On the first days of summer, music is being honoured around the world. Through books and films, the Library also celebrates it, in its own way.
Beyond entertainment, whether traditional or popular, music has an international reach and also serves as a cultural identity in a diverse society. On our shelves, books make Syria, Jamaica, Kenya, Brazil and the Balkans sing and dance. On-screen, a Palestinian trio, the Staff Benda Bilili orchestra and the Kinshasa Symphony in the Congo escape their daily lives with a few notes.
Wischmann, Claus, and Martin Baer. Kinshasa Symphony. 2010
More than a way out, music can also be a political instrument at the service of the State, like opera during the Renaissance. Later, it is used as a propaganda tool by Stalin, and as a form of soft diplomacy through jazz or when the Beatles rocked Moscow at the height of the Cold War.
Woodhead, Leslie. How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin : the Untold Story of a Noisy Revolution. 1st U.S. ed. New York: Bloomsbury, 2013.
In other places and times, playing music is an act of freedom. Whether in Latin America, Cuba, Palestine, Croatia, South Africa or Ireland, voices are being raised advocating a singing revolution. In Tunisia and Iran, however, women are prevented from taking the microphone in public.
Najafi, Ayat. No Land’s Song. 2016
Great names that have remained in History resist through their songs or by playing the guitar: Joséphine Baker and Django Reinhardt distinguish themselves in the middle of the Second World War, Miriam Makeba, an African symbol, fights against racism, while Viktor Tsoï‘s forbidden rock makes the young people of Lenningrad sway a summer’s time.
Muller, Catel. Joséphine Baker. Bruxelles: Casterman, 2016.
In the US, an angry youth uses rap as a weapon of mass expression to denounce discrimination. The group N.W.A. comes out of its ghetto and shakes up Obama’s America with its rhythmic diction and rhymes. Hip-hop culture sweeps the world, France, Kenya, India and Afghanistan.
Nielson, Erik, and Travis L. Gosa. The Hip Hop & Obama Reader. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015.
Meanwhile, the classic Hollywood and Broadway musicals enchant the big screen: Oh! What a lovely war, Cabaret, West Side Story and its remake by Spielberg, Evita, and the delirious Rocky Horror Picture Show are to be seen or seen again. Because in this “horribly” troubled world, there will always be a need for singing and dancing… The show must go on!
Sharman, Jim. The Rocky Horror Picture Show. 1975
Suggested readings:
Gienow-Hecht, Jessica C.E. Music and International History in the Twentieth Century. New York: Berghahn, 2015.
780 HEIA 111556
Urbain, Olivier. Music and Conflict Transformation : Harmonies and Dissonances in Geopolitics. London: I.B Tauris in association with the Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research, 2008.
780 HEIA 66365
Franklin, Marianne I. Resounding International Relations : on Music, Culture, and Politics. New York [etc: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
780 HEIA 36095
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