Music and Social Justice - Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

30/8/2015
MusicandSocialJustice|InternetEncyclopediaofPhilosophy
MusicandSocialJustice
Protestsdemandingsocialjusticeasthealternativetoanunacceptablestatusquohavebeen
mounted in response to war, political and social inequality, poverty, and other constraints
oneconomicanddevelopmentopportunities.Althoughsocialjusticeistypicallythoughtof
as a political agenda, many justice movements have used music as a way of inviting and
maintainingbroadbasedparticipationintheirinitiatives.
Someofthisintegrationofmusicandsocialjusticehasbecomesodeeplyembeddedinthe
identityandcultureframeworksofparticulargroupsthatitisunderstoodtodayprimarilyas
culturally constitutive. For instance, the tradition of the blues is widely recognized as a
distinctively AfricanAmerican contribution to music, but is not always recognized for its
role helping to shape the political consciousness of AfricanAmerican communities
emergingfromReconstructioninthenineteenthcenturyandmigratingoutoftheAmerican
Southinthetwentiethcentury.Thesameistrueoftheinterplaybetweenthefreejazzofthe
1960s and the blacknationalist movement it helped to nurture. Other moments in music
and social justice appear in our social and historical narratives less as integration than as
accidental convergences which we do not always notice or remember. Examples of music
droppingoutofthepolitics,ratherthanpoliticsdroppingoutofthemusic,includecultural
inattention to the role music has played in later social protests taking place under the
bannersoftheOccupymovementandUKUncut,andtothecrucialrolethatmusicplayedin
the antiapartheid movement in South Africa. The paradigm for reciprocity of musical
expression and commitment to social justice, on the other hand, is the political protest
cultureoftheUnitedStatesinthe1960s:theCivilRightsMovementandtheantiVietnam
Warmovement,inparticular.
In his book Rhythm and Resistance, p. 39, Ray Pratt observes that No music alone can
organize ones ability to invest affectively in the world, [but] one can note powerful
contributionsofmusictotemporaryemotionalstates.Itisbecauseofthewaymusicfeeds
into our emotional lives and because of the sense of social wellbeing we get from sharing
emotional states with others that music so frequently accompanies movements that build,
anddependupon,solidarity.Thisisacontingentassociation,tobesure,buttheabsenceof
logical necessity does not diminish the powerful role music plays in our efforts to build a
betterworld.
http://www.iep.utm.edu/musicsj/
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TableofContents
1. MusicalTraditions
a. OriginsandImpactsofBluesandJazz
b. FolkMusic,RockMusic,andProtestSongs
c. PostindustrialMusicalContestation:Disco,Punk,andHiphop
2. ContemporaryProtest
a. CommunalandCommunitybasedMusicMakinginDemocraticStates
b. BuildingSocialSolidarityagainstNeoliberalism
c. ConfrontationswithAuthoritarianRegimes
3. AcademicAttentiontoMusicPoliticsLinks
a. SocialAesthetics
b. ImprovisationTheory
c. PeacethroughArt
4. ReferencesandFurtherReading
1.MusicalTraditions
SocialtransformationeffectedthroughmusicsocalledPeacethroughArtisanapproach
that has been undertheorized. One of the few theorizers and practitioners who seeks to
advance our understanding of social justice through art and music is John Paul Lederach,
whose peacebuilding work focuses on conflict transformation through sonic capacities to
promotesocialhealing.Hisworkwithfracturedcommunitiesemphasizestherestorationof
voice,aconcepthehasfoundparticularlyresonantwithpeoplewhoarestrugglingtorepair
their violent communities (110, 89). The music and poetry that can aid in this repair is
various and highly contextual to be meaningful to the community who is seeking social
justice, the music that accompanies justicebuilding must beor be connected toan
organic part of the communitys everyday life. In the interest of providing a sense of the
sonic diversity of effective musical backdrops, this account of music and social justice is
introducedthroughadiscussionofmusicaltypesandtraditions.
