Music as Propaganda: Art at the Command of Doctrine in the People's Republic of China

Abstract

T he political control of music and other arts for propaganda by totalitarian governments has frequently provoked censure of observers in Western democracies.l The control of art for official information goes against grain of creative spirit, we suppose. Can an artistic mind function fully if bound to strictures of a political ideology? Our judgment, colored by nineteenth-century attitude of artist's will as paramount and inviolable, is that extramusical controls must ultimately diminish quality and inhibit imagination. But in this setting if artist concurs with official ideology, is there an inhibition to artistic will?2 Which comes first, (aesthetic quality) of art or success (the accuracy and effectiveness) of ideological message? The Westerner's presumptions arise in part because term propaganda has acquired an odious meaning: it is a technique of distortion, often with evil intent. A more neutral definition, however, is that it is the spreading of ideas, information or rumor for purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person (Webster-Merriam). By such a definition, music to enhance religious practice is a medium for propaganda. In fact, medium, musical substance, may itself be a nonverbal information of clear intent and effectiveness. The sound of a pipe organ will immediately suggest a religious service to many Americans, so limited has venue for hearing organ literature become in this country. Beethoven's choice of Ode to Joy for Ninth Symphony was to spread ideas. Surely no one will disagree that singing commercials of radio and television are an art of persuasion, if not rumor. Many songs of protest, satire, praise or hate from all times fall into category of propaganda as seductive or militant tools for mind control.3 What is difference between such musical messages in historical or current use in Western societies and function of music as a political tool in totalitarian states? The difference is that content of musical work is not left to composer's free choice, nor to practice of censorship-whether explicit or by prevailing morality (which may fall