UMCSEET Book
Out.ra
2018
UMCSEET Book
Out.ra
2018
Book Design: UMCSEET – UNEARTHING THE MUSIC- Creative Sound and Experimentation under European Totalitarianism 1957–1989.
Unearthing The Music is a project that addresses the issue of freedom of expression — particularly in music — in the countries under the so-called ‘iron curtain’ between 1957 and 1989 (following the developments after ‘de-stalinization’ and the hungarian and polish revolts of 1956). In these countries jazz, electronics, punk or avant-garde music acquired an aureola of martyrdom, the symbolism of underground resistance and of a quest towards democracy; a great deal of this unofficial music remains undocumented, unspread, and deprived of context and signification in the larger history of european vanguard music, its influences in present-day creative scenes relatively unknown. By gathering music, videos, articles, testimonies, opinions and investigative studies on an online resource center, as well as promoting awareness and discussion over this issue, the project has tried to show to what extent and how it was possible, over the diverse regime grips on the arts in the different countries of the ‘eastern bloc’, to live in a creative mindset, to develop self expression through innovative music-making, and to contribute to such an european identity staple as is its creative, aventurous and genre-bending music. This volume gathers texts from contributors which are and were involved, in different capacities — as musicians, as journalists or as researchers — in some of these music scenes, and it’s a companion piece to the online database available on the project’s website.
A project by OUT.RA – Associação Cultural January 2017 – March 2018
Co-funded by the Europe for Citizens Programme of the European Union and with the support of:
Goethe Institut Portugal
Czech Centre London
Instituto de Sociologia da Universidade do Porto
The Wire Magazine