Music
Protest Music
What is protest music?
Music can be composed to promote ideas in opposition to dominate beliefs in society. Protest Music is comprised of songs that work to deconstruct harmful social constructions, such as race class and gender. These songs offer a significant and coherent message that can incite action and revolution. In his book, Popular Music in Theory, Keith Negus employs the observations of a cultural theorist, Lawrence Grossberg, to identify music as an important method in promoting change. Both Negus and Grossberg agree that “music operates ‘at the intersection of the body and emotions,’ and can create ‘affective alliances’ between people, which in turn can create the energy for social change that may have a direct impact on politics and culture” (p. 220). Music can be used by marginalized groups to create powerful coalitions and voice opinions. These two important functions of protest music are used to classify songs into two distinct categories, which R. Serg Deisoff (1969) labels as magnetic songs and rhetorical songs. A magnetic song “appeals to the listener and attracts him to a specific movement or ideology within the ranks of adherents by creating solidarity in terms of the goals expressed in the song. […] The other type of song persuasion is the rhetorical which points to some social condition […]. The essence of this type of song is a statement of individualistic discontent” (pp. 438-438). Both forms of protest music are successful in challenging oppressive beliefs.
Why is music an important medium to incite change?
Music can never be eliminated. Books can be burned. Paintings and sculptures can be destroyed, but the voice is eternal. Just as other forms of art are vulnerable to the destruction of the dominate class, they can also be elitist. Music continues to be an accessible form of protest for any individual. In the nineteenth century, songs were a main contribution of strength for the African slaves, greatly aiding their emancipation. Though they were denied the ability to read and write, they were able to overcome these impositions through song. They transformed religious hymns into protest music, using a familiar tune to incite hope and gather a supportive community. This successful tactic has been imitated; “Songbooks popular with both religious and political movements in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries generally printed only the lyrics, assuming that the tune was known to both the membership and potential converts” (Denisoff, 1969, p.428). Power is created within familiar musical tones, as individuals associate them with previously established feelings. As theorist Gordon W. Allport (year) states, “[W]hat is familiar tends to become a value” (p. 86).
