Simo Mikkonen

a history of composers' bureaucracy

Music and power in the Soviet 1930s

Hon-Lun Helan Yang

John Winzenburg

Networking the Russian Diaspora is a fascinating and timely study of interwar Shanghai. Aside from the vacated Orthodox Church in the former French Concession where most Russian émigrés resided, Shanghai today displays few signs of the bustling settlement of those years. Russian musicians established the first opera company in China, as well as choirs, bands and ensembles to play for their own and other communities. Russian musicians were the core of Shanghai’s lauded Municipal Orchestra, and taught at China’s first conservatory. Two Russian émigré composers in particular -- Alexander Tcherepnin and Aaron Avshalomov – experimented with incorporating Chinese elements into their compositions as harbingers of intercultural music that has become a well-recognized trend in composition since the late twentieth century. The Russian musical scene in Shanghai was the embodiment of musical cosmopolitanism, anticipating the hybrid nature of twentieth-first century music arising from cultural contacts through migration, globalization, and technological advancement. Networking the Russian Diaspora is a pioneering study of the Russian community, especially its musical activities and influence in Shanghai. While the focus of the book is on music, it also gives insight into the social dynamics between Russians and other Europeans on the one hand, and with the Chinese on the other. The volume co-authored by Chinese music specialists makes a significant contribution to studies of diaspora, cultural identity, and migration through focusing on a little studied area of Sino-Russian cultural relations and Russian influence in modern China. The discoveries stretch the boundaries of music studies by addressing the relational aspects of Western music – how it has articulated national and cultural identities but also served to connect people of different origins and cultural backgrounds.

Russian Musicians and Musical Activities in Interwar Shanghai

Networking the Russian Diaspora

Pia Koivunen

Cold War history has emphasized the division of Europe into two warring camps with separate ideologies and little in common. This volume presents an alternative perspective by suggesting that there were transnational networks bridging the gap and connecting like-minded people on both sides of the divide. Long before the fall of the Berlin Wall, there were institutions, organizations, and individuals who brought people from the East and the West together, joined by shared professions, ideas, and sometimes even through marriage. The volume aims at proving that the post-WWII histories of Western and Eastern Europe were entangled by looking at cases involving France, Denmark, Poland, Romania, Switzerland, and others.

Entangled Histories of Cold War Europe

Beyond the Divide

Giles Scott-Smith

Jari Parkkinen

Despite increasing scholarship on the cultural Cold War, focus has been persistently been fixed on superpowers and their actions, missing the important role played by individuals and organizations all over Europe during the Cold War years. This volume focuses on cultural diplomacy and artistic interaction between Eastern and Western Europe after 1945. It aims at providing an essentially European point of view on the cultural Cold War, providing fresh insight into little known connections and cooperation in different artistic fields. Chapters of the volume address photography and architecture, popular as well as classical music, theatre and film, and fine arts. By examining different actors ranging from individuals to organizations such as universities, the volume brings new perspective on the mechanisms and workings of the cultural Cold War. Finally, the volume estimates the pertinence of the Cold War and its influence in post-1991 world. The volume offers an overview on the role culture played in international politics, as well as its role in the Cold War more generally, through interesting examples and case studies.

Cultural Diplomacy and Artistic Interaction during the Cold War

Entangled East and West

Simo Mikkonen

About

Books

Join the club