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During the Cold War, jazz became a cultural weapon that was employed by both sides to advance their interests. This volume explores the history and roles of jazz in Poland, the German Democratic Republic (GDR), Czechoslovakia, Hungary, the Soviet Union, and the Baltic States by means of several case studies. The American administration attempted to destabilize the political systems of the Eastern Bloc countries, while the powers responsible for culture in the Eastern Bloc countries tried to curtail the US propaganda campaign. This resulted in distinct jazz traditions and jazz scenes, each governed by a distinct behavioural codex, as well as official responses in each of the Eastern Bloc countries.
List of contents
Contents: Gertrud Pickhan/Rüdiger Ritter: Introduction - Rüdiger Ritter: Jazz in State Socialism - a Playground of Refusal? - Christian Schmidt-Rost: 1956 - A turning point for the jazz scenes in the GDR and Poland - Marta Domurat-Linde: From "Jazz in Poland" to "Polish Jazz" - Igor Pietraszewski: Jazz Musicians in Post-War Poland - Gergö Havadi: Individualists, Traditionalists, Revolutionaries, or Opportunists? The Political and Social Constellations of Jazz in Hungary during the 1950s-1960s - Peter Motycka: The Jazz Section: Disintegration through Jazz - Rüdiger Ritter: Negotiated Spaces: Jazz in Moscow after the Thaw - Heli Reimann: Swing Club and the Meaning of Jazz in Estonia in the late 1940s.
About the author
Gertrud Pickhan is a Professor of East Central European History at the Institute for East European Studies at Freie Universität Berlin.
Rüdiger Ritter holds a PhD in History of East and East Central Europe and Musicology.
They have conducted a research project at the Freie Universität Berlin on Jazz under State Socialism.
