Authenticity and Orientalism: Cultural Appropriations in the Polish Alternative Music Scene in the 1970s and 1980s

Abstract

The presence of Oriental and exotic motifs in the alternative music scene in the Polish People’s Republic is a striking case of how ideological, economic, and aesthetic influences and dependencies of the mainstream music scene intertwined with what was perceived as an alternative society’s resistance to the system. In the music underground, the moral demand to be authentic led to the appropriation of the images, ideas, styles, and genres of other cultures. The social construction of authenticity in alternative lifestyles was connected to one’s perceived otherness from the social majority and at times ‘invented’ otherness against both the dominant culture and the suppressive political power.