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What inspires you to compose/perform music that has political overtones? 10 American composers

What inspires you to compose/perform music that has political overtones? 10 American composers

10 American composers and musicians explain what they hope audiences get from politically-motivated music. PLUS: Senator Orrin Hatch talks about his music with Phillip K. Bimstein!

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NewMusicBox Staff

	NewMusicBox Exclusive! Composer/Senator Orrin Hatch (R, UT) sits down with Composer/Former Mayor (Springdale UT) Phillip K. Bimstein

	Don Byron [I] decided that a lot of what was missing from the late ’80s “young lions” music was the political subtext of the ’60s. But having a ’60s-like political stance would be dated and corny…
	Dean Drummond In my opinion, parts of the U.S. Congressional Record juxtaposed with Kenneth Starr’s Independent Counsel Report make for great satire and humor…
	David Harrington …I have a collection of recordings from all the different places where the American military is involved… where a lot is being hidden from us, or the true situation is too complex for us to understand…
	Scott Johnson My self-assigned job was was to bear witness to another person1s experience, and present it in such a light that even those who disagree can walk away with a greater empathy for something that they have not gone through themselves…
	Laura Kaminsky …as is usually the case when there is discord in society between the government and the people, artists are at the forefront of the action…making noise on behalf of the average citizen, whose voice…remains more anonymous…
	Phil Kline I suppose every compositional decision has political overtones, down to the revolutionary decision to become a composer in the first place, which one might view as the refutation of a certain capitalist mandate…
	Leonard Lehrman If one ignores the politics inherent in any work, that itself is a political stance: one favoring the status quo. The net result is silence in the face of injustice, which can never be acceptable to anyone of conscience…
	Bob Ostertag Ultimately, making art and making politics are opposite endeavors. On one level, politics is about finding a common denominator… Making art is a contrary endeavor—to be true to your own personal experience, regardless of whether you make it relevant to anyone else…
	Jeffrey Schanzer Since music is a form of communication, it can also be used to spread political information…From another view, a person has to put up a barrier in order to not let politics influence whatever he or she does…
	Archie Shepp …You have to have a political perspective. For the most part, I find, most African American musicians are too apolitical. They’re either too ignorant or too scared to make any political comments…

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