Every piece of music has a political context, including the person or institution commissioning the work, the space in which the music is performed, the funding mechanisms and the audience’s social background. In the 20th century, complex contemporary music was generally associated with democracy, because it represented a form of individual expression that was unacceptable in totalitarian regimes. Today, however, we can identify several democracies in which the survival of complex art seems indifferent, and multiple dictatorships with astoundingly (pseudo-)diverse new music scenes.
The Rhizome
Whom do boycotts of Russia’s contemporary music scene actually hurt?