a.OriginsandImpactsofBluesandJazz
One of the most influential historians of the blues is Amiri Baraka who, writing as Leroi
JonesinhisfirstbookBluesPeople,explorestheAfricanAmericanexperienceofthenation
through music. The blues, he explains, is the response of African abductees to their
American enslavement, a cultural outpouring developed from work songs and spirituals
which represents in microcosm the entire range and nuance of a peoples adaptation to a
foreignlandtheyweregivennochoicebuttomakeintoahome.Thishistoryofadaptation
Baraka traces is one in which the songs become more complex and more secular, leaving
aside the theme of deliverance into heaven that characterized AfricanAmerican musical
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production in slavery in favor of a more immediately empowering emphasis on self

determination.Thebluesthusfunctionedasarepositoryofculturalengagement,itslyrical
content evolving over time to reflect whatever social challenges AfricanAmerican
communities were facing at the time. One notable instance of blues reflecting African
American struggles for respect and legitimacy in the public sphere was the 1941
collaboration between jazz great Count Basie and author Richard Wright (of Native Son
fame)onapiececalledKingJoe(TheJoeLouisBlues)thatvalorizedtheboxerasthepride
ofhiscommunityatthesamemomentthatantilynchingcampaignswerefinallystartingto
gaintractionintheJimCrowSouth.
BothBarakaandAlbertMurray,anotherprominentAfricanAmericanhistorianofuniquely
American music, tell the story of jazz in such a way as to underscore its birth out of the
blues. For Baraka, one of the more coherent ways of defining jazz is as a synthesis of
European instrumentation and the Africanderived polyrhythms that, fundamentally, are
the blueseven as jazz developed its own trajectory. Murrays tracing of this history in
StompingtheBluesreiteratesthiscommonheritagebutconcentratessomuchonjazzand
jazzmusiciansthatareaderwhocomestohisbooklookingforananalysisofthebluesmay
feelshortchanged.Yetanothertreatmentoftheemergenceofthebluesandjazz,inFrank
Kofskys Black Nationalism and the Revolution in Music, tells the story of jazz through a
narrative reminiscent of Thomas Kuhns Structure of Scientific Revolutions, a story of
problemsolvingwithinparadigmsthatfinally,inevitably,breakdownandmustbereplaced
asinthecaseoftheshiftofmusicianslikeJohnColtraneandOrnetteColemanfromtrying
toworktheirideasoutinbeboptoanembraceoffreejazz.
Kofsky too endorses the thesis that music and sociopolitical relations go hand in hand,
arguing that we can see in the free jazz that emerged in the early 1960s a kind of proto
nationalism which presaged the black nationalist messages of Malcolm X, the Black
Panthers,andotherdoforselfmovementsinAfricanAmericancommunitiesduringthe
1960s.Thesemovementsstressedtheneedforcommunityselfsufficiencyinthefaceofa
systemicallyracistwhitemajoritariansocietyandalthoughtheblacknationalist(a.k.a.black
separatist) message was often simplistically opposed to the integrationism attributed to
MartinLutherKingandtheCivilRightsMovement,theircommunitydevelopmentefforts
afterschoolartsprogramsforchildren,musicalbenefitstofeedpeoplestrugglingwithfood
insecurity, neighborhood watch security effortsstill stand as tangible models for
grassrootssolidarity.TheselfsufficiencymessageKofskyfindsinjazzprotonationalismis
a celebration of a unique AfricanAmerican aesthetic, one that contested the aesthetic
imperialism of the white critics who promoted the value and determined the negotiating
power of the mostly black musicians within the system of whiteowned recording and
performance institutions. At the height of the free jazz movement, selfsufficiency
imperatives were the driving force behind the independent recording facilities and
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cooperatively owned performance venues with which Coltrane, Coleman, and Charles
Mingus,amongothers,experimented.Theywerealsoafactorinthepoliticalstancestaken
by many of the free jazz musiciansantiwar, anticolonialism, antienslavement, and
broadly supportive of the PanAfricanism that flourished in the wake of African
decolonizationmovements.Itsmostenduringlegacy,however,wasthecredenceitgavetoa
counternarrative about what constituted aesthetic value. White critics used a theoretical
framework developed for Western art music (socalled classical music) to evaluate the
originality,authenticity,andartisticcomplexityofamusicaltraditionthatcameoutofthe
AfricanAmerican experience. But, as a reading of Kofskys history together with Henry
LouisGatesJr.sliterarytheoryinTheSignifyingMonkeymakesclear,theblackmusicians
immersed in the jazz world were developing their own aesthetica conception of, for
instance, the value of originality that rejects the Eurocentric ideal of the original (as
somethingthathasneverbeforebeenseeninthisworld)infavorofanunderstandingthat
one makes an original contribution when one adds ones own perspective to an existing
cultural product. This revision of what originality means implicates the individual
empowerment and attention to existing and nascent community networks that black
nationalismslateradvocacyofselfsufficiencypromoted.
b.FolkMusic,RockMusic,andProtestSongs
The protest songs of folk music have a long history of engagement with social justice
struggles for abolition of slavery, universal suffrage, and other human rights agendas, but
really began to assert their power during the unionization drives emerging out of the
industrializationofwealthysocieties.IntheUnitedStates,someofthemostrecognizableof
these songs that came out of the labor movement include John Henry and Which Side
Are You On? While folk music developed its reputation as the voice of social justice in
AmericainnosmallpartduetothemusicofWoodyGuthrie,PeteSeeger,andBobDylan,
perhapstheprotestsongthathashadthemostprofoundeffectonAmericanpoliticallifeis
theantilynchingsongStrangeFruit.
