Weaponized Songs: Pro-Putin and Other Totalitarian Musical Propaganda

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Abstract The paper discusses the topic of weaponization of song, understood in the broadest sense as music with text, sung by one performer or several voices, with or without instrumental accompaniment. Whereas battle songs have historically been used during physical attack on the enemy, the use of music in propaganda gained significance in the twentieth century, with the rise of totalitarian regimes. The author refers to Ernst Cassirer’s elucidation of political myth and interprets contemporary uses of song in war propaganda by Putin and Islamic organizations, juxtaposing it with the abuse of song in totalitarian (communist and Nazi) regimes, and arguing that it is the mythicizing potential of song encapsulating a concise propagandist message that makes it the ideal carrier for propaganda. The author draws upon a vast range of literature on the topic, referring to the Third Reich, Maoist China, Putinist Russia, and the jihadi nasheed.