Controlling Sounds

Music, Sound Technologies, War and Power in the Era of Fascisms. Edited by Chris Koller, Steffen Just and Diego Alonso Tomás.

Music and sound were pivotal yet frequently underestimated instruments of fascist propaganda, nationalist dominance, disciplinary control, terror, and violence, as well as forms of resistance during the interwar period and World War II. This volume brings together cross-disciplinary research by scholars from anglophone and European institutions, examining the use of sound for the enactment of political power across diverse regions in Europe, North America, and India. The chapters conceptualise music as a form of sound technology with an exceptional and adaptable propagandistic potential. They employ a variety of approaches that illuminate the political and propagandistic efforts of musicians - including composers, performers, critics, and music journalists - as well as sound technicians, mass media representatives, detention centres, political bodies, and more. - Contents: Diego Alonso, Steffen Just, Christian Koller: Introduction: Music, Sound Technologies, War and Power in the Era of Fascisms. -- PART I: Sound Systems and Radio as Technologies of Power and Propaganda: Matthew Kerry: Amplifying Antifascism: Loudspeakers as a Technology of War in Spain. - Dobrawa Lisak-Gebala: Polish Wartime Poems as a Part of Radiophonic Propaganda During World War II. - Nabanlta Mitra: Exploring Sonic Warfare through Wartime Indian Radio. -- PART II: Musical Suprematism as German and Italian War Propaganda: Tobias Reichard: German-Italian Music Relations During World War II. - Marie-Hélène Benoit-Otis, Gabrielle Prud'homme: "Ein Zusammenklang von seltener Art". Performing Mozart’s Requiem in Fascist Italy (1941). - Nicoló Palazzetti, Jonathan Thomas: Propaganda, Diplomacy and Ideological Crisis. Sonic Cultures and Italian Fascism During the Early 1940s. -- PART III: Resistance and Remembrance: Eirini Diamantouli: "Roosevelt! Stalin! Democracy!" References to Russia and the Soviet Union in the "andartika" Songs of the Greek Antifascist Resistance. - Amadeu Corbera Jaume: When the Scum Sings. The Catalan Choir from Le Vernet Prisoner’s Camp (1939-1941). - Abby Anderton: The Gendered Sirens of World War II. (Re-)Composing Collective Sonic Trauma. XXIX,216 Seiten mit 15 Abb. und 5 Tab., gebunden (KRiG - Krieg in der Geschichte; Vol. 126/Brill | Schöningh 2025) leichte Lagerspuren/minor shelfwear