This songs lyrics were written Jewish schoolteacher Abel Meeropol (who adopted the
orphaned sons of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, the couple executed in 1953 by the US
governmentonthechargethattheypassedatomicsecretstotheSovietUnion)inthe1930s
as a response to a grisly photograph of a lynching. Recorded by Billie Holiday and
performed as one of her signature pieces, Strange Fruit became a widelyheard protest
against social injustice, a schooling of audiences about the realities of AfricanAmerican
lives(anddeaths)inpartsoftheUnitedStatesthatpracticedlynching(StrangeFruit:The
filmIndependentLens).JazzcriticLeonardFeatheroncesaidofStrangeFruitthatitwas
the first significant protest in words and music, the first unmuted cry against racism
(Margolick). Given the history of AfricanAmerican activism and oratory, Feathers claim
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aboutitsfirstnessisbestparsedashyperbole,butthereisnodenyingtheimpactthissong
had on Holidays audiences. Margolick recounts fights breaking out in nightclubs after it
was performed and Billie Holiday herself being attacked by distraught and traumatized
patrons. Despite the emotional toll that singing Strange Fruit had on her, Holiday
apparentlyfeltadutytoperformit.Ihavetosingit,Margolickquotesherassaying[it]
goesalongwayintellinghowtheymistreatNegroesdownSouth.Andtheimpactofthe
song did play a part in efforts at changing social policy: some of the people who endorsed
passage of federal antilynching laws sent recordings of Strange Fruit to members of
Congress, presumably because they felt hearing it would produce an awakening of the
legislators moral outrage. Strange Fruit holds its power, even with the passage of time,
andhasbeencalledoneofthe10songsthatactuallychangedtheworld(seetheNovember
2003issueofQMagazine,aBritishmusicmagazine).
In the world of rock musicthe style that emerged from mainstream white Americas
assimilationofrhythmandbluesthereisanotherparadigmaticintersectionofmusicand
socialjusticethatcanbeunderstoodasarockparalleltofolkmusicsStrangeFruit.More
than forty years ago, Jimi Hendrix and the somewhat throwntogether band that was
forming in the wake of the Jimi Hendrix Experience played a two hour set as the final
musical act of the Woodstock Festival, a performance most remembered for their
improvisationupontheAmericannationalanthem,TheStarSpangledBanner(Daley52,
55). This moment that has come to symbolize the essence of Woodstock was a masterful
performance, and critique, of an anthem whose lyrics valorize the resilience of a people
underattack.Shiftingbetweenfaithfulrenditionandstrategicdistortion,Hendrixforcefully
showshisaudiencethemoralinconsistencyofanationthatsangthissongatthesametime
as it dropped bombs on the people of other nations. The sounds Hendrix pulls out of the
guitar in that iconic performance are reminiscent of explosions and squeals of horror at
exactlythepointsonewhoissingingalongwouldgettotherocketsredglareandbombs
burstinginair.Themessagethatseemstohaveenteredthepopularimaginationasaresult
ofHendrixsimprovisationonTheStarSpangledBanneratWoodstockisveryclearlyan
antiwar, antiimperialist one. In his book Crosstown Traffic, British music journalist
CharlesMurrayconcludesthatHendrixsperformancedepicts,asgraphicallyasapieceof
musiccanpossiblydo,bothwhattheAmericansdidtotheVietnameseandwhattheydidto
themselves(C.Murray24quotedinDaley57).
c.PostindustrialMusicalContestation:Disco,Punk,and
Hiphop
The music that accompanied industrial decline in Western industrialized nationsnotably
the United States and the United Kingdomarticulated two distinct responses to the
foreclosure of empowerment and idealism that the counterculture of the 1960s had
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nurtured. Disco, with its elaborate costumes, exhibitionist focus on dance, and attendant
drug culture, represented a turning away from political challenges, a refusal to deal with
social problems, and a desire for momentary pleasures. Punk, on the other hand, was a
howl of rage from working class youth who saw, and rejected in no uncertain terms, the
hypocrisy of the social establishment and the increasing inaccessibility of economic
opportunitiesforthesocioeconomicallydisadvantaged.Discowasstereotypicallyidentified
with AfricanAmerican performers (albeit predominantly white consumers) whereas punk
wastypedasaBritishphenomenon,although,infact,bothmusicalconstituenciescouldbe
found in any of the wealthy nations that were starting in the 1970s to wrestle with de
industrialization, wage stagnation, and the corporate restructuring now known as
outsourcing.
