How music fuelled, and was fuelled by, the No Kings protests

If you were online last week, you probably saw images of the No Kings events.

The gigantic demonstration against US President Donald Trump took place through the United States and Portions of Canada – But was connected by a dominant aspect: music.

There was The miserablesPreying Do you hear people singing?Sung by a crowd in Auburn, California.

There was Hello Beauty – a less known piece strongly linked to the Italian anti -fascist movement of the 1940s – interpreted by a brass band to drown counter -demonstrators in Atlanta.

And there were a series of other music, new and old, by musicians who sought to bind to the demonstrations of No Kings.

“There is a fascinating mixture of new music as well as old songs brought back to the mix,” said Benjamin Tausig, an associate professor of critical musical studies at Stony Brook University in New York.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgidumsqvns

It is “to inspire people in the context of the protest at the moment”.

It is because of the inextricable connection of music with the political action of music, he says.

When used in a specific way, some songs can become almost irresistible calls for action. And the beginning of protest movements often modifies fundamentally both to the music to which we are exhibited and that music artists choose to go out, says Tausig.

But when it comes to protesting against music, all songs are not equal, explains Noriko Manabe, president of the Musical Theory of the University of Indiana and co-publisher of the next Oxford Handbook of Protest Music. And the way we engage with this music, she says, explains why some of the most widespread songs used during recent demonstrations have been older, less traditionally popular tunes.

Songs like Hello Beauty, Do you hear people singing? or even The star banner – Who had full -fledged moments to demonstrations – tend to be of a specific type, she says. They are “participative” against “presentation”.

While presentation music is intended for a qualified interpreter, participatory music, like other emblematic protest songs such as We will overcome, is not.

It is “more repetitive so that people can more easily join us,” she said. “Whether or not it is not the virtuoso is not the point. The goal is to have as many people involved as possible.”

And with participation, she says, comes the ideology.

“The idea of ​​moving vocal cords and muscles, where you have to listen to other people and feel their movements -” said Manabe. “The simple fact of expressing it itself makes you feel that it is part of your belief system.”

Coopted music

Tausig says that the participative aspect can even overshadow what the song is. Historically, he says, the most popular protest songs tend to be co-opted, without direct or apparent link with a political movement. This is because the cultural iconography associated with them tends to have more weight.

Kendrick Lamar and Beyonce have become very important in the Black Lives Matter movement, for example.

“Their songs did not even have to address the life of blacks to become always very effective in mobilizing people,” he said.

Some songs are even adopted by movements against which they seem explicitly against. For example, Tausig Notes, Bruce Springsteen Born in the United States, About a veteran of the Vietnam War Disillusioned, was referenced in a 1984 Campaign speech by American president Ronald Reagan.

More recently, the Creedence Clearwater Revival draft-dodging rise Son of the lucky was played during a military parade, which sparked speculation as to whether it was a form of protest, that is to say a common common interpretation of the sense of song.

In both cases, he says, what the song seemed to represent was more important than what he really said.

A long story

But even again, the songs used by both sides of a political debate have a long history in protest music, says Manabe.

To return to Great Britain in the 1600s, war factions of royalists and parliamentarians disseminated “leaves of leaves”: large pieces of paper with words often rhymatics in support on their side. But to make sure they were easy to remember, they would be settled on well -known tunes.

This resulted in “Contracta”: each side singing the same “song”, but with completely different words supporting completely different ideals.

This phenomenon continues today. Manabe indicates demonstrations in Hong Kong in 2014, when defenders and criticism of the democracy movement used Do you hear people singing?

Meanwhile, rock, country, EDM and hip-hop artists have apparently jumped on the train to go out or reissue their political music, create musical touchstones and viral moments in the manifestations themselves.

Arkansas’ folk musician, Jesse Welles, who made renown of social media by publishing songs related to newmade his debut new track No kings which has already accumulated more than 150,000 views on YouTube. In Salt Lake City, musician Edm substrronics Addition of a “No Kings” section to its performanceWin more than two million views on Tiktok.

In the meantime, the Dropkick Murphys,, Her And Pavement have all made publications connecting their music, old and new, to events – as well as Allison Russell, Grammy winnerless known blues,, country And Bluegrass musicians And even a The Hip-Hop AI track is simply titled No kings This has raised more than 750,000 views on YouTube.

“Expressing dissent or resistance to authority through non-violence is one of the most powerful weapons we can handle,” said Canadian musician Jordan Benjamin (artistically known as grandson) who also published new music directly linked to No Kings demonstrations.

From an artist’s point of view, the sudden swell makes sense: given the cyclical nature of pop culture, the music that may have seemed older or out of step has suddenly become more in demand.

And at the beginning of these changes of direction, says Tausig, what songs will define that the movement becomes an important question.

“It is difficult to imagine a demonstration that occurs without music,” he said. “But it also becomes so important to establish the aesthetics of a movement.”