Ukrainian Popular Music in Times of War

National Identity, Transnational Projections and the Musician as Grassroots Ambassador

Bibliographic Data

ID21981988
AuthorsMarco Biasioli (0000-0001-5116-6949, University of Manchester), Thomas S Drew (0000-0002-4608-2895, University of Manchester)
Year2024
Volume14
Issue2
Pages6-29
Publication date2024-11-06
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueIASPM Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2079-3871 • E-ISSN: 2079-3871
PublisherInternational Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.5429/2079-3871(2024)v14i2.2en
OpenAlexW4404110745
LanguageEN
Citations received2

This article investigates the ways in which Ukrainian independent popular music after February 2022 has contributed to domestic nation-building and international nation-branding. Taking as case studies six artists who have extensively toured abroad with their musical projects, the article traces the evolution of the internal imaginings and external projections of Ukrainian identity enabled via musical activity. The article shows that the war has generated a reconfiguration of the relationship between the artist and their social responsibility, in which music has become a fundamental weapon to raise transnational awareness of the Ukrainian struggle and to materially influence Ukraine’s defence. This reconfiguration has prompted the performers to take the role of grassroots cultural ambassadors and create DIY networks of solidarity, largely outside of state initiatives. In this process, ideas about Ukraine did not adhere to a standardized framework for the purpose of articulating unity, but rather reflected Ukraine’s unity in cultural diversity

Aesthetics · Art · Grassroots · Linguistics · Media studies · National identity · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Ukrainian · Visual arts · Central Asia Education and Culture · Diverse Musicological Studies · Gender Studies · Law

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