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Soft Power to the People: Music and Diplomacy in International History

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Soft Power to the People: Music and Diplomacy in International History Soft power to the people: Music and Diplomacy in International History. Master’s Thesis by Inger-Marie Schjønberg Department of Musicology University of Oslo Vår 2019 “Are we playing the music,” Pieslak asks, “or is music, through its emotional influence, playing us?” (Pieslak, 2015, p. 241) 2 Table of Contents Preface ........................................................................................................................................ 4 Ch. 1 Introduction: ..................................................................................................................... 5 a. Research Question ....................................................................................................................... 5 b. Approach (Method and Theory).................................................................................................. 6 c. Materials .................................................................................................................................... 15 d. Organization of the thesis.......................................................................................................... 16 Ch. 2 The Musicological Tradition of Music and Togetherness: ............................................. 17 a. Sound Diplomacy ...................................................................................................................... 19 b. Music and Violence................................................................................................................... 23 Ch. 3 An Approach Towards a Thought-Based Musical Listening Experience. ..................... 33 a. Shelemay and Descent, Dissent, and Affinity. .......................................................................... 34 b. The Bridge Metaphor ................................................................................................................ 37 c. The Listening Process ............................................................................................................... 38 d. The Concept of Soft Power and its Relation to Music. ............................................................. 40 Ch. 4 When Music Connects .................................................................................................... 45 a. The Case of We Are the World. ................................................................................................ 46 b. The Case of Czechoslovakia 1968. ........................................................................................... 52 Ch. 5 When Music Conquers ................................................................................................... 55 a. The Case of “A Million Voices” ............................................................................................... 58 b. The Case of Benny Goodman in Moscow. .............................................................................. 59 Ch. 6 When Music Divides. ..................................................................................................... 64 a. The Case of Radicalization ....................................................................................................... 65 b. The Case of Justice for the Ninety-Six. .................................................................................... 69 Ch. 7 Concluding Remarks about the Music that Surrounds Us. ............................................. 73 a. Authenticity ............................................................................................................................... 74 b. The Mythical Aspect of Music. ................................................................................................. 78 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................. 80 Preface I would like to thank my supervisor Kyle Devine for guidance and help throughout this process. I addition to that I would like to thank Iver Neumann for some guidance in the early stages of the development of the thesis, as well as Rohan Sandemo Fernando from the The Staff Band of the Norwegian Armed Forces. At the institute I would like to thank Mons for always having answers to every question. But most of all, thank you to my dear husband and companion, Hans and our dearest son that lights up the day, Vilfred Waldemar. 4 Ch. 1 Introduction: This thesis is about the relationship between music and diplomacy in international history. It will look at how culture is not a value in itself, but heavily depends on the meaning people give to it and how they use it in specific historical circumstances. The normative mindset focusing on music doing good, and the idea that music is making us feel a togetherness in a positive sense is shielding us, I believe, from the fact that music is a phenomenon that is not inherently good but has a fundamental ambivalence. I will search for an understanding of the moment when music creates this so-called togetherness. I will discuss different theories about this shared moment, in a theoretical manner. Music can be seen as a process, and I will interpret how music connects, conquers and divides in the world it sounds in, and vice versa. The main focus will be music in relation to politics, international relations and history, more specifically violence, diplomacy and community-building. In this thesis I bring together two strands or spheres that are usually not brought together, music and politics, in a historical context. The two fields musicology and history are slowly converging, something that is pointed out by Jane F. Fulcher. Not only is it revealing that historians and musicologists are now asking similar questions about past cultures and applying a new synthesis of methodologies, but both fields are identifying music as a privileged point of entry into these inquiries, and thus are engaging in a sustained collaboration. (Fulcher, 2013, p. 10) By making an analysis of the historical examples I will take a step closer to sorting out why, and how we often cling to music as a diplomatic mediator within the social, within communities. This will shed light on the relationship between music and diplomacy in international history. It will show how culture heavily depends on the meaning people give to it and how they use it in specific historical circumstances. a. Research Question My main thesis is that music plays out in different ways; that it is not a phenomenon that is inherently good but has a fundamental ambivalence. My argument has three parts, that we have to see music more critically; culture is not a value in itself but heavily depends on the meaning people give to it and how they use it in specific historical circumstances. Through this summary of theoretical viewpoints, and through the analysis of the case studies I will take a step closer to sorting out why, and how we often cling to music as a diplomatic mediator within the social, within communities. Music can be used as a diplomatic tool, or help solve conflicts of an international character, but the same music can also be used for motivation for evil actions, like terrorism per example. This duality is what I will explain in this thesis. 5 b. Approach (Method and Theory) In this thesis I bring together two strands/spheres that are usually not brought together (namely music and politics, and more specifically international relations). Lecturer in contemporary history at the Université de Versailles-St-Quentin, Anaïs Fléchet gives her views on the relationship between music and international relations. Curiously, the study of the role of music in international relations is still in its infancy … “As for musicologists,” she adds, “until quite recently they were more interested in analysing musical scores than the actual context in which these were produced and how they were received.” (Zawisza, 2015) In the 1990s a cultural shift came, she explains, at the same time that scholars became interested in what they called “soft power” in opposition to “hard power”, which meant a focus on the balance of powers and geopolitics. What typifies soft power is that it focuses on how “political issues are resolved by mutual support rather than force.” (Zawisza, 2015) Fléchet describes the contrast between musicologists who focuses too much on analysing musical scores, and too little on the historical context the score exists within, and historians on the other hand who focuses too little on the music, according to Fléchet maybe because they feel they lack the technical tools. (Zawisza, 2015) Fléchet explains that just as the lack of scholarship coming from musicologists, there is also a need for study from the side of historians. It is between these two perspectives this thesis will build its argumentation. This will be a theoretically founded work, where I will use Jonathan Pieslak, Nanette Nielsen and Kay Kaufman Shelemay as a framework. The thesis will move between theory and methodology freely, because the task is to try to come up with a method for talking about, and understanding, and detecting the transformational power that music may have. The borders between methodology, and theory will therefore be a bit blurry. This thesis can be placed somewhere between music sociology, music philosophy and music history. I will also use literature that lean against music aesthetics and music philosophy. I found it very clarifying to read Nielsen 2016, “Musical Philosophy for an Unraveling World,” and her approach to music as a
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