Elements of both of these musical responses to social marginalization and injustice are
synthesizedinhiphop,themostpopularmusicalformforexpressionofprotestworldwide
in the following period. In Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary
America, sociologist Tricia Rose theorizes the hiphop universe of her youth as emerging
fromapostindustrialnightmareinwhichtheethnicpoorwerebeingcrowdedoutofpublic
space, and creative protest was fostered in the effort to reclaim for the people the
neighborhoods that were being torn apart to build expressways into the city for affluent
suburban commuters (3133). Into this unacknowledged war on the poor and the
marginalizedcametheinterplayoftechnology,economics,andcultureattheoriginofhip
hop,whatRosedescribesasapracticeofappropriatingculturalrefuseforpleasure(2223).
Subways, street corners, abandoned parks were occupied by listeners and dancers as
politicalspaces.Theelementsofflow,layering,andrupturebothreflectandcontestsocial
marginalization,Rosesaysinitsorigins,themusicwasbotharticulatingandsymbolizing
the lived experience of people struggling to hold onto a community identity in the face of
urbandevelopmentandgentrificationprocesses(22).Thestruggle,sheinsists,wasnota
final,futilegestureofvictimsofurbanapocalypse,butwastheformationofanalternative,
communallyforged identity by producers of a conscious take back the public spaces
movement (Rose 33). It was an intransigent, unapologetic assertion of the right of all
humanbeingstotakeuppublicspace,tointeractwitheachotherandwiththemusicthat
informedthesepoliticized,reclaimedspaces.
2.ContemporaryProtest
Asnotedintheprevioussection,muchoftheprotestofinjusticethatisexpressedmusically
in the early 21st century is done so through hiphop. There is, for instance, a Hungarian
rapper by the name of Dopeman who performs his discontent with the political
homogenization of the countrys postcommunist regime. And in Haiti, there was a
nationwide rap contest in June 2006, the Concours Pwoj Lari Pwp, in which young
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peoplesubmittedoriginalrapsonthetopicofcleaninguptheenvironmentandthenation
voted for their favorite recordings made by twelve finalistsa sort of socially conscious
HaitianIdolprogram(YleHaiti,2006).Buttheresonancethathiphophasforyouthin
many different cultures should not blind us to the diversity of musictraditional and
improvisedthrough which justice appeals speak to people. For instance, Foucaultian
scholar Ladelle McWhorter opens her book Racism and Sexual Oppression in Anglo
America with an anecdote about attending a vigil for Matthew Shepard, the young college
student in Wyoming whose 1998 death was an antigay hate crime, recalling that some
attendees felt inspired to sing the Civil Rightsera anthem We Shall Overcome as an
expression of their stand against homophobia. The discussions in this section should
therefore be read not as a comprehensive overview, but as a selection of examples that
showcasethediversityofmusicalstylesthatarespeakingjusticearoundtheworld.
a. Communal and Communitybased Music Making in

DemocraticStates
One of the most inspiring instances of music expressing the ethos to which a community
aspirescanbefoundintheresponseoftheNorwegianpeopletotheshockingmassmurder
committedinthesummerof2011byrightwingextremistAndersBehringBreivik.Tothe
extentthatamotivationhasemergedforBreiviksactionskilling77peopleandwounding
200 more in attacks on government buildings in Oslo and a summer camp on the nearby
islandofUtoeyaheseemstohavebeendrivenbyahatredofthemulticulturalismNorway
has embraced and by a belief that immigrationMuslim immigration, in particularhas
hadacontaminatingeffectonsociety.OneoftheelementsofNorwegianmulticulturalism
that he cited as the object of his hatred was a song that is taught to children in schools,
Children of The Rainbow. This song is a Norwegian version of folk singer Pete Seegers
antiwarsongMyRainbowRaceanditembodiesformanyNorwegianstheirsharedsocial
commitmentstocelebratingthediversityofhumanbeingsandtoteachingtheirchildrena
similarappreciation.
