Today, 18 December, marks UNESCO’s World Arabic Language Day, commemorating the date in 1973 when the United Nations General Assembly recognized Arabic as the sixth official language of the Organization. Arabic, one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, has inspired a rich and diverse aesthetic across fields such as architecture, poetry, philosophy, and song. UNESCO highlights that Arabic provides access to a vast array of identities and beliefs, with a history that showcases its deep connections with other languages. The language has played a crucial role in the spread of knowledge, facilitating the transmission of Greek and Roman sciences and philosophies to Renaissance Europe. Arabic has also been a bridge for cultural exchange along the silk roads, linking cultures from the coast of India to the Horn of Africa.
The Arabic language also has played a crucial role in shaping the musical practices of the Middle East. The arrival of the Arabs in North Africa, for example, had a profound impact, leading to the widespread adoption of Islam throughout the region and the expansion of the Arabic language in cities, towns, and rural areas. While some groups, like the Berbers, maintained their own language, they adopted Arabic for use in public spaces such as shops, schools, and businesses. This linguistic shift influenced the development of musical traditions and practices across the region, with Arabic becoming a key component in the cultural and musical landscape.
From the 1930s to the 1950s, both Algerians and Moroccans were deeply involved in anticolonial struggles against France. Revolutionaries from both nations used the Arabic language as a tool to unite the population around the vision of a nation standing together against colonial rule. Following their respective independences–Morocco in 1956 and Algeria in 1962–both countries declared Arabic as the national language and positioned it as a key element of their cultural identity.
In this regard, the music of the Arab world—a vast region stretching from western North Africa to the Arabian Peninsula and Mesopotamia—can be studied as a unified domain, especially when considering common factors such as the prevalence of Islam and Islamic institutions, the widespread use of the Arabic language, and the historical, political, and artistic connections that link the various Arab communities. However, music also exhibits significant internal diversity, reflecting the rich cultural variations across the region.
This according to The Garland encyclopedia of world music. The Middle East. Find it in RILM Music Encyclopedias. The volume on the Middle East features expert writers on the region who present the major traditions of North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia, together with personal accounts of performers, composers, teachers, and ceremonies. Also included are dozens of brief essays that offer stories of typical musicians and genres, along with first-person descriptions of specific music performances and events, maps, and music examples.
The complex intersections of carceral violence and acoustics are particularly evident in the case of Saydnaya, the infamous military prison in Syria, known for its state-run torture practices under Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Often referred to as “the slaughterhouse”, the prison witnessed the hanging of as many as 13,000 individuals between 2011 and 2015. Survivor testimonies, along with the recent digital reconstruction of the prison’s interior, reveal that sound played a pivotal role in shaping the power dynamics within the Syrian prison system. Much of the violence inflicted in Saydnaya was acoustic in nature, intentionally designed around specific elements of the aural experience. The weaponization of sound in Saydnaya suggests that listening itself was manipulated as a mechanism of surveillance and torture, while paradoxically, it also became a means of resistance and survival.
The Syrian prison can be conceptualized as an acoustically surveilled site, marked by intentional sensory deprivation, weaponized silence, extreme listening practices, and acousmatic violence–violence whose sound lacks a visible source. Such practices were not isolated but part of a broader pattern of sonic warfare, which some critical sound theorists have increasingly highlighted in their exploration of the role of sound in incarceration.
This according to “Prisonniers du son: La prison de Saydnaya en Syrie” by Maria Ristani, Lieux de mémoire sonore: Des sons pour survivre, des sons pour tuer, ed. by Luis Velasco-Pufleau and Laëtitia Atlani-Duault (Paris: Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, 2021, 21–35; RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2021-107654).
