emerging identities as musicians were defined not only by their musical histories, aesthetic preferences, cultural affiliations or musical abilities, but also by the style of their musical participation. The analysis is discussed with reference to cultural criminology and desistance research. Implications for music therapy practice are addressed, including professional dilemmas linked to censorship and paternalism in creative processes in prisons.