Onemightexpectacommunitythathasbeendevastatedbymassmurdertoreactwithrage
andcallsforharshpunishmentfortheperpetrator,especiallygiventhatmanyofhisvictims
wereyoungpeople.Onemightalsoexpectheatedpublicdebatesaboutguncontrolandthe
need for better early diagnosis and intervention in matters of mental health. What one
mightnotexpecttosee,butdidinfacthappeninApril2012,isagatheringofthousandsof
peopleinthecapitaltosingbothNorwegianandEnglishversionsofthesongasadefiant
refusalofBreivikshatefueledpoliticsofracialpurity.Thiscommunityresponsetookplace
in a public square close to the courthouse in which Breivik was being tried, and some
participantsspokeoftheirhopethathecouldheartheirresponse.Thelargerpoint,though,
was to reaffirm the values of peace and love that the song represents, to reaffirm the
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communitys commitment to each other in the face of efforts to divide them and distance
themfromtheirvalues.
b.BuildingSocialSolidarityagainstNeoliberalism
WhiletheNorwegianexampledemonstratestheexpressionofsharedexistingvalues,music
alsohasconsiderableconstructivepower.Itcanbindacommunityormovementwhichisin
theprocessofbeingbuilttothevaluesoridealsthatareinspiringtheemergentcommunity,
a dialectical performance of communities and commitments through music. One such
example is the 2012 student protest movement in the Canadian province of Quebec. The
student protests began in March as demonstrations against an announced hike in tuition
fees at the public universities and colleges, an increase of 75% to be phased in over five
years,thatwouldhavebroughtQuebecshistoricallymuchlowertuitionsintolinewiththose
paidbystudentsintherestofCanada.Thisharmonizationattempt,apparentlyreasonable
in the eyes of many observers, struck members and representatives of Quebecs student
unions as a violation of the social contract governing the province and a direct assault on
their stated goal of lowcostpreferably tuitionfreeand accessible postsecondary
education.StudentsatsomeMontrealinstitutionsrefusedtoattendclasses,goingonstrike
to demand a rollback of the announced increases. They began marching in the streets,
wearing and displaying in apartment windows or on apartment balconies the sign of the
protest,thecarrrouge(aredsquare,usuallyoffeltorwool).
They also began making music, a discordant but coordinated noisemaking that was
adapted from Chilean protests against the Pinochet dictatorship. Every evening at 8pm,
peoplewereinvitedtogooutontheirbalconiesandbangpotsandpansinadisplaythatwas
dubbed les casseroles. The purpose of the noisemaking in Chilean protests had been to
signalthatthepopulationwasrefusingtoliveinfearofthedictatorship,butinQuebecthe
point was to assert membership in the community of those who believe that accessible
educationisacrucialfoundationofsocialegalitarianism.Participationinlescasseroleswas
notlimitedtoprotestingstudentsordinarycitizenstookpartalsoasawayofdemonstrating
their solidarity with the student groups in defending Quebecs noticeably leftwing social
consensus. This sustained protest resulted in an electoral defeat for the premier of the
province in September, the historic election of the provinces first female leader, and her
announcementthatthenewgovernmentwouldcancelplanstohiketuition.
c.ConfrontationswithAuthoritarianRegimes
Evenwhenthereisnoexistingoremergentsolidarity,thereisstillaroleformusicinsocial
protests. For some time, Russian society has been treated to various improvised musical
protestsagainstVladimirPutinsextrademocraticelectiontriumphsbyanallfemalepunk
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bandknownasPussyRiot.Theseyoungwomenperformedinmasksandminidressesat
politicallyinflected sites in Moscow, and recently faced arrest and a highprofile trial for
their performances. They persisted, despite initial warnings, because they have a point to
makeaboutthethreattodemocracythatthePutinoligarchyrepresents.Mostrecentlythey
havebeeninprisonforfivemonthsandhavebeensentencedtoatwoyearlongprisonterm
inalaborcampastheresultofanumberofimpromptuperformancesinMoscow,inearly
spring2012.Duringonesuchperformance,theytookoverarooftopinRedSquareopposite
a prison where dissidents are incarcerated (BBC America, GMT, 28 February 2012). The
most controversial, and the one that has most clearly motivated the charges of
hooliganism, was a performance in a revered Orthodox church, where they stormed the
altar and sang a punk prayer that called upon the Virgin Mary to assert herself as a
feminist icon and save the nation from Putin. The incarceration they face for their
performanceshasinspiredsolidarityprotestsoutsideRussianembassiesinothercountries,
andseemstohaverattledtheoligarchytothepointthatPutinhimselfcalledforleniencyin
sentencing on the very charges he insisted be brought against them. His public call for
mercy is widely seen as political theater, however, and the harshness of their sentence is
seenbysomecommentatorsonRussianpublicopinionasapossiblespurtobuildingamore
outspokenoppositiontohisrule.