After more than a decade of silence, the South Korean Ministry of Defense resumed its propaganda broadcasts into North Korea in August 2015. Although an agreement between North and South Korea led to the cessation of these broadcasts two weeks later, South Korea restarted its loudspeaker campaign in early January 2016 in response to North Korea’s latest nuclear test. Since then, South Korea has escalated its efforts along the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), installing additional loudspeakers and broadcasting a variety of content, including popular K-pop songs from South Korea. While it is debatable whether South Korea’s K-pop broadcasts have had a direct impact on North Korean soldiers stationed at the DMZ, the sound of K-pop forced Kim Jong-un’s regime to address the globalization of the genre. More specifically, it showed how external cultural influences, particularly those from the south, could act as a threat to the regime’s authority and control over its citizens.
Although K-pop’s themes of love, desire, erotic pleasure, and physical attraction are not overtly provocative, its lyrics challenge North Korea’s ideological demand that expressions of affection be reserved solely for the leader, rather than between ordinary citizens. Although some North Korean pop songs aired on state media incorporate elements of romance and courtship, these are often stylized with a mix of electronic synthesizers, Western instruments, and an upbeat tempo. North Korean propaganda has historically emphasized the leader as the central object of affection, often promoting images of adoring citizens jubilantly rejoicing in his presence. In this context, the North Korean leader can be understood as what the French theorist Guy Debord calls “absolute celebrity”, where his image and authority dominate public devotion.
The Moranbong Band performs in front of an image of North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un.
Overt displays of affection for the North Korean leader are framed as demonstrations of familial love, positioning the leader as a father figure of the Korean race and all citizens as his children. In recent years, however, North Koreans have become more accustomed to expressing affection in public, with some young men and women serenading each other with South Korean pop songs. Kim Jong-un, the current leader, has not been oblivious to such behavioral changes among the younger generation, especially toward the libidinal pleasures offered by K-pop. In 2012, his establishment of the Moranbong Band could be seen as a strategic effort to draw North Korean youth back into the orbit of state-controlled entertainment, while channeling their enthusiasm in a way that reasserts the cult of absolute celebrity.
The band, dressed in military-inspired outfits, on the way to a performance.
The Moranbong Band has a number of distinct characteristics that make it appealing to a generation already familiar with foreign pop music. As North Korea’s first and only all-girl pop group, the band was modeled on South Korea’s popular all-girl groups. Although their fashion has been significantly toned down, with the adoption of more conservative dresses and military-inspired outfits, they still bear a striking resemblance to the sartorial styles of South Korean K-pop acts. This blend of familiar pop aesthetics with state-controlled messaging makes the Moranbong Band both accessible and captivating to many North Korean youth.
Despite employing many of the stylistic elements of K-pop, one key aspect noticeably absent from the Moranbong Band’s repertoire is the lyrical incitement to libidinal pleasure. Instead, their songs focus on the familiar themes of party loyalty, military prowess, national prosperity, and the benevolence of the leader. For example, North Korean state media reported that the Moranbong Band’s concert commemorating the 1953 armistice agreement with South Korea featured a song titled Our beloved leader, which portrayed Kim Jong-un caring for the “big family” of the country and providing it with happiness. This song reinforced the state’s effort to align popular culture with its ideological framework, emphasizing devotion to the leader rather than personal desires or individual expression.
This according to “Rockin’ in the unfree world: North Korea’s Moranbong Band and the celebrity dictator” by David Zeglen (Celebrity studies 8/1 [2017] 142–150; RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2017-64247).
Below, the Moranbong Band performs Our beloved leader in 2012.
At the end of the 19th century, a series of narrative essays published in The Atlantic Monthly by Dakota composer and activist Gertrude Bonnin, better known by her self-chosen name Zitkala Ša, focused on the violence of compulsory U.S. boarding schools. Existing research on her activism, however, has overlooked the subversive role of music, dance, and sound in her literary and musical projects, which reveal Zitkala Ša’s sophisticated sonic politics.
