Revolutionary Songs Research Articles

A Polish Patriot in Paris: Albert Sowiński, Essayist, Anthologist and Lexicographer

If there was one musician in mid-nineteenth-century Paris who diligently promoted Polish accomplishments, it was Albert Sowinski (Wojciech Sowiński). From his arrival in France in 1828 until his death in 1880, he championed the Polish cause as a performer, composer and scholar. Sowinski was a prolific writer, but with the exception of his Les musiciens polonais et slaves, anciens et modernes, Dictionnaire (1857), his studies of Polish repertoire rarely receive more than passing attention in modern scholarship. In this essay, I investigate Sowinski’s developing paradigms of Polish nationalism and Polish identity across the entirety of his major writings about and collections of Polish music: Chants polonais nationaux et populaires (1830), Chants de la révolution du 29 novembre 1830 (1830), Mélodies polonaises album lyrique (1833), ‘Chants populaires de l’Ukraine’ (1842), ‘De l’état actuel de la musique en Pologne’ (1842), Dictionnaire (1857) and Chants religieux de la Pologne, Op. 93 (1859). The four works from the 1830s, which focused on Polish folk music and revolutionary songs, were closely tied to Sowinski’s work with Léonard Chodzko (Leonard Chodźko) and his circle in Paris. Especially in the Chants polonais, Sowinski followed Chodzko and Joachim Lelewel in emphasising the exceptional geographic, linguistic and even ethnic diversity of the old Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, viewing this diversity as the basis for a glorious musical and political future. By contrast, in his critical writings of the 1840s, Sowinski interpreted Ukraine’s folk traditions as speaking largely to regional experience; he cast Warsaw and its musical institutions as the basis for a modern Polish musical identity. By the time of his Dictionnaire and Chants religieux de la Pologne, Sowinski de-emphasised Poland’s musical exceptionality in favour of delineating its long tradition of exchange with Western Europe, facilitated particularly through courts and the Roman Catholic Church.

Eulogists of Great Changes: Images of the Future in Russian Soviet Song Poetry from the Revolution to the Collapse of the USSR

Russian Soviet song from the moment of its emergence bore no ethnic character, but that of an imperial one, it was a means of relaying certain ideas and images throughout the Soviet Union. Simultaneously it bore the imprint of the events that were taking place in the country and formed the image of them among the general public. Originating initially as a revolutionary song, it called people to fi ght fi rst against exploiters and then against counter-revolutionary elements. In the 1930-ies the song formed a positive image of the present, with little reference to either the past or the future. From the second half of the 1950-ies the image of the future becomes more distinct, it is connected with the exploration of space and hard-to-reach places on Earth, the efforts made in the present will bear fruit in the lifetime of the next generations. But from the mid-1970-ies, Soviet pop began to lose the battle for the hearts of people to Russian rock, representatives of which called for escape from reality rather than building a new world. By the mid-1980-ies, the call for changes becomes the key motive, but there is no image of the future that should follow those changes

THE CREATIVE THINKING DEDUCTION OF TRADITIONAL CHINESE PIANO MUSIC ELEMENTS - TAKING CULTURAL WORKS FROM DIFFERENT PERIODS IN HISTORY AS THE MAIN LINE

In the 70 years since the founding of China, piano music has undergone a unique process of development. In the early years of the founding, piano composers tended to favor folk material, focusing on nationalization and mass. This study explores multiple stages in the evolution of creative thinking about traditional elements of Chinese piano music, using the cultural lineage of piano works from different historical periods as the main thread. Among them, the first stage is 1949-1966, the seventeen years of unprecedented prosperity of piano creation in the early years of the founding of the country. To make piano music more accessible to the masses, the subjects of piano works had regional and mass characteristics, the melodies tended to be folk materials while not using overly complex musical language and the melody was served by form, weave, and harmony. The second stage was from 1967 to 1977, the decade of the Cultural Revolution. Although the subject matter could only be pianistic adaptations of model operas, revolutionary songs, and traditional instrumental pieces, it prompted composers to dig deeper into the musical language and explore the perfect use of folk music patterns, traditional branching vocal weaves, and nationalized harmonies in the piano. The third stage is 1978-2019, the period of diversified development. A variety of modern Western music genres influenced Chinese piano music composition. Composers used and modernized ethnic materials to varying degrees, resulting in different approaches to ethnicized subject matter. Non-traditional tonality and dissonant acoustics are two of the main characteristics of the musical language at this stage. Nationalization and modernization are explored in Chinese piano works in multiple ways, with remarkable achievements.

