DISCUSSION: Sonic Resistance

The book Unearthing the Music traces the informal cultures that developed under non-democratic regimes across Europe and the channels through which they circulated, with this discussion exploring how anti-system attitudes can turn towards emancipation but also towards nationalist or reactionary politics. Editors Lucia Udvardyová and Alexander Pehlemann, together with one of the authors, curator Daniel Muzyczuk, will explore the question of when musical otherness becomes political resistance and when it serves primarily as a means of survival. They will also consider the myths of the underground, including the cult of charismatic figures and the exclusions concealed within scenes often remembered as emancipatory. The conversation will conclude by asking what analogue countercultures can teach us about resistance under contemporary conditions of digital circulation and algorithmic visibility.