Musical Diplomacy in Wartime Ukraine: Manifesting Geocultural Agency on Stage

• In Event: Subalterns That Sing: Fighting the War, Overcoming Peripheriality in Central Europe

Abstract

The research develops a conceptual framework at the intersection of cultural diplomacy and postcolonial studies to expose how Ukrainian musicians and activists use musical means to increase their visibility on a global level and to raise their country's geocultural status on the mental maps of international audiences. From the European opera scene to the Eurovision Song Contest, Ukrainians deploy their soft power to manifest their country’s agency and garner international support (Ruble 2023; Sonevytsky 2019). The overlap between musical production and political resistance has always been indicative of the Ukrainian public scene: from the musical underground in late Soviet times to the iconic songs codifying the core meanings behind the mass protests (cf. Bilaniuk 2012; Shumylovych 2020). By co-imagining future-oriented sovereign imaginaries in unison and making them audible (Sonevytsky 2019), people turn into sovereign citizens and create affective ties among themselves and with others across national borders who sympathize with their struggle. Scaling up the task from domestic to international recognition, Ukrainians manifest their agency (Esin 2017) globally, engaging with audiences through sound and musical means. These two sides of embodied and listened-to experiences form the complex process of becoming and belonging vis-a-vis a stronger adversary. Subalterns, usually denied rationality and an entry into the "republic of letters", have permitted access to their bodily experiences and acoustic expressions, often animalized or folklorised. However, using these very tools for reclaiming subjectivity and hegemony turns out an efficient – even if subversive – strategy.

Author

• Valeria Korablyova, Charles U in Prague (Czech Republic)