Czechoslovak Singer-Songwriters and Their Role in the First Post-Communist Decade (1989–1999)
A Case Study of the Social Functions and Politics of Popular Music
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jwpm.21363Keywords:
Folk Music, Singer-Songwriter, Popular Music, Velvet RevolutionAbstract
The Velvet Revolution, which took place in 1989, not only meant the end of the Communist regime, but according to numerous music journalists, musicians as well as academics, it also meant “the end of folk music” as a specific genre following the model of Western engaged singer-songwriters of the 1960s, and from that time typically associated with protest, mostly with an anti-communist focus, in the Czech environment. Based on an analysis of original sources, the article examines the development of Czechoslovak folk music from the 1960s and primarily focuses on its identity transformation in relation to the changes brought about by the revolutionary year 1989. Through the analysis, it is concluded that although the decline of the singer-songwriter scene in the 1990s was perceived as a reaction to the change in the political regime and the “disappearance of the common enemy”, it was also the result of the development of the genre as such in the national and international context.
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