3.AcademicAttentiontoMusicPoliticsLinks
For all of the time in which music has played an integral role in movements for social
progress,itisonlyrecentlythatacademictheorizinghasbeguntotakenoticeoftheselinks.
The three major areas of attention to aestheticspolitics overlap are the discourse in social
aesthetics(orrelationalaesthetics)inculturalstudies,thebroadlyinterdisciplinaryareaof
improvisation theory, and the Peace through Art strand of peace studies. Not all of the
scholarsworkingintheseareaslookprimarilyatquestionsofmusic,butvaluabletheoretical
insightsarebeingproduced.
a.SocialAesthetics
Social aesthetics starts with a consideration of the extent to which ones membership in
communitythat is, ones social identityshapes ones approach to artmaking and art
appreciation.ThisapproachisexemplifiedbyFrenchsociologistPierreBourdieuscritical
rebuttal of Kantian aesthetics on the grounds that taste is not a universal trait which
identifies a single standard of artistic merit but is instead indexed to ones class position.
Bourdieu offers a detailed, finegrained argument for this hypothesis in his 1984 book
Distinction, which discusses the results of surveys of respondents from a crosssection of
social classes in France of the 1970s. Contrasting working class, bourgeois, and elite
preferencesinentertaining,decorating,leisureactivities,music,andfilm,Bourdieuargues
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that what we find beautiful is indeed demonstrably shaped by our class positions and
trajectories. This reveals aesthetic preferences as sociallyinflected, hence political,
regardless of how natural they might seem to their bearers. The net effect of Bourdieus
intervention is repudiation of a universalist aesthetic hierarchy in which the cultural
preferencesoftheeliteclassarejudgedasbetterthanthoseoftheworkingclass,infavorof
arelativistindexingofartisticproductionstoclasspositions.
Whilemuchoftheresearchintomusicaltastesthatexplicitlyengagesthenotionofclassis
beingdoneintheEuropeancontext,itisnothardtoseehowthisdiscourseassertsitselfin
American accounts of taste. The concepts of highbrow musicWestern art music, or
classicaland lowbrow musicpopular, massmarketed productions, from jazz in the
1930s to rock in the 1950s through 1980s and, most recently, hiphoplink tastes to
education and income levels, which appear in the American lexicon as standins for the
conceptofclass.Understandingthislinguistictranslationmakesitpossibleforustoemploy
a social aesthetics reading of some of the claims in the history of American musical
productionthatotherwiseseemunmotivated.Inparticular,JohnColtranesrejectionofthe
label jazz for his music, and his preference for labeling jazz Americas classical music
can, through this lens, be interpreted as a contestation of the class position to which jazz
musicians and their artmaking had be relegated. This contestation does not achieve the
relativism of Bourdieus inventory, but it does underscore the connection between social
identity,orcommunitymembership,andaesthetictaste.
b.ImprovisationTheory
While much of the work in social aesthetics/relational aesthetics is taking place in the
discipline of cultural studies, improvisation theory is asserting itself as a selfconsciously
interdisciplinary endeavor. It draws together musicians, musicologists, philosophers,
historians, and cultural theorists, among others, to consider questions of how and why
improvisation as both a musical and social practice contributes to social organization
overall.
Another developing area is the ethics of improvisation. Tracey Nicholls argues that the
examination and adoption of the norms and values that flourish in communities of
improvisingmusiciansthosewhoimproviseinthefreejazztradition,inparticularcan
help us to build more responsive, more democratic political societies. To be part of an
improvising ensemble demands an openness to others, a willingness to listen carefully,
closely, and charitably, and to respond in constructive ways that advance the musical
conversation.Thisrequirescapacitiesforselftrustandrespectforothersonthepartof
everyparticipant.Thepayoffisanexpandedabilitytoengagedifferencecreatively,instead
ofthroughanattitudeoffearandhostility,andthisinturnleadstoagreaterabilitytodeal
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with the complexity of a fast paced, globalized world. The ideal actor, in both musical
improvisationandthesphereofgrassrootspopularpoliticalaction,isthefigureCornelWest
dubsthejazzfreedomfighteranindividualwhopitshisorhercreativevisionandtalents
against other members of a group in a way that is both competitive and collaborative. As
Westputsit,individualityispromotedinordertosustainandincreasethecreativetension
withthegroupatensionthatyieldshigherlevelsofperformancetoachievetheaimofthe
collectiveproject(italicsinoriginal,150151).Indevelopingourcapacitiesforopennessto
difference and living with risk (that, for instance, our attempts to negotiate and
communicatemightfail),thisethicsofimprovisationgroundssubsidiaryvirtuesthatarenot
otherwiseencouragedbyoursocialstatusquo(awayofthinkingthatteachesustorefrain
from taking chances if failure is a live option). Virtues like generosity towards others,
willingness to support their risktaking and their struggles to find creative ways out of
impasses, commitment to an enhanced capacity to forgive the missteps that inevitably
happen in these struggles, and greater respect for the ability to integrate, adopt, or even
switchbetweendifferentperspectivesanddifferenttypesoftoolsarealsoencouraged.This
isnottosuggestthatweshoulddispensewithplanningbut,giventhatourbestlaidplans
may fail, there is an enormous value to developing our individual capacities for
improvisatoryaction.Inthisway,improvisationinmusicpointsthewaytomoreresilient
andmorejustsocieties.
