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S E R P P O
f o c i s u m the
In the last few decades, the political evolution of the United States has spawned countless protest bands. These artists, armed with polemic lyricism, defy political establishment and evoke the ideologies of revolution. In Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name,” lead vocalist Zach de la Rocha screams, “Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me” over fifteen times. But American protest music isn’t always a product of oppression. More often, it simply affirms our freedom of speech. The music of authoritarian oppression, however, tends to manifest as a clandestine operation, functioning as a method of hidden protest. Without the screaming or proclamations, the music of oppression usually presents itself as mere entertainment. But as many have argued before, it can be ten times as powerful.
Famed 20th century composer Dmitri Shostakovich spent most of his career in the Soviet Union. Despite a strained relationship with his nation and a lifetime of pain at the hands of a totalitarian regime, Shostakovich managed to revolutionize music — not by using it as a vehicle of protest or as a means to endorse any political ideology, but simply by making it. His compositions express the pain he
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Fall 2014 Spring 2016
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The music of authoritarian oppression, however, tends to manifest as a clandestine operation, functioning as a method of hidden protest.
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