The historical tension between the prohibition and appropriation of Indigenous sounds highlights how the boarding school press functioned as a powerful engine for assimilation projects. A close reading of Zitkala Ša’s essay, The Indian dance: A protest against its abolition, along with an examination of its reception, reveals her reverse-gaze strategy and demonstrates her effectiveness in challenging aggressive assimilationists. Similarly, her collaboration on The sun dance opera resulted in a project that defied neat categorization and withheld complete disclosure of the ceremony, establishing its own sonic politics of self-determination. Zitkala Ša wrote the libretto and the songs for the opera, while William F. Hanson, a professor of music at Brigham Young University, composed the score. The songs were inspired by a sacred ritual that was federally outlawed from 1904 to 1978. The opera was groundbreaking, allowing Zitkala Ša to bridge her worlds through music. It premiered in February 1913 at Orpheus Hall in Vernal, Utah, featuring performances by members of the Ute Nation residing on the Uintah-Ouray Reservation.
Zitkala Ša’s years on the Uintah-Ouray Reservation, often mischaracterized as a period of domesticity in her literary career, were marked by significant creative sonic productivity, representing an important phase in her evolving activism that bridged her earlier years of serial publication with the sophisticated vocal activism of her later work.
This according to “Tiny taps and noisy hacks: Listening to Zitkala Ša’s sonic politics” by Kristen Brown (Resonance: The journal of sound and culture 2/1 [spring 2021] 348–362; RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2021-7615).
Watch a short documentary on Zitkala Ša’s life in music and activism below.
DEUMM Online digitizes, enhances, and extends the Dizionario enciclopedico universale della musica e dei musicisti (DEUMM), the most important modern music dictionary in the Italian language. Comprising a broad range of entries (persons, topics, dances, genres, geographical locations, institutions, instruments, and works), DEUMM Online uses advanced and intuitive search and translation functionalities. This venerable music encyclopedia, which has set the standards in modern Italian music lexicography, is, in its new online format, once again an indispensable node in a comprehensive, international, networked research experience.
For those unable to join the Rome event in person, the event will be live streamed on YouTube by Fondazione Roma Tre Teatro Palladium, accessible directly from the following QR code:
The program (below) will include Daniele Trucco’s DEUMM-inspired music, greetings from Luca Aversano (President, ADUIM), Marcoemilio Camera (President, IAML Italia), and Tina Frühauf (Executive Director, RILM), as well as presentations by Zdravko Blažeković (Executive Editor, RILM), Stefano Campagnolo (Director, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma), Alex Braga (composer), and DEUMM Online’s general editors Antonio Baldassarre and Daniela Castaldo. Pianist Giuseppe Magagnino will also perform works by Ellington, Beethoven, The Beatles, and more.
And mark your calendars: DEUMM Online will be featured again at the following events:
19 November 2024: Turin, hosted by Istituto per i Beni Musicali di Piemonte at the Teatro Regio
21 November 2024: Milan, hosted by the Archivio Storico Ricordi in the Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense
The 42nd session of the General Conference of UNESCO in November 2023 designated October 17 as the International Day of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH). Today marks the inaugural celebration of this significant day. To commemorate the historic day, we explore research on China’s ICH, which boasts the highest number of recognized ICH items, as examined by both Chinese and international scholars.
– Mu Qian, Editor, RILM
Xiang, Yang. “Dui ‘huo huashi’ yuezhong de sikao” (Thoughts on “living fossil” musical genres), Zhongguo yinyue/Chinese music 2/90 (2003) 12–15. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2003-18281]
Abstract: Numerous musical genres of remote historical periods continue to exist in China, such as guqin music, Fujian nanyin, Xi’an guyue, and the Buddhist ritual music of Wutai Shan in Shanxi province; these provide valuable evidence of the history of the imperial court, local governments, military and religious establishments, and social change. Through a comprehensive account of such genres, the system of Chinese music can be deeply analyzed and the characteristics of traditional Chinese music culture understood. If they are not carefully studied and protected, the cultural tradition of Chinese music will be irremediably lost; legislation at the national level is needed to declare them as part of the “oral and intangible heritage”.
