Protest song in East and West Germany since the 1960s / edited by David Robb.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Robb, David, 1962-

Series:

Studies in German literature, linguistics, and culture (Unnumbered)

Studies in German literature, linguistics, and culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Protest songs--Germany--20th century--History and criticism.

Protest songs.

Music--Political aspects--Germany--20th century.

Music.

Music--Political aspects.

Germany.

Physical Description:

320 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Rochester, N.Y. : Camden House, 2007.

Summary:

The modern German political song is a hybrid of high and low culture. With its roots in the birth of mass culture in the 1920s, it employs communicative strategies of popular song. Yet its tendencies toward philosophical, poetic, and musical sophistication reveal intellectual aspirations. This volume looks at the influence of revolutionary artistic traditions in the lyrics and music of the Liedermacher of east and west Germany: the rediscovery of the revolutionary songs of 1848 by the 1960s West German folk revival, the use of the profane "carnivalesque" street-ballad tradition by Wolf Biermann and the GDR duo Wenzel & Mensching, the influence of 1920s artistic experimentation on Liedermacher such as Konstantin Wecker, and the legacy of Hanns Eisler's revolutionary song theory. The book also provides an insider perspective on the countercultural scenes of the two Germanys, examining the conditions in which political songs were written and performed. In view of the decline of the political song form since the fall of communism, the book ends with a look at German avant-garde techno's attempt to create a music that challenges conventional cultural perceptions and attitudes.

Contents:

The reception of Vormärz and 1848 revolutionary song in West Germany and the GDR / David Robb

Mühsam, Brecht, Eisler, and the twentieth-century revolutionary heritage / David Robb

Narrative role-play as communication strategy in German protest song / David Robb

The Burg Waldeck festivals, 1964-1969 / Eckard Holler

The folk and Liedermacher scene in the Federal Republic in the 1970s and 1980s / Eckhard Holler

Konstantin Wecker: political songs between anarchy and humanity / Annette Blühdorn

Wolf Biermann: die Heimat ist weit / Peter Thompson

Political song in the GDR: the cat-and-mouse game with censorship and institutions / David Robb

The demise of political song and the new discourse of techno in the Berlin Republic / David Robb.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [279]-299) and index.

ISBN:

1571132813

9781571132819

OCLC:

122338034