Standing at the Crossroads

2013

With God and Guitars: Popular Music, Socialism, and the Church in East Germany

2017

AbstractIn the socialist German Democratic Republic (GDR), the Church entered into a long-term, complex and productive symbiosis with popular music. Beginning in the 1950s, reform-minded pastors opened their doors to jazz, and, later, almost the entire spectrum of popular music could be found in their churches: from pop hits, beat, rock, blues to singer/songwriters and punk. The interplay between the Church and popular music gave rise to a highly unique communicative space, a counterpart to the rigidly organized public realm. Here, political dissidents took refuge from a repressive system and were free to examine their society critically. This political force infused the alliance of the Chu…

Raus aus der Spur : Brachte Rockmusik die Mauer ins Wanken?

2019

Uber das gesellschaftsverandernde Potential von Musik wird seit Jahrtausenden spekuliert und gestritten. In der Bibel bringen die Posaunen von Jericho Mauern zum Einsturzen, und Sokrates warnt in Platons Der Staat vor der subversiven Macht der Tone: » Denn eine neue Art von Musik einzufuhren muss man sich huten, da hierbei das Ganze auf dem Spiele steht. Werden doch nirgends die Tonweisen verandert ohne Mitleidenschaft der wichtigsten staatlichen Gesetze. « (Platon 1923: 140) Die Gegenstimmen sind nicht minder laut und zahlreich.

Baustein West und Bauplan Ost. Zur politischen Transformation jugendkultureller Stile in der DDR

2012

Published version of an article from the journal: Norsk tidsskrift for musikkforskning. Also freely available oon the Internet:http://journal.uia.no/index.php/NTM/article/view/63 Within different political systems, youth cultures use similar symbols and styles which are charged with distinct and specific meaning. In the German Democratic Republic, the socialist part of Germany, youth cultures were identified as being a political threat. They created space for communication that was in sharp contrast to the propagandistic ideal of the so-called „socialist personality“ and hardly to control by the state. Based on the example of the hippie phenomenon in the East, the essay explains the way glo…

Held der Arbeiterklasse : Zur John-Lennon-Rezeption in  der DDR

2010

Undercover Agents for the Blues. Woher wir wissen, was die blauen Töne wert sind

2013

Schwarz-weiße Netze : Afroamerikanische Musik als politisches Medium in der DDR

2008

Der schöne Schein des Echten : Zum kulturellen Gebrauch des Blues in Deutschland von 1945 bis 1990

2008

Jugendkulturen und populäre Musik in der DDR

2018

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