Wang, Yong. “Guojia yujing zhong de fei wuzhi wenhua yichan: Yi guqin wei ge an yanjiu” (Intangible cultural heritages in the nation-state context: A case study of guqin), Nanjing Yishu Xueyuan xuebao (Yinyue yu biaoyan ban)/Journal of Nanjing Arts Institute (Music & performance) 3/121 (fall 2009) 111–117. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2009-7652]
Abstract: The emphasis on national cultures of a nation state is a sign of the use of state power. Nation states make requisitions of historical and cultural resources to create cultural images of the state, integrate nations, reinforce national pride, and acquire international prestige and resources. Therefore, arts have political overtones. In the theoretical frame of sociology, this study inspects the renaissance of intangible cultural heritage, the universal imagination of national culture, and the power of the state in arts in the context of nation states. The focus of discussion is the relationship between the image of the state and the ideology of arts.
Geographic distribution of ICH sites in China (2021). Source: Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (https://www.geodoi.ac.cn/WebEn/doi.aspx?Id=1925)
Yao, Hui. “Pochu ‘pochu mixin’: Dui Jing xi minjian Foshi yinyue baohu qianti ji fangfa de tanjiu” (Breaking the “breaking the superstition”: An investigation into the premises and methods of protecting Buddhist music in west Beijing), Zhongguo yinyuexue/Musicology in China 1/106 (2012) 14–23, 31. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2012-27995]
Abstract: The idea of “breaking the superstition” is the primary obstacle to the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) of west Beijing, and breaking the “breaking the superstition” is a premise for all the protection work of Buddhist music and religious ICH. The theoretical and ideological discussion in this paper demonstrate the relationship between religion, funerary customs, and superstition. On this basis, it is argued that the safeguarding of Buddhist music in west Beijing cannot be separated from the cultural whole that religion and mourning have built together, and corresponding countermeasures for the problems existing in the safeguarding of Buddhist music and religious ICH in west Beijing are proposed.
Hu, Xiaoman . “Cong hunduanzi kan min’ge Jicheng baohu wenhua yichan de queshi” (The lack of preservation of cultural heritage in the traditional song Jicheng from the perspective of erotic songs), Renmin yinyue/People’s music 6/566 (2010) 48–50. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2010-31307]
Abstract: The publication of Zhongguo minjian gequ jicheng (Collection of Chinese traditional song) has become a landmark achievement in the preservation of China’s musical and cultural heritage. While we rejoice in such an achievement of traditional song culture, we should also see its shortcomings. The Jicheng‘s shortcoming in documenting musical heritage is examined in terms of the absence of erotic songs to promote the in-depth development of musical heritage preservation.
Rees, Helen. “Intangible cultural heritage in China today: Policy and practice in the early twenty-first century”, Music as intangible cultural heritage: Policy, ideology, and practice in the preservation of East Asian traditions, ed. by Keith Howard (Farnham: Ashgate, 2012) 23–54. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2012-6419]
Abstract: Reflects on how attitudes towards local and traditional music have changed and evolved over a 25-year engagement with Chinese music. Noting the legacy of Mao Zedong’s 1942 Zai Yan’an yishu zuotanhui shang de jianghua (Talks at the Yan’an forum on literature and art), in which artists were required to guide the masses, she explores how attitudes began to shift from developing and modernizing arts (including music) towards an acceptance that something needed to be done to encourage the performance and transmission of traditional music. She sets out the major official policies that have been enacted and outlines the discussions and rhetoric that surrounds them. She then offers three case studies to illustrate practice on the ground, which lead her to conclude that the shift in attitudes can be put down to several factors that include nationalism and international competitiveness, the rise of the market economy in China, and the emergence of environmental and ecological agendas. Her first case study concerns ritual music in Yunnan, specifically the dongjing associations (dongjinghui) of lay musicians and ritualists that have a documented history among Han Chinese and certain minorities stretching back some 450 years. In some areas these amateur groups are flourishing today, while in others they are on the decline. Rees explores the social and economic reasons for this and focuses on two groups and traditions that are being maintained, noting their historical depth as well as their close ties to place and their community cohesion. Her second case study concerns the Naxi ethnic minority, the majority of whose members live in Lijiang county, Yunnan. She considers the survival and use of folksong and folk dance, the revival underway in the training of young dongba religious specialists, and the grassroots use of the Naxi dongjing tradition for tourism—initially local, but then showcased in international tours, and coupling to changed contexts for performance and pride in music as intangible cultural heritage. Her third case study moves to the world of the literati, and the music of the seven-stringed zither, guqin (or qin). Rees learned the guqin at the Shanghai Yinyue Xueyuan in the late 1980s, when it was marginal and had little presence within the institution; today it is a UNESCO Masterpiece, and many studios flourish in Beijing and Shanghai that teach and sell the instrument. Antique instruments are highly sought, and new instruments have multiplied in price some 60 or more times over two decades.
