CROSSROADS IN CULTURAL STUDIES
Fourth International Conference
June 29 - July 2, 2002, Tampere, Finland

Rock Music and Nationalism

Organiser: Mark Yoffe

Mulvany, Aaron P. (Independent scholar, Philadelphia, USA) FRANK ZAPPA AS NATIONALIST?
Nationalism can be defined as "a devotion to the interests or culture of a particular nation." Unfortunately, in rock music such devotion often manifests itself as jingoistic flag-waving, or even more bizarrely as a call for the return to the ancient culture. But what about genuine devotion to the professed - if not practiced - ideology of a particular nation? Given its bad name in some quarters, nationalism as defined above seems ill applied to American rock artists who are often extremely critical of U.S. policies at home and abroad. No one would suggest that the protest songs of the late '60s were nationalistic. And despite the RNC's appropriation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A." during Ronald Reagan's presidential campaign, it seems equally absurd to categorize the Boss's lyrics in this way. One of the most scathing critics of American culture and politics during the rock era has been Frank Zappa, yet I wish to suggest that Zappa can be read within the framework of pure nationalism, insofar as he devoted himself to the perpetuation of the ideals set forth within the Constitution. In fact, Zappa made a conscious effort to (ab)use the national framework of rights and privileges to expand the boundaries of his art, going so far as to use tapes of Congressional Hearings as a basis for an entire album (Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Prevention). Zappa was a staunch defender of the freedoms guaranteed within the Constitution; what he disagreed with were the accretions to governmental power and subsequent loss of personal rights during the following two centuries.

Larkey, Edward (University of Maryland) HEDGING THEIR BETS: EAST GERMAN ROCK MUSIC AND GERMAN UNIFICATION
This paper will examine the post-unification music productions of three East German rock bands, analyzing images, ideas, and behaviors conveyed by the music. I will compare them to the pre-unification period, and correlate different tropes and narratives with socio-political and socio-cultural aspects of unification as they affect different groupings and audience communities. The three bands under consideration are the Prinzen (Princes), which prior to unification called themselves Herzbuben or "Jack of Hearts" and were an acapella vocal pop group. The second band is Feeling B, a fun punk band during the pre-unification GDR period. In 1994, two of the three band members left and joined a project called Rammstein, a major band in Germany with an international reputation. The third band, Silly, was, until the untimely death of lead singer Tamara Danz, most consistently commented on changes in personal and collective identities and feelings among East Germans since unification.

Mathyl, Markus (Centre for the Research on Anti-Semitism, Technical University Berlin) THE EMERGENCE OF A NATIONALISTIC COUNTERCULTURE IN POST-PERESTROIKA RUSSIA
In the middle of the 1990s a new type of nationalistic youth counterculture developed in Russia. It has brought together a wide range of musical styles and cultural scenes, nationalist intellectuals and artists, in the attempt to create a politico-cultural movement against further westernisation and in favour of national revolution.The emergence of a nationalistic counterculture in post-Perestroika Russia is to be viewed as the result of a reciprocal convergence and specific meeting of fundamental interests between the nationalist movement and the counterculture in the context of societal transformation. The results of this process include the emergence of a new countercultural identity (replacing the former democratic orientation), and the radicalisation and fascistisation of Russian nationalism.Countercultural groups today play a central role in a generation of more heavily fascistic and youth-oriented nationalist organisations. They propagate enthusiasm for war, racial violence and autonomous terrorist acts; they embody an extremely violent potential whose danger lies in their skilful use of the mediums of pop music and pop culture, which has already enabled them to make deep inroads into Russian society.

Pankowski, Rafal (Warsaw Univesity, Poland) ROCK MUSIC AND THE EXTREME RIGHT: THE CASE OF POLAND The paper intends to present the development of the extreme-right music scene in Poland, which emerged in the late 1980s with the appearance of the skinhead subculture hijacked by violent far-right groups such as the National Rebirth of Poland (NOP). The opening of commercially orientated distribution channels promoting neo-fascist music in the mid-1990s can be seen as a turning point allowing some of the ultra-nationalist bands such as Legion or Konkwista 88 to reach a wider audience with their ethnocentric (in particular: antisemitic) message. The 'reactionary' and exclusionary political messages are transmitted through an ultimately 'modern' and universal medium. However, the extreme-right music scene operates on an increasingly transnational base thus making the 'traditional' nationalist discourse give way to a 'supra-nationalist' emphasis on 'racial' identity.

Simpson, Patricia (Kenyon College, USA) RETRO-NATIONALISM: ROCK MUSIC IN THE FORMER GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC (GDR)
When the Socialist Unity Party (SED) of the former GDR realized that rock music was a phenomenon that was not going to disappear, Party policy changed. During the plenary session of the Central Committee meeting of the SED in December 1965, Erich Honecker went so far as to analyze "Beat" music and its influence on the class struggle. He recognized the capacity of rock music to shape youth culture, but he warned against a music that would inspire "excesses" in its listeners. The path the Party took, through its instrument Free German Youth (FDJ) became paradigmatic. Whenever a musical form gained too much momentum in the GDR, FDJ would embrace it, co-opt it, and thereby instrumentalize it. One can see this pattern in the reception of rock music in general, though the case of punk is both exceptional and exemplary. In the GDR, the nationalization of rock music effectively enlisted the help of bands in constructing "socialist personalities." The Party supported certain bands, sponsored competitions, and instituted ritual concerts such as "Rock für den Frieden" (rock music for peace). Most forms of music in fact did lend themselves to this type of cooperation. When punk came along in the late 1970s and early 1980s, however, the official reception of this music split. Some critics pointed out the need for such a critique in the capitalist West. When punk found a following in the GDR, however, and brought the symbols, sounds, and styles associated with this movement to the streets of the GDR, the State responded with a vengeance. Punks were harassed, arrested, sent to the West. Yet, even with punk, the Party and FDJ eventually embraced the music of "disaffected youth" in order to instrumentalize it. In this paper, I propose to rehearse a short history of the Party's relationship to rock music in general, then to explore specifically the punk texts and contexts from which a critical view of GDR society emerges.

Rautiainen, Tarja (University of Tampere, Finland) FOLK MUSIC, POPULAR MUSIC AND DISCOURSES OF NATIONAL VALUES
The aim of the paper is to put emphasis on the role of popular and folk music in processes constructing national identity, and debate how cultural and national identity are created, expressed and lived both in popular/folk music texts and in other discourses surrounding these genres. It raises different perspectives from cultural history, theories of nationalism, post-structural theories, popular music studies and musicology, which offer a fruitful basis to continue the present-day discussion of deconstructing the idea of a nation state. Following themes are specially focused on: how popular and folk music exemplifies of intra- and intercultural communication between different social groups and traditions. Secondly, how the products of popular and folk music have evoked, very often confliting ways, the ideas and connotations of nationality and how they are perceived among policy-makers, press and practitioners (artists, composers, audiences).