World History II

Chapter 31: Global Recovery and Division Between Superpowers
1945 to the Present

57: Wed, Apr 1, 2020

Please post in the forum for the day a short essay in response to this question:

For this session, we will focus on the role of music in post-World War II culture: how did music define the culture and become a political mechanism in the West; why was this new wave of music censored in the Eastern bloc?

Review the following contemporary sources:

• Eastern Block Post War Music under Stalin and post-war ramifications: Muddle Instead of Music, the article directed against Shostakovich and his popular opera, Lady Macbeth.
  • English Translation of Editorial
  • Bachtrack article putting this in context.
  • 2013 Project on music in Russia under Stalin (8 minute video)
• Read about tbe Music of the Civil Rights Movement; and watch these short videos at that site:
  • Sam Cook: A Change is Gonna Come.
  • Bob Dylan: Oxford Town
  • Pete Seeger: We Shall Overcome
  • Then watch this performance by Bob Dylan, The Times they are a Changin'
• Read about "The New Sound" of Rock and Roll in this 1965 New Yorker article.
• Interestingly, the Wikipedia article on the origins of Rock and Roll traces origins of Rock and Roll to the 1920s, with no clear agreement among rock historians on the first "true" Rock-and-Roll song.
• Made in 1984, this hour long documentary covers the origins of rock and roll in its historical context [OPTIONAL!].

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