The Rhymes of Zhina Movement; Content Analysis of Revolutionary and Protest Music of Iran 2022

The Zhina movement that erupted following the death of Mahsa Zhina Amini, under custody for allegedly wearing her headscarf incorrectly, is Iran's most prolonged and pervasive movement since the 1979 revolution—repeatedly referred to as a revolution by the actors who participated in the movement as well as political analysts. This movement has had many cultural, social, and political influences. Music as a critical cultural manifestation, artistic self-expression, and an integral part of people's daily life both affected the movement and was impacted by it. This article takes a closer look at the protest and revolutionary songs published since the beginning of the Zhina movement in September 2022. Using a qualitative content analysis approach, it explores the contents published during the movement concerning meaning-making, collective imagination, and representation of Iran's social and political situation. Ten main themes were extracted, including oppression, resistance, the conflict between good and evil, the connection between previous social movements, representation of slogans, symbols, and victims, woman and embodiment, homeland, nations and ethnicities, religion, action request, and desired future vision.

Adolphe Nourrit is singer of the July Revolution

The subject of the article is the socio-cultural and religious-philosophical views of the greatest French tenor of the XIX century, Adolphe Nurrit (1802-1839). His stage work was carried out at the Paris Opéra, and during the July Revolution of 1830 he performed revolutionary songs, supporting and inspiring compatriots to fight for freedom. Considering Nurrit's creative portrait and revolutionary agitator activity in the 1830s, the author focuses on his commitment to the ideas of sentimonism, in particular, on the desire to deepen the religious and moral role of theater in society. The singer's spiritual quest can be characterized by relying on various historical evidence – doctrinal positions of the sentimonists, comments from eyewitnesses, articles in newspapers, letters from Nurrit himself. The methodological strategy of the research is based on socio-historical and socio-cultural approaches. A large array of historical sources attracted by the author consists of literature in foreign languages, work with which involves linguistic research methods. The combination of different approaches and reliance on reliable historical sources makes it possible to achieve scientific novelty: Nurrit was first described as a singer of the Revolution, which left a deep imprint on his artistic appearance, religious and moral views and plans for practical implementation. The presented portrait of Nurri as an adept of the sentimonistic idea of the sacred mission of the artist and the religious and educational function of the theater is new for musicology. As a result of the undertaken research, Nurrit's deep involvement in the socio-cultural life of France becomes obvious, and his artistry stands out as a special artistic phenomenon due to the unprecedented emotional impact of the artist on his contemporaries. The materials, observations and conclusions presented in the article will find application in historical musicology and will be useful to modern opera performers.

Variability in humpback whale songs reveals how individuals can be distinctive when sharing a complex vocal display.

Individually distinctive acoustic signals in animal vocal communication are taxonomically widespread, however, the investigation of these signal types in marine mammals has focused only on a few species. Humpback whale songs are a stereotyped, hierarchically structured vocal display performed by males, and hence thought to be sexually selected. Within a population, whales conform to a common version of the song despite the song constantly evolving. While humpback songs have been studied extensively at the population level, individual level variation has been rarely described, with inconclusive results. Here, we quantified inter- and intra-individual variability at different levels in the song hierarchy using songs from 25 singers across two song types from the eastern Australian population song of 2002 (12 singers), and the revolutionary song introduced in 2003 (13 singers). Inter-individual variability was found heterogeneously across all hierarchical levels of the song structure. In addition, distinct and individually specific patterns of song production were consistently recorded across song levels, with clear structural differences between the two song types. These results suggest that within the constraints of song conformity, males can produce individually distinctive patterns that could function as an advertisement to females to convey individual qualities.

Revolutionary Songs from Myanmar: Reconsidering Scholarly Perspectives on Protest Music

Since the February 1, 2021 military coup in Myanmar, Burmese musicians have been creating and circulating anti-coup songs, which are usually called “revolutionary songs.” This article describes a representative sample of these songs, explaining how the lyrics reference important tropes in Burmese life and history. Further, the article argues that these revolutionary songs, while they can be understood as protest music, do not fit precisely into categories previously delineated for protest songs. Nor do these songs provide a neat answer to the question that scholars so often pose of protest music, to wit: do these songs work to persuade listeners to take an anti-authoritarian position? Depending on ethnographic findings derived from interviews with musicians, disseminators and listeners, I argue that Burmese revolutionary songs are intended to support those already involved in resisting the military regime. The songs’ reception is complicated, suggesting that scholars must be cautious about making liberatory claims for protest music, even in cases such as this, where the lyrics of the songs are unambiguous and well-understood by listeners.

