Identity politics, music, and musical discourse in the age of globalization

Abstract

An immense number of scientific works have been written on the phenomenon of identity. Insisting on the consideration of the aforementioned phenomenon has become prominent in social and humanistic sciences - and especially in cultural studies as a specific interdisciplinary field - since the 1960s. Unlike previous studies and notions that see identity as a centered, unchangeable and homogeneous entity that manifests itself as objective social facts, much research has led to the conclusion that identity is a complex, multifaceted, changeable, unstable construct which occurs and changes its meaning in various historical, social and discursive contexts. After that, the focus of research was shifted from the consideration of ways of constructing identity to understanding the occurrence of new aspects of identity, that is, multiplication, fragmentation and destruction of existing identities, especially in the era of globalization. Along with the statement that any art is political, as art per se is one of ideological instruments which conceals the horrible, in terms of the Lacanian ?Real?, and which would destroy society if it could be seen, visualized, heard or touched, there are discussed some aspects of the work of Kevin Volans and Aleksandra Vrebalov, composers whose works have been promoted and brought into the world of music by the Kronos Quartet, a music institution whose work is based on the idea of promoting multiculturalism - a phenomenon which accompanies globalization. Modern open politicization of works of art and musical institutions, which are themselves political instruments, has been interpreted, in the spirit of the conclusions of left-orientated scientists, as a social decision, within neo-liberal capitalism, which enables the acceleration of the process of globalization, that is, the unimpeded flow of Capital.