Abstract
This case study aims at looking into the social phenomenon known as the Singing Revolution, occurred in the Baltic States during the last years of Soviet domination, with a focus on the case of Lithuania, and one of the leading bands of the period, Antis . I would like to look at this topic from two angles: the lyrical-musical one, in accordance to the analytical modes developed in this book, but also—so to speak—the institutional one, particularly in relation to the way the Singing Revolution was contextualized and handled at the level of Lithuanian social and cultural policies. For the latter point, I am particularly interested in applying the perspective of what, after Joseph Nye (1990 and, more specifically, 2004), has been called Soft Power.
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Notes
- 1.
For those who have the chance to watch the mentioned documentary How we played the revolution, by Giedrė Žickytė , one of such peculiar conversations is shown from the 45th minute. After one performance, the band is supposed to answer questions from the audience (the whole conversation is spoken in Russian).
Kaušpėdas (inaugurating the debate): “We are happy state employees. We are driven forward by a belief in the future. We, along with our wonderful happy people, speak one language that everybody can understand. This is what life is about!”
Program’s host (before leaving the floor to the audience): “Me and Pavel appreciate the masterful way you represent the image that your mask demands. However, I think you will be now asked questions that will force you to drop that mask in order to answer”.
Kaušpėdas (welcoming the questions): “Comrades…”
Young man from the audience: “I only know Russian, and so does this crowd. Why don’t you sing in Russian? Are you afraid that—as I suspect—your lyrics are not politically topical? Or are you simply nationalists, mere nationalists? We need to understand against what you are singing… Nobody understands!”
Kaušpėdas : “I would like to ask this comrade, here: what does ‘nationalist’ mean? It’s the first time I hear such a word!”
Then, while introducing Antis’ next song of the evening: “To this member of the intelligentsia who just asked this question with this very difficult word we dedicate the next song, “Ša, inteligente” .
- 2.
Thanks to Augustinas (2015, personal communication), I got to learn an interesting episode. During their visit in Rome, for their concert, the band was approached by a group of expatriate Lithuanians who were working for the Vatican Radio. Apparently, due to Antis’ intentionally ambiguous image, these people had suspected that the band was a cover-up for KGB agents, so they were not sure whether it was wise to meet them or not. They did, eventually, and of course everybody became good friends. In the end, Antis left Rome with a generous homage from their new friends: several books on Lithuanian resistance and about fifty bibles that were all hidden in the band’s luggage, and eventually distributed among acquaintances in Lithuania.
- 3.
I mean no disrespect, of course, and I am using the expression in a purely joking manner. Certainly, historical memory should be handled in the most diverse manners that a country’s government and people deem fit to represent their identity. A “former” monument (like the castle hills of Kernavė, the medieval capital of the Grand-Duchy of Lithuania), in this respect, is not of less value than one that still stands. Having said that, my sarcasm emerges at the very moment I notice that, by contrast, a lively, vibrant heritage such as the SR is almost overlooked. Nearly every major Lithuanian city has a “Kernavė street” in the map. None of them has even a small alley named after the SR.
- 4.
The reference here is not only to an existing railway route, but also to a highly-propagandized event that took place in 1983, when a delegation of the French General Confederation of Labor activists came by train to USSR to become familiar with the work of Soviet Trade Unions. The event was documented in a propaganda film by Zoya Fomina called The Train of Friendship from France.
- 5.
As a Western, European and leftist vegetarian, I get not only the feeling that this song is actually about me, but I can also recognize the “vegetarian-effeminate” equation as one of the typical stereotypes about vegetarianism, particularly in meat-based cultures like the Lithuanian one.
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Martinelli, D. (2017). Case Study 2: The Lithuanian Singing Revolution and the Case of Antis. In: Give Peace a Chant. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50538-1_6
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