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'Was ist aus uns geworden? – Ein Häufchen Sand am Meer:1 emotions of post-war Germany as extracted from examples of popular music

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Fred Ritzel
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Extract

Kurt Tucholsky wrote in 1923 in reference to an old ‘Fasching’ tune of that era that this song comprised the ‘most complete expression of the German “Volksseele” (“soul of people”) that one could imagine’ and that it ‘truly reveals the day and age we live in, how this age has evolved and how we ourselves come to terms with this age’ (Tucholsky 1975, p. 187). His argument can be compared to Kracauer's thesis on the effects of film (Kracauer 1979, p. 11). He suggested that the commercial character of mass cultural production was constantly affected by what was provided in a stream of feedback: only commodities which convincingly meet public expectations on either a latent or manifest level are successful with the public. If the masses are moved by a national rhythmic feeling, then the hits articulating that feeling can be seen as a kind of national expression. From this perspective, national and political identities are bound up in the daily emotional turbulence of the music industry.

Type
Articles
Information
Popular Music , Volume 17 , Issue 3 , October 1998 , pp. 293 - 309
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1998

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