c.PeacethroughArt
Peace through Art, in particular, social transformation effected through music, is an
approach to music and social justice that shares with improvisation theory its inter
disciplinarity.Oneofthetheorizersandpractitionersofpeacebuildingwhonotonlytakes
seriouslytheroleofartandmusic,butalsoseekstoadvanceourunderstandingofit,isJohn
PaulLederachwhosepeacebuildingworkfocusesonconflicttransformationthroughsocial
healinginparticular,thequestionofhowsonicphenomenamightbeappliedtocontexts
of social change (90). Lederachs work with fractured communities emphasizes the
restorationofvoice,aconcepthefindsparticularlyresonantwithpeoplewhoarestruggling
to repair their violent communities (110, 89). What voiceunderstood both as the
individual regaining his or her voice, and the community engaging in meaningful
conversation (Lederach 109)requires is a container or space within which people [feel]
safe but [are] also close enough to hear and receive the echo of each others voices
(Lederach89).
The particular metaphor Lederach favors in his representations of peace processes is one
thatbringstogethervoiceandcontainer:theTibetansingingbowl.Heobservesthatsocial
healing, like musical resonance, does not arise from the individual. It emerges from the
interactionofmanyvibrations,individualandcollective,heldwithinacommunitycontext.
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In other words, social healing and reconciliation emerge in and around the container that
holds collective processes (Lederach 101). Elaborating on the bowl metaphor, Lederach
pointstosomeofthedistinguishingcharacteristicsofthemultidirectionalitythatthebowl
shares with sound (94). The first is circular movement: [g]oing in circles and repeating
themoverandagainisnot,heinsists,amovementofgoingnowhere,buthasinsteada
ritualistic quality creating a certain kind of space and moment (Lederach 94). The
secondisthecontaineritself:thebowlcreatesthespaceorlocationfromwhichthesound
is coaxed and held, but in terms of movement the sensation is one of going deep, made
possible by the circling (Lederach 94). Deepening becomes a directional focus of the
container, says Lederach (94). The third directional characteristic that makes the bowl a
compellingmetaphorisrising:[s]oundnotonlyseemstorisefromthebowl,heexplains
itexpands,movesout,touchesandsurroundsthespacewithinitsreach.Soundmovesin
all directions. sound is multidirectional and nonlinear in its movement and offers the
experienceoffeelingsofbeingtouchedandheld(Lederach94).
Circling, deepening, and rising are all aspects of percussion that make instruments like
drums and the singing bowl often function as the heartbeat of musical performances.
They are also important aspects of the genuine, voluntary, nonimposed community
reconciliationthatLederachpreferstodiscussasconflicttransformation.Goingaround,
repeatingoverandover,isawayofgatheringgrassrootssupportwithinacommunityeach
time an outreach effort is made, space is created for community members who had
previously not been involved to join the movement. The descending movement can be
understoodasawayofdescribingtheprocessofdeveloping,througharepetitionthatmay
well become ritualized, an emotional loyalty to something that starts out as a social
commitmentinternalizing the peacebuilding ambition. And the rising movement can
similarly be understood as the inexorable pressure that a fully committed, mobilized
grassrootscommunitycanexertonawiderpopulationregional,national,orinternational
a bending of the discourse to the demands of the grassroots in the same way that the
expanding,envelopingmusicalnotearisingfromthebowlcapturestheattentionofpeople
intheaudiencewhomaynothavebeengivingtheperformancetheirfullattention.
4.ReferencesandFurtherReading
Attali,Jacques.Noise:ThePoliticalEconomyofMusic.Trans.BrianMassumi.Minneapolis:University
ofMinnesotaPress,1985.
