While I’m following advice on staying at home, I thought it might be fun to plumb my musical ignorance. Ask me a question, any musical question.
Feel free to share this offer and stay well,
Best wishes
David
Splendid Isolation
Music & Fascism
‘Before the war it was not unusual to hear people of many sorts, (particularly of the so-called professional or intellectual type) express their admiration for the successes of fascism or for the personalities of their leaders. Perhaps, they said, fascism has really brought a new idea to the world. They have found a new solution for the social crisis that dominates our time. Success always has a certain fascination.
We musicians are apt to consider our art as something a little apart from life and its crises. But on the other hand music is extremely sensitive to all social trends.’ (Hanns Eisler, 1944) … Read more of Eisler’s lecture
Trump welcomed to Scotland
‘Degenerate’ Music according to the Nazis
‘Yes We Have No Bananas’ was one of the songs banned in Nazi Germany, but its US presentation here begs just as many questions about attitudes to ‘the other’; attitudes that in certain circumstances readily migrate from entertainment to violence:
Fascism is authoritarian and intolerant, promoted in ‘peacetime’ through control by the State and its media. It is not a phenomenon of the distant past. For political reasons, the music of Ewan MacColl, Paul McCartney, The Cure, Bob Marley, 10cc and others has been banned by the BBC, for example … more
Musings on Music and More 