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).
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