Kuutma, Kristin. “Inside the UNESCO apparatus: From intangible representations to tangible effects”, Safeguarding intangible heritage: Practices and politics, ed. by Laurajane Smith and Natsuko Akagawa (Abingdon: Routledge, 2018) 68–83. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2018-100476]
Abstract: Explores the case of Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in translating the term “intangible cultural heritage” to illustrate how translations can vary, even when the same target language is used, revealing the complicacy of cultural politics. To many people in Asian regions, cultural heritage is a translated term. Variations in the translated expression mirror diversified notions of intangibility rooted in different knowledge traditions, which in turn may lead to distinct policies implemented and heritage discourses. Which translation to adopt reveals something of the cultural politics at the state level. In the first place, which source language version among the authoritative texts is taken as the base for translation is indicative of diplomatic relations, knowledge genealogy, and often postcolonial interconnections. For numerous local or Indigenous communities, gaining recognition of their intangible cultural heritage would entail a formidable process involving re-translation, re-interpretation and negotiation, inevitably endowing power to those eligible to translate.
Su, Junjie. “Understanding the changing intangible cultural heritage in tourism commodification: The music players’ perspective from Lijiang, China”, Journal of tourism and cultural change, 17/5 (2019) 247–268. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2019-19251]
Abstract: While intangible cultural heritage (ICH) has been an emerging topic in the fields of heritage studies and tourism studies, the relationship of ICH and commodification is still under-researched. The tension between protection and commodification of ICH is intensified when the term “heritage” is used as a form of protection and a resource for commodification. Using musical elements of ICH in Lijiang, China as a case study, a critical heritage studies approach is used to investigate the values and components of ICH from the perspective of musicians. The study shows that the musicians construct their own values of ICH in a diverse and dynamic process. Commodified forms of performance are not clearly differentiated; rather, they are regarded as equally important to realize musicians dynamic and subjective needs. This study reveals the dynamic aspects of ICH, rethinks the commodification of ICH, and examines the creation of ICH from a critical approach.
D’Evelyn, Charlotte. “Khöömii, chooryn duu, and dissonant heritage in Inner Mongolia, China”, Asian music: Journal of the Society for Asian Music, 52/2 (summer-fall 2021) 139–169. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2021-5617]
Abstract: Sheds light on the logics that informed China’s 2009 successful application and nomination of höömii as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of China. It explores how bureaucrats charged with overseeing cultural heritage applications, while expertly aware of the requirements to satisfy the terms of the UNESCO Convention, often unknowingly distance and disenfranchise local knowledge in the process. Just such a phenomenon occurred in Inner Mongolia, in which bureaucrats created a new musical taxonomy to justify the existence of and need for safeguarding of höömii in China. Offering a close investigation into the UNESCO application, this article spotlights the practice of chooryn duu (tsooryn duu, chogur-un dagu) and the logic through which it became strategically subsumed within and conflated with höömii for the purposes of the UNESCO application.
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In February 1929, the Spanish dancer Antonia Mercé Luque, better known as La Argentina, arrived in the Philippines during her groundbreaking international tour. This pioneering journey marked a significant expansion of Spanish dance, introducing it to traditional stage circuits across the Americas as well as cities in Asia and Oceania. The Philippines, a former Spanish colony, represents a particularly intriguing case for analyzing the impact of her work. During her visit, La Argentina honored Philippine culture by creating a piece inspired by the cariñosa–a traditional Spanish colonial dance–which she subsequently integrated into her international repertoire.