Singing a Great Dream: The Revolutionary Songs and Life of Khusiram Pakhrin

Singing a Great Dream: The Revolutionary Songs and Life of Khusiram Pakhrin

Fenomen kitajskoj revolyucionnoj muzyki: tradicii i sovremennost' (na primere «krasnoj muzyki»)

The rise and spread of revolutionary music in China embody a long history of social transformation, deep cultural content, and psychological connotations of Chinese society’s struggle for freedom and its future. By analyzing the historical evolution of the genre of revolutionary songs, the national and social reasons for the development of this repertoire are explored. The features of the symbolic meaning and the specificity of the cultural expression of Chinese «red music» are revealed. Its role and significance for modern China is assessed.

The revolutionary movement and the practice of public funerals based on the sources of personal origins

The paper examines the tradition of politicized public funerals, which was of great importance among those who sympathized with revolutionary ideas in pre-revolutionary Russia, using materials of personal sources. Public funerals of this kind went beyond the boundaries of the traditional confessional funeral rite to a large extent and elicited serious anxiety from the authorities. It is shown that this tradition was born and formed in the second half of the 19th century and allowed the public to express political ideas bypassing the censorship restrictions of that period. The politicized funeral attracted large crowds of participants and spectators, accompanied by revolutionary songs, and ended with speeches and a civil funeral. The significance of politicized public funerals as a performative practice is shown. It is noted that politicized funerals were not always anti-religious in nature. The reaction of contemporaries to the mass politicized funeral is considered. Memoirists note the extra-state nature of a funeral of this kind, which made it possible to maintain perfect order even without the participation of the police. It is shown that by the time of the 1917 revolution, public revolutionary funerals were already a well-formed social phenomenon, and the ritual of the ceremonial burial of the victims of the revolution on the Field of Mars dates back precisely to this practice.

Советская массовая песня 1920-1940 х годов в зеркале эпохи

Relevance. The relevance of studying the phenomenon of Soviet mass song is currently increasing due to special attention to educational work, to the formation of an active civic position among modern youth. This genre is not only a sign of the era, but also clearly reflects the spiritual, moral, patriotic values of Russian society. The purpose of this article is consideration of the stages of formation of the Soviet mass song genre in the 1920-1940s. Research objectives to consider the formation and development of the Soviet mass song genre in the 1920-1940s; to identify the influence of the main events of national history that influenced the evolution of this genre. Methodology. The work uses general scientific methods of analysis and synthesis of information, as well as a set of methods of historical-cultural, problem-chronological nature; the analysis of the means of musical expressiveness and genre and stylistic features of the subject of research was applied. Results. The social structure of society, which changed after the October Revolution of 1917, required changes in the country's cultural policy. The desire to "throw Pushkin off the ship of modernity" and build a new world led to the emergence and flourishing of the Soviet mass song genre. The concept of “mass song” was filled with new content at different stages of development: in the 1920s, arrangements of revolutionary songs for the choir were among the leading directions in composer creativity. The practice of composing a new text to an already existing melody was widespread. After the end of the civil war, modern dance rhythms penetrate the mass song, against which a large-scale campaign is unfolding in society. In the prewar years, this genre reflected the themes of socialist construction, memories of historical events and bright hopes. With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the task facing the artists was determined by the need to help the people survive, raise their fighting spirit, and strengthen patriotic feelings. Conclusion. The Soviet mass song has become an expression of the values and needs of the era and a real documentary evidence of its time.

