{"id":9212,"date":"2022-02-03T08:24:24","date_gmt":"2022-02-03T13:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/?p=9212"},"modified":"2022-02-03T08:24:25","modified_gmt":"2022-02-03T13:24:25","slug":"the-state-of-protest-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/2022\/02\/03\/the-state-of-protest-music\/","title":{"rendered":"The State of Protest Music"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Gretsch School of Music<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Art has been (and still is) a reflection of the society from which it was created for centuries. Regardless of your political ideology, place of birth or social status, there is always an injustice worth protesting. Music is a natural medium through which to express oneself, especially for those whose voices have been otherwise repressed. The most poignant example is the music that arose from former slaves and their descendants who found themselves free but oppressed in a racially divided America. Beginning with spirituals and the blues leading to bands such as The Last Poet and Public Enemy, social commentary is a vital part of musical protest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The counterculture anti-war sentiments during the Vietnam Era of Bob Dylan singing \u201cMasters of War\u201d or Jimi Hendrix\u2019s unique rendition of the \u201cStar Spangled Banner\u201d represent a generation\u2019s more generalized frustration against global war. Pieces such as \u201cThrenody for the Victims of Hiroshima\u201d composed by Krzysztof Penderecki, which uses thick modernistic orchestral textures, show that these sentiments are not limited to popular genres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s music is no different. The opening track of Prince\u2019s HITnRUN Phase Two, \u201cBaltimore,\u201d openly calls out a broken system saying \u201cPeace is more than the absence of war\u2026 \u2026Let\u2019s take all the guns away\u201d and mentioning Freddie Gray by name merely one month after his brutal death. The murder of George Floyd also inspired many to create new works including the single \u201cBlack in America\u201d by Kansas City based Marcus Lewis Big Band.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other side of the world, the Russian feminist punk band, Pussy Riot, first came into international prominence after being jailed for \u201chooliganism\u201d during a protest performance (at the alter in a Moscow cathedral) against the Russian Orthodox Church\u2019s support for President Vladimir Putin. Members of the band have allegedly been jailed or put under house arrest for supporting Putin\u2019s opponents, particularly Alexei Navalny. Rumors are currently circulating that they have attempted to leave Russia to avoid further persecution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elsewhere, musicians protest by refusing to submit to censorship. Iranian musician Mehdi Rajabian was arrested for merely announcing that he planned to use female vocalists, which is banned. Rajabian continued the album as originally conceived after posting bail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Musicians in the United States and around the world continue to use their art as a critical platform and I am happy to report that protest music is alive and well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Russell D. Brown, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Gretsch School of Music<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gretsch School of Music Art has been (and still is) a reflection of the society from which it was created for centuries. Regardless of your political ideology, place of birth or social status, there is always an injustice worth protesting. Music is a natural medium through which to express oneself, especially for those whose voices […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":9215,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[67],"class_list":["post-9212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-winter-2022"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}