Local Fusions

Abstract

Local Fusions: Folk Music Experiments in Central Europe at the Millennium explores musical life in Hungary, Slovakia, and Austria between the end of the Cold War and the world financial crisis of 2008. It describes how artists made new social commentary and tried new ways of working together as the political and economic atmosphere changed. The book presents case studies from Budapest, Bratislava, and Vienna, drawing from ethnographic research and from conversations about the arts in Central European publications. The case studies illustrate how young musicians redefined a Central European history of elevating the arts by fusing poetry, local folk music, and other vernacular music with jazz, Asian music, art music, and electronic dance music. Their projects contradicted ethnic exclusions and gender asymmetries in Central Europe’s past expressive culture and in its present far-right political movements. The case studies demonstrate how musicians had to become skilled neoliberal actors, even as they asserted female power, broadened masculinities, and declared affinity with regional minorities such as the Romani (Gypsy) people. The author contrasts the live performances and physical recordings of world music 1.0 with the peer-to-peer networks of world music 2.0, arguing that Central European musicians occupy a liminal space between the two spheres. An epilogue describes how economic shocks of the late 2000s transformed sociality, creative processes, and the market for musical experiments in Central Europe.