Culture

„Dej mi úkryt“ před diktaturou

Apr 7, 2016 Ian Buruma

NEW YORK – Po průlomové návštěvě amerického prezidenta Baracka Obamy na Kubě by se bezplatný koncert Rolling Stones v Havaně mohl jevit jako relativně podružná událost. Obama oživil vztahy s Kubou po více než půlstoletí hlubokého nepřátelství. Stones složení z několika sedmdesátníků prostě jen hráli hlasitou muziku.

Ze symbolického hlediska však tento koncert vůbec nebyl podružný. Máme-li plně docenit význam vystoupení „Stounů“ před statisícovkami nadšených Kubánců, musíme pochopit, co znamenal rock and roll pro lidi žijící v komunistické diktatuře.

Například Československo bylo v 70. letech podobně jako jiné komunistické státy bezútěšným, tísnivým a neradostným místem, v němž udávali tón průměrní straničtí břídilové a tvůrčí projev se dusil pod dekou vynucovaného konformismu. Rock and roll se považoval za škodlivou formu kapitalistické dekadence. Koncem 70. let byli za výtržnictví zatčeni členové místní rockové skupiny s názvem Plastic People of the Universe, kteří zpívali v angličtině. Nahrávky Rolling Stones a dalších západních kapel byly zakázané.

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0 Comments on this paragraph, 6 Comments on this article

j. von Hettlingen Apr 11, 2016

Ian Buruma speaks of the power of rock music, that changes the mood of a society and marks the zeitgeist of a generation. Cuba had under Fidel Castro been isolated the last five decades. This year Obama became became the first sitting president to visit Cuba in 88 years. A few days later, the Rolling Stones gave a free concert in Havana. While Obama’s "trailblazing" visit to Cuba was historic, Buruma sees the concert of this bunch of septuagenarians as equally symbolic. Cubans realised that they had in the past missed so much fun and entertainment in rock and roll that they now want to catch up.
The Rolling Stones celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2012, and the band is keen on staying another 10 years in business. There were other rock bands around in the 1970s, and they were all seen as a "noxious form of capitalist decadence" in communist countries, which all had one trait in common - a "dreary, joyless place." Countries behind the Iron Curtain served to shield their population from Western influences, allowing the party leaders to "set the tone" and enforce "conformism."
Rock music was banned because the apparatchiks feared that the "frivolous posturing" expressed in "loud, anarchic" noises could inspire young people to "imagine what it would be like to be free, if only for fleeting moments." They certainly viewed the freedom of expression and creativity that spawned the music scene in the West as "profoundly subversive,"
Despite oppression, records had been smuggled into Eastern Europe, where "they were treasured by young rock fans." For them the expletive language and this "expression of serious rebellion" was an "escape from the drabness of a tightly policed normality." Some rock bands were formed underground. In the 1970s the "Plastic People of the Universe" got arrested in Czechoslovakia for “organized disturbance of the peace.” The dissident playwright Václav Havel," was a rock fan himself. In 1989 he led the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia and became its president. After the partition of the country, he was re-elected as president of the new Czech Republic. He also made the American rock musician Frank Zappa an honorary cultural ambassador.
Buruma points out the flipside of music-induced ecstasy, whose "experiences" are similar to those "in a religious frenzy," prompting "official guardians of social order.... to ban such practices." Already in 380 BC in ancient Greec, "Plato warned against departing from traditional forms of music." He claimed "exciting new sounds, were a danger to the polis. He believed that lawlessness began with unorthodox kinds of musical entertainment, and advised the authorities to put a stop to such things."
Rock music may have served people in communist countries as a silent demand for "shelter from dictatorship." But other totalitarian regimes see traditional music as a threat too. Adherents of Wahhabism, who follow the austere form of Islam, ban music, saying it corrupts the mind and soul of a true Muslim. Song and dance are banned by the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Islamists in Mali and in the Islamic State.
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Nikolas Papavlassopulos Apr 11, 2016

Mr. Ian Buruma you have not done your homework. Before the Rolling Stones, Rick Wakeman of the rock group “YES” had performed in Cuba. “Air Supply” has performed in CUBA. “Magic Street Preachers” have performed in CUBA. “Audioslave” has performed in CUBA. “Sepultura” has performed in CUBA.
By the way the primary reason that many rock groups do not play in CUBA, is U.S sanctions and finances! Rock groups do not play for free.
The Cuban regime comes second, by far.
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Nathan W Apr 10, 2016

It would demonstrate significant cultural misunderstanding to suppose that a rick concert by international stars would be a "relatively minor event" compared to the visit of Obama. For many people, this was probably a far more significant event than Obama's visit.
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Tonu Pavel Apr 8, 2016

It is sad that US can pretend that it is still a democracy only when matched with countries like Cuba and North Corea. While Cuba has an idea to suppor its dictatorship, US is gradualy left without any because american democracy like american dream are vanishing all together.
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Petey Bee Apr 8, 2016

it's a shame the Cuban dictatorship had a policy banning visits by westerners such as the Stones, who for years enjoyed unrestricted freedom of travel...
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Godfree Roberts Apr 8, 2016

Rather retro piece, given that the US itself has abandoned democracy. That's not just what our own eyes tell us every day, it's what President Carter pointed out, repeatedly, and researchers at Princeton confirmed. It's over.
Jimmy Carter: U.S. Is an 'Oligarchy With Unlimited Political Bribery. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/videos/jimmy-carter-u-s-is-an-oligarchy-with-unlimited-political-bribery-20150731
And "Testing Theories of American Politics," by Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page in Perspectives on Politics, The American Political Science Association September 2014.
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