Frontmatter

Political Participation and Engagement in East Germany Through ChileanNueva Canción

“…The musicologists Marko Kölbl and Fritz Trümpi attempt to broaden participatory musical activity and demonstrate the ways it can both encourage and restrict democratic participation. They suggest that “highlighting the sphere of consumption and distribution of music as a participatory act, and thus as a specific form of artistic practice, adds important perspectives on music and democracy” (2021:11). While an analysis and critique of the GDR political organisation, and whether it afforded space for democratic political participation is beyond the scope of this essay, we can assess the various forms of engagement that political song in the GDR provided, particularly to younger citizens.…”