Music, Politics, and Violence Edited by Susan Fast and Kip Pegley

Abstract

There is a tendency to think of music as a harmonious force in the world, a notion that is scrutinized, challenged, and revised in this collection of nine essays bookended by the editors’ introduction and an afterword by J. Martin Daughtry. We come away with a feel for “music’s richness as a medium for understanding violence” (1, editors’ introduction) and with “a more comprehensive understanding of the ways musical voices resonate through, interact with, and support violent acts” (258, Daughtry’s afterword). The nine intervening essays offer a diverse collection of case studies, linked rather loosely by the theme of violence lurking in the vicinity or background of musical production. These essays are helpfully grouped into three parts: Objective and Subjective Violences; Violence and Reconciliation; and Musical Memorializations of Violent Pasts.