Re: [microsound] being 'political' in non-verbal music

[Quintus Frimschlowder VIII <quintusfrimschlowder@xxxxxxxxx>]

I'll jump on the "context is everything" bandwagon, myself.
 Conveying something as specific as your support or disapproval of a 
political party or idea through means that use no words (written or spoken) 
is really difficult, and I doubt that your message would get through to all 
your listeners uniformly. Music is generally better-suited to communicating 
feelings, rather than specific words and non-musical concepts. It's context 
that gives music its meaning. We are able to tell that this is true because 
of the fact that anyone or anything lacking the context of a certain musical 
piece will be at least somewhat left in the dark upon hearing it. The same 
goes for language. I don't speak German, so if someone talks to me in 
German, I only have kinesthetics to utilize in receiving his communication. 
Likewise, hearing an instrumental piece with no context for it, I have only 
the emotional cues to pick up on. I can hear that it's sad or happy, but not 
what it's sad or happy about (unless the music itself makes reference to 
another musical piece that I do have context for - I've seen John Zorn do 
this once or twice, it's pretty funny).
 That said, I have seen some instrumental pieces that I would consider to be 
*vaguely* political. Communicating a political message through music can 
certainly be done, but there pretty much needs to be some prior 
understanding of what's going on in order to really successfully receive the 
communication, I think. (Intentionally vague for lack of time to fully 
explain myself.)
 - QF8
http://scatterbrain.raygunarmy.com/