La Argentina’s brief visit to Manila and the creation of her solo piece, La cariñosa, highlight how early 20th-century Spanish dance served as a colonial gesture, presenting Spanish dance as both a colonizing force and one that was itself influenced by colonial contexts. This solo stylized the Filipino national dance for Western audiences, ostensibly paying tribute to the Filipino people. However, it also obscured a deeper colonial power dynamic, framing the performance in the context of a shared Hispanidad—a constructed cultural policy that promoted a fictive unity in the postcolonial Philippines.
Stills from footage of a 1929 performance of the Philippine cariñosa by La Argentina in Manila.
Like her earlier Latin American tour, La Argentina’s Asian tour should be viewed in the context of other contemporary Western dancers who were effectively conducting a type of fieldwork. Many of these dancers sought artistic and documentary inspiration from cultures considered exotic to Western audiences, primarily drawing from influences in India and Southeast Asia, as well as Indigenous American traditions. By the time La Argentina arrived in the Philippines, her artistic vision had already gained legitimacy within the dominant circles of Western culture. Her critical and public success, especially after founding her company, Les Ballets Espagnols–a name that mirrored Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes–in the autumn of 1927, further elevated her status. The acclaim she received from her peers further solidified her position as the foremost international exponent of Spanish dance.
This according to “Antonia Mercé ‘La Argentina’ in the Philippines: Spanish dance and colonial gesture” by Idoia Murga Castro (Dance research journal 54/3 [2022] 45–67; RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2022-16064).
Below is a performance of the cariñosa folk dance of the Philippines.
The Senegalese singer, songwriter, musician, and politician Youssou N’Dour was born just six months before Senegal achieved independence. His mother hailed from a long line of griots, or gawlo, who served as hereditary musicians and custodians of oral history in traditional Senegalese culture. In contrast, his father, who did not come from a griot background, discouraged him from pursuing a career in music. Nevertheless, at the age of 12, Youssou began performing at local events, including kassaks (circumcision ceremonies) and ngentes (baptisms). By 13, he had his first major public performance with the song M’Ba, marking the start of his professional singing career.
For a brief period, N’Dour attended the École des Arts but quickly lost interest in classical Western music education. In 1975, he joined Ibrahim Kassé’s Star Band, the house band at the popular nightclub Le Miami. After two years, he left the band along with several other members to form a new group, Étoile de Dakar, in 1977. In 1984, Youssou N’Dour was invited to perform in Paris alongside the Ghanaian-English band Osibisa on April 4th, celebrating Senegalese Independence Day before an audience of 12,000 at the Espace Bala. Among the attendees was British rock musician Peter Gabriel, who was so captivated by N’Dour’s voice that he later traveled to Dakar to meet him.
N’Dour performs Nelson Mandela on his 1987 tour with Peter Gabriel.
In 2012, N’Dour declared his candidacy for the Senegalese presidential elections. His song Fekke ma ci boole became an anthem for his political campaign. Although he was ultimately disqualified from the election due to alleged irregularities with his signatures, his candidacy played a crucial role in uniting the opposition. In addition to his political endeavors, N’Dour has received numerous honors for his musical and humanitarian work, being appointed as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 1991 and a FAO Global Goodwill Ambassador in 2000. In a recent interview, N’Dour spoke of music’s power to bring people together. According to him, “When you’re a musician you speak a universal language that overcomes divisions and [can] bring people together, remind them of our common humanity and promote understanding and solidarity. Music is a melody and a word that can speak of love, friendship, peace, and subjects that concern us all, such as the environment and immigration – subjects that we all experience in our daily lives. Also, throughout my career, I’ve always been open to world cultures while putting an African stamp on them.”
Read the new entry on Youssou N’Dour in MGG Online.