Ahistoryoftheinterplayofmusicandpoliticallife.
Baraka,Amiri[LeroiJones].BluesPeople:NegroMusicinWhiteAmerica.NewYork:Quill/William
Morrow,1999[1963].
AclassictextinAfricanAmericanculturalstudies.
BBCAmerica.GMT.28February2012.
AtelevisionreportonPussyRiotperformances.
Born,GeorginaandDavidHesmondhalgh.WesternMusicandItsOthers:Difference,Representation,
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andAppropriationinMusic.Berkeley:UniversityofCaliforniaPress,2000.
Acollectionofessaysondifferenceandculturecrossinginglobalmusicalexchanges.
Bourdieu, Pierre. Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. Trans. Richard Nice.
Cambridge,MA:HarvardUniversityPress,1984.
Asociologicalrebuttalofphilosophyofartthatidentifiesanattitudeofdisinterestasthemarkofaesthetic
appreciation.
Breiviktrial:Norwegiansrallyaroundpeacesong.BBCNews.26April2012.
Anewsreportaboutpeoplesresponsestothetrial.
Clibbon,Jennifer.HowastudentuprisingisreshapingQuebec.CBCNews.29May2012.
Aninterviewwiththreeculturalcommentatorsonthehistoricalcontextandcurrentsignificance.
Daley,Mike.Landofthefree.JimiHendrix:WoodstockFestival,August18,1969.Performanceand
PopularMusic:History,PlaceandTime.Ed.IanInglis.HampshireUK:Ashgate,2006.5257.
Anessayonhowthisiconicperformanceshapedthedevelopmentofpopularmusic.
Gates,Jr.,HenryLouis.TheSignifyingMonkey:ATheoryofAfricanAmericanLiteraryCriticism.New
York:OxfordUP,1988.
A scholarly survey of the culturallydistinct communicative practices shaping AfricanAmerican artistic
production.
Kofsky,Frank.BlackNationalismandtheRevolutioninMusic.NewYork:Pathfinder,1970.
Ahistoryofthefreejazzmovementofthe1960sanditssociopoliticalcommitments.
Lederach,JohnPaulandAngelaJillLederach.WhenBloodandBonesCryOut:Journeysthroughthe
SoundscapeofHealingandReconciliation.NewYork:OxfordUniversityPress,2010.
Anaccountofpeacebuildinginconflictzonesthroughlocalmusicaltraditions.
Margolick,David.StrangeFruit.VanityFairMagazine,September1998.
AjournalisticaccountofthehistoryoftheBillieHollidaysong.
Monson, Ingrid. Saying Something: Jazz Improvisation and Interaction. Chicago: University of
ChicagoPress,1996.
Amusicianandmusictheoristsaccountofthetransformativeeffectsofmusic.
Moscou:lestroisPussyRiotcondamnesdeuxansdeprisonchacune.mtro.17August2012.
AnAssociatedPressstoryinaMontralfreedailynewspaper.
Murray,Albert.StompingTheBlues.CambridgeMA:DaCapoPress,1976.
Ananalysisoftheaestheticmeritsofjazzandbluesmusicontheirownterms.
Nicholls,Tracey.AnEthicsofImprovisation:AestheticPossibilitiesforaPoliticalFuture.LanhamMD:
Lexington,2012.
An argument for the transferability of norms shaping improvising musicians communities to political
communities,andtheirtransformativepossibilities.
Pratt,Ray.RhythmandResistance:ExplorationsinthePoliticalUsesofPopularMusic.NewYork:
Praeger,1990.
Astudyofthepoliticalusesofpopularmusicbymarginalizedcommunities.
Rose,Tricia.BlackNoise:RapMusicandBlackCultureinContemporaryAmerica.MiddletownCT:
WesleyanUniversityPress,1994.
Anexplorationofthehistory,aesthetics,andpoliticalcommitmentsofhiphopculture,withanemphasison
itsmusicalproduction.
StrangeFruit.IndependentLens.
APublicBroadcastingSystem(PBS)documentaryexploringtheoriginsandimpactofBillieHolidaysmost
famoussong.
YleHaitiFoundation,2006.
ThegrassrootssocialrebuildingmovementorganizedbyHaitianAmericanrapperWyclefJean.
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AuthorInformation
TraceyNicholls
Email:tracey.j.nicholls@gmail.com
LewisUniversity
U.S.A.
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production in slavery in favor of a more immediately empowering emphasis on self

a. Communal and Communitybased Music Making in

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