Dear Consuelo,

Well, I think the most delicate issue is to show that there is nothing fascist in traditional music, while there is a real interest in traditional music by fascists - if that is the case.

I wonder if you take fascism to include nazism, but surely, German fascist ideology could very well make use of renewed interest in folklore among the circles of German youth organisations and student unions in the 1920s. Gadamer (and perhaps even Heisenberg)  writes about that innocent interest made use by the movement eloquently, I guess, in his memoirs.

MInd you, also, that communists also tried to use sometiomes traditional music, but since the 70s there was a movement of traditional dance houses in Hungary, used as a kind of rebellion against the official internationalist ideology of Communism.

Bst,

Ferenc

Dear Consuelo,

Although I never studied Francoism in that context, the Italian example may be helpful.

There is no direct connection between traditional music and fascist ideology. However, traditional music, among many other social phenomena, has been instrumentalized by the fascist government.

There is an extensive literature on the issue. You may find the work of, for example, dr Roberto Illiano (DOI: 10.2298/MUZ120325010I) and dr Fiamma Nicolodi (Musica e musicisti nel ventennio fascista) interesting.

The topic is fascinating, please be sure to share your work on RG. Good luck! 

Kind regards

AN

Thank you very much! I've been pursuing the issue through Pérez Zalduondo's, who is one on the leading researcher's on the Spanish case but sure I will read your suggested papers. Thank you very much! I will upload my results! 

Best regards,

CPC 

Thanks, Cristina! I knew these papers and books, but you've been really kind adding it! 

Best regards,

Consuelo P. Colodrero

This subject and its commentary reflect a viewpoint of rhetorical discourse that ignores the separation between musical devices and allusion and the ethical content of the performance

My colleague Veniero Rizzardi wrote an essay about the subject (the original version was in Italian and published in 2001, later in 2003 the book has been translated into French):

V. RIZZARDI "Musique, politique, idéologies ", Musiques : une encyclopédie pour le XXIe siècle, Jean-Jacques Nattiez ed., Le Méjan, Paris, Actes Sud, Cité de la musique, vol. 1 (http://librairie.citedelamusique.fr/encyclopedie/910-musiques-du-xxe-siecle)

I hope this will be helpful.

I know very little about the details of Spain under Franco other than I have read of the civil war in the literature of Laurier lee and George Orwell, however I feel if you take 'traditional music' to be the folk music of countries or regions the use of song as a way of carrying news and ideas has a very long history in human communication. 

In this I don't think you could determine any particular bias toward the political left or right, I'm sure both the incumbent regime and its opponents used traditional music within their communities as a device for both social interaction and ideological propaganda.

whether one variant of traditional Spanish music was particularly usurped by the Franco supporters you will know better than me. 

I've tried to give this question some time to see where I might offer some additional clarity. My own studies in the field of Musical Rhetoric have led me to understand:

"The morality or ethical content of the discourse plays no part (or at least appears to play no part) in the effectiveness of persuasion. One might hope otherwise."

The problem seems to arise whenever groups are defined. Folk stories very much contribute to the concept of ones group as opposed to others not of the same group. That amounts to a set of myths and language. Viewed as "Rhetorical Discourse", these folk stories/myths can be used can be used for good ("depending on the meaning of") such as understanding and valuing differences or they can be used to define enemies (see Eco's latest "Inventing the Enemy" - very relevant).

Let me end with this quote from Taruskin:

“The politics of identification, of subjective bonding, like the politics of certainty, can be a pretty hairy politics. It underwrites all tribalisms, every mindless group identity, every petty or bloody nationalism. Its essence is intolerance."

Karl

¡Gracias, Cristina! Estoy segura de que encontraré bibliografía para mi inexplorada en el documento que me recomiendas :-)