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The Mexican singer-songwriter Amparo Ochoa is considered one of the most remarkable and versatile performers of the Mexican canto nuevo movement (related to nueva canción). Born in Culiacán in 1946, Ochoa grew up singing at various school events and with her father. She later taught in rural grade schools in her home state where songs were an essential part of her teaching. Her deep connection with Mexican and Latin American audiences is often expressed through her innate charm. This sense of popularity is not only rooted in the political messages of the songs she performed but also in the influential platforms where she showcased her talent.
The widespread perception of her voice as representative of the people is rooted in the rich vocal traditions of early 20th century Mexican musical theater, which evolved throughout the century and were recontextualized during the Latin American Cold War. These vocal strategies, deeply impactful on listeners, shaped their understanding of el pueblo and fostered sympathy for movements opposing dictatorial regimes in the 1970s and 1980s. This interpretation of her voice foregrounds the role of music and song in the ideological and political frameworks of the time and expresses how the emotional resonance of her voice influenced listeners’ subjectivity.
Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month by reading “La voz del pueblo y para el pueblo” Amparo Ochoa’s vocal trajectory: From the Mexican Revolution to the Latin American Cold War” by Natalia Bieletto Bueno (Journal of interdisciplinary voice studies 5/1 [2020] 9–28; RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2020-72069).
Below is a video of Ochoa performing the song A que te tiras cuando sueñas mexicano on a Mexican television program.
The musician and union educator Joe Glazer, known as “labor’s troubadour”, made significant contributions to work and union songs through his composition, performance, study, and recording from the 1940s to the 2000s. Although not as widely recognized outside labor circles as Woody Guthrie or Pete Seeger, Glazer played a crucial role in documenting and providing a soundtrack for many of the 20th century U.S. labor movement’s struggles. Glazer, who referred to himself “an agitator for all good causes”, recorded more than 30 albums, wrote a book about labor music, and recruited a new generation of protest singers.
Born in Manhattan on 19 June 1918, Glazer was the son of a tailor in the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. Growing up in the Bronx, he admired crooners like Gene Autry, and often played along with them at home on his guitar. He later joined the textile workers as an assistant education director and capitalized on his boss’s suggestion to use the guitar as a tool to inspire and rally workers. During his travels, Glazer encountered an early version of the song We shall overcome at the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee, which he later recorded with the Elm City Four in 1950. The version he first heard had been adapted from Black tobacco union workers who first sang it on a picket line in 1946.
In 1950, Glazer wrote Too old to work, a protest song inspired by the United Auto Workers’ campaign for occupational pensions. Just four days after Chrysler workers in Michigan adopted the song, the manufacturer capitulated to the union’s demands. The song quickly became a powerful tool for organizers, educators, politicians, and musicians, cementing its place as one of the most influential pension songs in the U.S. labor movement.
This according to “Too old to work: Joe Glazer, labour music, and occupational pensions” by Simon H. Buck, (Comparative American studies 18/3 [2021] 281–301; RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2021-10611).
Listen to Solidarity forever and The give away boys by Joe Glazer below.
The main entrance to the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts’s exhibition Lou Reed: Caught between the twisted stars opens up on Lincoln Plaza, directly adjacent to the The Metropolitan Opera house. On a sunny day, the Met’s … Continue reading →
Seven strings/Сім струн (dedicated to Uncle Michael)* For thee, O Ukraine, O our mother unfortunate, bound, The first string I touch is for thee. The string will vibrate with a quiet yet deep solemn sound, The song from my heart … Continue reading →
Introduction: Dr. Philip Ewell, Associate Professor of Music at Hunter College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, posted a series of daily tweets during Black History Month (February 2021) providing information on some under-researched Black … Continue reading →
For it [the Walkman] permits the possibility…of imposing your soundscape on the surrounding aural environment and thereby domesticating the external world: for a moment, it can all be brought under the STOP/START, FAST FOWARD, PAUSE and REWIND buttons. –Iain Chambers, “The … Continue reading →