Underground Press of Social Democratic Organizations in Šiauliai in 1904–1914

This article deals with propaganda activities, such as publishing proclamations (20 publications), revolutionary songs (1), and underground periodicals (1), by local organizations of the Bund, LSDDP, LSDP and RSDDP in Šiauliai in 1904–1914. Political changes in Russia in 1904–1907 created favorable conditions for social democratic organizations to actively carry out propaganda activities, but the intensity at which they were carried out was not uniform across Lithuania. The proletarian profile of Šiauliai and the particularly active activity of the LSDP allowed to mobilize propagandists in a short time, to prepare the necessary proclamations on the spot, and to provide the necessary press equipment. During the years of the revolution (1905–1907), Šiauliai had to emerge as the second center of the social democratic movement in Lithuania. After the defeat of the revolution in Russia, due to the increased persecution of social democratic forces, the underground organizations failed to mobilize their press capacity or develop more active propaganda events; therefore, the political parties even had to suspend the activities of local organizations in Šiauliai. The integration of social democratic youth into the social democratic organizations of Šiauliai took place in c. 1912 and gave hope for a stronger revival of propaganda. The resumption of activities ceased in the first years of the First World War. The large-scale underground press developed in underground conditions expressed the expectations of the local population, reflected the involvement of parties in the formation of political views of the urban population, and was a counterweight to official information. Therefore, its assessment is inseparable from the realities of the political context of that time.

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Men zing’, men spring’, men juigch’ nu bly

The Batavian Revolution in the winter of 1794-1795 was greeted with song and dance all over the Netherlands. The first months of festivities were not, however, simply spontaneous expressions of joy over regained freedom, they were carefully designed events that had to bring people together after years of political turbulence. During these celebrations, the singing of revolutionary songs functioned as a practice that concretised abstract revolutionary ideals and made them available to the experience of the singers. As such, the revolutionary festivals and their songs offered people both spaces in which to imagine the shape of a new Batavian order, as well as opportunities to participate in and identify with this new order.

ИСТОРИЯ СОЗДАНИЯ БАЛЕТА «СЕДАЯ ДЕВУШКА»

The article is devoted to the history of the creation of the ballet "The White-Haired Girl", which was included among the "exemplary productions" during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. The plot of the ballet, based on class contradictions between landowners and peasants, has folklore origins: first it appeared in the novel, then the first national Chinese opera was created, later adapted for cinema and became the basis for the ballet. The ballet "The White-Haired Girl" was commissioned by Chinese leadership. It includes the historical facts of the class struggle and shows the formation of a personality ready to resist exploitation and fight for freedom for all. The ballet's music, composed by Yan Jinxuan, also includes revolutionary folk songs and numbers taken from the opera of the same name. Compared to the opera, the ballet enhances revolutionary features in the characters. The choreography harmoniously combines classical ballet pas with the characteristics of Chinese folk dance and martial arts. The ballet "The White-Haired Girl" is performed with ongoing success since its inception in 1965 to the present day and is rightly considered a "red classic" with a high ideology and artistry.

Música e poder em Confúcio e Mao Zedong

Embora defensores de doutrinas distintas, Confúcio e Mao Zedong partilham entre si a ideia de música como elemento fundamental na moldagem do ethosdo ser humano e, por conseguinte, influenciador da atividade política, defendendo o seu controlo por parte dos governantes. Esta ideia não só se refletiu na produção musical propriamente dita, como também na instituição de organizações e práticas musicais que consolidaram o poder dos governos sobre a arte musical ao longo de vários períodos da história chinesa, com o objetivo último de alcançar a harmonia social.

Fela Kuti’s Black consciousness: African cosmology and the re-configuration of Blackness in ‘colonial mentality’

ABSTRACT In recent times in African development, attentions have now been shifted to Eurocentric apologetics in Africa and some colonially obsessed people who used the instruments of power to subjugate the masses. They have also attempted to suppress the phenomenon of Black consciousness, therefore making it oblivion and superfluous to the development of African cosmology. This scenario has inadvertently created a lacuna of ignorance among people who could not strive assiduously to situate their freedom and ensure the exigency arising from the fact that African cultural idiosyncratic norms should be held with sacrosanct. On this backdrop, Fela Anikulapo Kuti in this study uses his highly spiritual and satiric song, ‘colonial mentality’ to pour derision and castigate the opprobrious terms of Euro-centrism among Africans for a drastic change of negative orientation to that which entrenches the consciousness of the African soul. This revolutionary song was poised to valorize the concept of freedom and to re-advocate the newness of Blackness in all ramifications in order to apparently subjugate exacerbated ambiguity propelled by controversial and treacherous notions of Euro-centrism orchestrated by the subjugation of Black consciousness. The study avidly relies on Derrida’s theory of deconstruction that epitomizes the need for the binaries to be re-constructed and re-versed in order to bring about newness that encapsulates multiplicities of meanings. It also borrows a leave from the Fanonian theory of liberation that visualizes the need for the Black person to be totally free from all forms of foreign subjugation. Also, this study lends axiomatic credence on decolonial theory that probes assiduously on the need to break away from some shackles of foreign hegemony and epistemology so that the native’s thoughts as envisaged in Fela’s songs could be a reality and a total embodiment of African’s reflection that is dependent on the promotion of Black philosophy and the elevation of Afrocentric concepts that contributes to the overarching development of Africans in all ramifications.

