Not Singing in Tune: The Hor 29 Novembar Choir and the Invention of a Translocal Do-It-Yourself Popular Music Heritage in Austria

Abstract

This article sets out to deepen our understanding of do-it-yourself (DIY) music heritages by focusing on Hor 29 Novembar, an activist choir based in Vienna, Austria, that uses songs to engage with issues of migration, national identity, popular music history, and contemporary society in Austria. The article's empirical sections are based on interviews with choir members, group discussions with the choir, and participant observations at rehearsals and public appearances, complemented by the analysis of Hor 29 Novembar's website. Drawing on recent studies on popular music heritage, the article explores three aspects of the DIY music heritage created by Hor 29 Novembar: 1) the choir's collective cultural identity rooted in the DIY politics and migrant self-organization; 2) commemoration practices that highlight the histories of migration to Austria from the former Yugoslavia since the 1960s and the cultural and political activities of migrants living in Austria; 3) the choir's musical repertoire, which challenges both Austria's national cultural heritage and the dominant political and media representations of migrants. The article suggests that Hor 29 Novembar represents a politically engaged popular music heritage which combines a critique of geographically fixed understandings of culture and racially confined notions of national heritage with raising the visibility of the migrants' cultural past, and popular music past in particular, while fostering a dialogue between different generations of migrants in Austria.