Author Archives: selfr

My project focuses on the songs of Siberian punk musician Yanka Dyagileva. Dyagileva navigated the gendered traditions of male bard culture and female poetic solemnity to produce music that spoke to the condition of womanhood in the Soviet Union. Dyagileva worked alongside a number … Continue reading →

I would like to explore the tactics of communication employed by the SOAS Arabic Band, particularly in comparison to the early Pussy Riot videos we watched for last week’s class. Both Pussy Riot and the SOAS Arabic Band disseminate political … Continue reading →

Listening to the track “I Know What I Know,” I was struck by the positioning of the Zulu and English vocals. This was the first track on the album that credited collaborating South African artists; in fact, the song itself … Continue reading →

Both “Don’t Shoot” and “This Train Is On Fire” address the very real impact of state-sanctioned war and violence, particularly upon younger generations (in “This Train Is On Fire,” the last verse affirms “…the people who shot our fathers are … Continue reading →

As I watched Ziggy Stardust, I found myself comparing Bowie’s performative style to Weimar cabaret culture, which we discussed in class a number of weeks ago. Bowie’s frequent costume changes, theatrical makeup, and transgressive exhibitions of sexuality all signaled an … Continue reading →

Brown briefly mentions Adorno and the influence of the Frankfurt School on young student revolutionaries. He notes that in a televised interview, Adorno admitted he found the protest songs of American folksinger Joan Baez “unbearable.” While it is evident that … Continue reading →

As I was reading Heller’s article, I found myself understanding t.A.T.u.’s Eurovision performance as a means of flaunting post-Soviet musical freedom: making up for lost time, perhaps, or sending a message to the rest of Europe about what it means to … Continue reading →

In the review of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk published in Pravda, the anonymous critic writes, “From the first minute, the listener is shocked by deliberate dissonance, by a confused stream of sound. Snatches of melody, the beginnings of a musical … Continue reading →

In the excerpt from “Speech on Culture,” Hitler notes that it is “totally impossible to express a worldview or intellectual matters musically” (185). Further, he draws a division between intellectual understanding and musical genius, affirming that great music is the … Continue reading →

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaZDiKRT1is In his essay “Cabaret,” Hollaender notes that the seemingly innocuous show tune often contains latent social or political critiques. He writes, “Under the cover of an evening’s relaxing entertainment, cabaret, like nothing else, suddenly dispenses a poison cookie. Suggestively … Continue reading →