XIX КЫЛЫМДЫН АЯГЫНДА КЫРГЫЗ МУЗЫКАЛЫК ФОЛЬКЛОРУНДАГЫ ТОП МЕНЕН ЫРДООНУН ЭВОЛЮЦИЯСЫ

The article considers the evolution of group singing in the Kyrgyz musical folklore at the end of the XIX century, recorded in the musical texts of the Kyrgyz musical folklore, from the point of view of their ethno-musical and musical-factual analysis. It was clarified that the genre of working and revolutionary songs in Kyrgyzstan was formed in the pre-revolutionary period and has undergone changes in the functions of the group singing environment. Instead of ritual and lyrical songs that raise acute social themes, urban songs of protest content began to appear. Special attention is paid to the evolution of group singing in Kyrgyz folklore.

The editions of folklore song in 1917—1918 years in special fund of the Book Chamber of Ukraine: bibliologycal research

The article examines the publications of folk songs of 1919—1921, which are stored in the special fund of the Book Chamber of Ukraine — an inseparable part of the State Archive of Printing of 1917—1976, which contains literature banned by censors (the total number of publications of the special fund — 17 236). Both separate collections devoted entirely to the publication of folklore works and the publication of folk texts included in poetry collections with artistic author's texts are analyzed. In addition, taking into account the peculiarities of the period under study, the exploration also considered songs, the lyrics of which can be called "fakelore", or, in other words, pseudo-folklore. 17 editions of song texts from 1919 to 1921 were selected for the study, among which only three titles were devoted to traditional Ukrainian folklore: "Ten Ukrainian Folk Songs: Accompanied by a Piano" (1921), arranged by F. Blumendfeld; collection "Ukrainian folk songs (a capella): for mixed choir" (issue 4, 1920), compiled and arranged by P. Boychenko, and "School collection of Ukrainian folk songs for primary schools" (1919), compiled by S. Dremtsov. The remaining 14 copies are collections of revolutionary and workers' songs: 3 editions of "Battle Songs of the Communists" (all 1919); "Songs of Struggle to the End" (1919); "Workers' Liberation Songs" (1919); "Songs of the Revolution" (1919); "Battle Songs of the Revolution" (probably 1919); "Battle Songs of the Communists" (probably 1919); "Collection of Revolutionary Songs" (1920); "Revolutionary Songs" (1921, 2nd edition); "Under the Red Banner: Workers' Revolutionary Songs" (1920). After examining the part of the special fund of the Book Chamber of Ukraine, which consists of samples of folklore songs, we can conclude that in 1919—1921 the number of publications of traditional Ukrainian song folklore decreased significantly, while the volume of propaganda and ideological Bolshevik literature, on the contrary, increased rapidly.

Действо «Взятие Зимнего дворца» на празднование годовщины Октябрьской революции в истории становления перформативного искусства

The article is devoted to the issue of formation of performative art in the context of development of spectacular forms of Soviet state holidays. While examining the time and space of official festivities, the author traces the process of design of texts of symbolic pictures narrating on the advent of “the happy life” of the new socialist era in the history of humankind. The theatrical pageantry replicating the chief events of Soviet history, being a significant component of mass holidays, is researched by the author within the dynamics of the process of formation of new forms of culture occurring during the course of the entire specified stage of research. In the variety of the mass shows of 1920 the most large-scale is the grandiose stage work “The Conquest of the Winter Palace” replicating the events of October 1917 in real time and space, accompanied by the performance of the proletarian anthem, revolutionary songs, marches and gunshots. This constructed quasi-military atmosphere unified the sound space of the festivity, singling it out from the everyday routine spatial/temporal domain. The application of performative means created the conditions for the perception of the developed action as a real-time historical event. These were the means by which the sacred chronotope of the Soviet holiday was created: the traditional spatial/temporal dimension of the holiday received an innovational interpretation through the implementation of new symbols which are significant for the formation of the Soviet state. Keywords: Soviet theater, mass shows, performative art.