And Afrikaans 'Volk- En Vaderlandsliedere' As Based on a Model of Interacting Philosophical Sub- Theories
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MUSIC AND DISCOURSE ARCHAEOLOGY: CRITICAL STUDIES OF GDR 'ROTE LIEDER' AND AFRIKAANS 'VOLK- EN VADERLANDSLIEDERE' AS BASED ON A MODEL OF INTERACTING PHILOSOPHICAL SUB- THEORIES BY CHARLA HELENA SCHUTTE 2008134138 Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree PHILOSOPHIAE DOCTOR In the Faculty of Humanities Odeion School of Music At the UNIVERSITY OF THE FREE STATE Promotor: Prof. M. Viljoen Co-promotor: Prof P.J. Visagie January 2014 I think it only makes sense to seek out and identify structures of authority, hierarchy, and domination in every aspect of life, and to challenge them; unless a justification for them can be given, they are illegitimate, and should be dismantled, to increase the scope of human freedom. Noam Chomsky (Language and Politics. 2004. Oakland, USA: AK Press, p. 775) i DECLARATION I, Charla Helena Schutte, hereby declare that this thesis submitted for the degree of Philosophiae Doctor in the Faculty of Humanities, Department of Music at the University of the Free State, is my own independent work, conducted under the supervision of Prof. M. Viljoen and Prof. P.J. Visagie. It has never been submitted to any other university in order to qualify for a degree. In addition, I hereby cede copyright of this thesis to the University of the Free State. _____________________ __________________ Charla Helena Schutte Date ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my profound gratitude to my supervisor, Prof. Martina Viljoen. Her insight, mentoring, understanding and unwavering support were invaluable throughout the period of this research. I thank her for her immense effort and tireless commitment. Next, I am deeply indebted to my co-supervisor, Prof. P.J. Visagie for his dedication, advice and patience while explaining and re-explaining the intricacies of Discourse Archaeology to me over the last few years. I would also like to officially acknowledge the work input of Prof. Visagie in this thesis without which I would not have been able to conduct the specialised and in-depth analyses called for by this project. I acknowledge also the contributions to this study of the many interviewees who graciously assisted me with my research concerning life and music in the GDR. Thank you to the Thuringia State Music Archive in Weimar, particularly Mr. Thomas Wiegner. A special thanks is owed to Ms. Karin Maritz who contributed substantively to my research regarding the obtaining and documenting of empirical information relevant to my study in South Africa. I would like to thank my parents for their loving support and the sacrifices they made so their children could also enjoy the privilege of receiving tertiary education. Finally I would like to thank my husband for transcribing all songs in this thesis amidst an extremely busy schedule, tolerating my sometimes foul moods and having no choice but to act as a sounding board throughout this whole study. Charla Schutte 22 January 2014 Wiesbaden iii LIST OF CONTENTS Introduction..........................................................................................................................................1 Background/Rationale..............................................................................................................1 Objectives and research problem..............................................................................................5 Research methodology..............................................................................................................6 Research design........................................................................................................................8 Significance of the study.........................................................................................................10 Chapter 1: “Lieder sind Brüder der Revolution”: An ideology-critical approach to the use of song as a vehicle for propaganda....................................................................................................................................12 Chapter 2: Foreign folk songs as a display of solidarity with socialist Germany................................................44 Chapter 3: Music as symbol: the role of GDR 'rote Lieder' and FAK songs.......................................................78 Chapter 4: Postures of protest: The reinterpretation of FAK folk songs as expressions of (a new) nationalism and nostalgia.....................................................................................................................................112 Chapter 5: “Uit die chaos van die eeue”: an ideology-critical, multi-model analysis of an iconic Afrikaans 'volkslied'..........................................................................................................................................158 Conclusion........................................................................................................................................178 Summary...........................................................................................................................................188 iv 1. Introduction 1.1 Background/Rationale The initial impetus for this study resulted from working in the Thuringia State Music Archive (Thüringisches Landesmusikarchiv) located in the School of Music (Hochschule für Musik) in Weimar, Germany during the period 2006-2007. For one of my first assignments, a stack of fifteen boxes was given to me with the task to sort, organise and archive a disparaging amount of GDR songs collected from many, but not all, GDR districts (Bezirke) in the then East Germany. These songs were sung in schools, by youth organisations and at national and international political events. Needless to say, this daunting task kept me busy for quite some time and after about eight months of reading, playing and sorting through countless communist-based “rote Lieder”1 describing the glory and honour of the worker (Arbeiter), I came out of the project with a ‘soft spot’ for communism. This left me considering the question of how such a seemingly ‘humane’ system could have such far-reaching social, economic and political implications – implications of a highly ideological nature. On paper the songs all appeared to be reasonable and ‘in favour’ of the working class. Generally, they sketched a free and peaceful world with higher ideals that could only be reached through hard work and, most importantly, through working together. Although I came from a Calvinist background, which had imprinted on me that communism was completely unacceptable, my exposure to the “rote Lieder” during those eight months certainly stirred my interest in the place that these songs occupied in the hearts of the people who sung them during Communist reign in East Germany. The sheer volume of the songs, as well as the impact of the texts suggested to me that, as ‘political’ songs, their power should not be underestimated. This led me also to reflect critically on my own South African background and on the songs that I had also sung during my childhood and youth in the apartheid era. It occurred to me that, if one could feel ‘indoctrinated’ by GDR folk songs after only a few months of ‘communist exposure’, how much more could one not be influenced by the well-known and cherished Afrikaans folk songs that formed part of the cultural ‘staple diet’ of the apartheid school system within I myself had been educated? The Soviet Union came to govern East Germany from October 1949. In South Africa, the National 1 The colour red is closely associated with communism; thus, “rote Lieder” is a colloquial description of communist songs. 1 Party, founded in 1914, came into power in 1948. The wall that divided West and East Germany fell in 1989 (most of the wall was physically taken down during 1990) and in 1990 Nelson Mandela was freed from prison, a first step taken towards finally leading the way to a democratic country following elections in 1994. Because of this overlapping of historic events in both the GDR and South Africa, a focus on the assumptions underlying both GDR ‘red songs’ (rote Lieder) and Afrikaans folk songs seemed to present itself as a viable opportunity for exploring the topic of indoctrination through music in both countries. Simultaneously, it would open up possibilities for an ideology-critical analysis of such songs, as well as for some comparison between the two sets of songs although my project was not conceptualised, in the first place, as a comparative study. The GDR “rote Lieder” were published in songbooks used especially by youths belonging to organisations like the Young Pioneers (Jungpioniere), the Thälmann Pioneers (Thälmann-Pioniere) and the Free German Youth (Freie Deutsche Jugend), although the use of the songs was widespread among children and adults alike. In this way, the GDR government managed to gain support for the communist regime and a successful endeavour was initiated to circulate ideologically loaded folk songs amongst the GDR citizens. In South Africa, the first FAK songbook was published in 1937, becoming the cornerstone of patriotism for many (white) South Africans. Similar to the GDR, these songs were sung especially by the youth in schools and belonging to youth organisations like the Voortrekker movement,2 etc. The governments of both the GDR and South Africa never formally discussed (to my knowledge) the implementation of ideologically driven songs to indoctrinate people, but this does not mean that they did not understand the value and effectiveness of using