Much of the effectiveness of music in politics dervies from its ambiguity. Several weeks ago we addressed this phenomenon in the song Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber . Today we address the socialist anthem The Internationale.
Songs are capable of sustaining multiple meanings simultanously.
We first addressed this early in the semester during the enculturation unit, while we discussed censorship. Without any prior knowledge of the song presented, the class was asked to listen to a song and record both the musical sounds and the images that came to their minds. Sounds European Language Military Possibly a National Anthem, but clearly not the current National anthem of Russia.