Did people in Mao's China have access to record players or go to live music shows? What kind of music did they listen to?
I'm interested in how music was/is regulated or experienced in communist states in general, but particularly Maoist China.
Obviously there is political music played at ceremonies and on television, but was pop music a thing for eastern Europeans in the 70s? My interest in this topic was piqued by reading about Shostokovich, the Soviet composer, and seeing people listening to western music on casette in a library in Pyongyang.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYdgKHa2KbI
https://www.discogs.com/label/15486-%D0%9C%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%B8%D1%8F
In the USSR, they had lots of pop musicians, (state owned) record labels, musical instruments, etc
the most popular soviet russian pop songs come from movies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIyXiiaEzjg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzv4vno2o8I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWSxev7eJvs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ79KQdwNjk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jrg0X9H6FGU
>>1177142
I'm not too sure about music, but I can shed a bit of light on other performing arts aspects, given that I grew up in the wake of Deng, and my parents all lived their prime in the Revolution.
Traditional Operas/Plays were basically banned wholesale, with the exception of a small selection of works deemed appropriately themed and a few more written specifically for it. These were called the Eight Plays.
Don't have a source for this, but it should be easy to find one, but I do believe that the reduction to eight was orchestrated by Chairman Mao's wife.
I think the number of operas rose during the period of the revolution to around 20 or so.
It sounds draconian, and was, but one has to remember that these plays, whilst also serving political purpose, are also extremely artistically accomplished. Even now in China, they're still being played, despite a widespread distaste for artefacts of the cultural revolution.
The music and songs of these operas are very ingrained in societal consciousness, given that they were played everywhere. An adult who lived during the revolution would have as comprehensive a knowledge of the songs in these eight works as a modern western child would have of Disney songs.
80s Czechoslovakia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ6BlxXHqDc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9ku956AMIk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2mDPXlt7ZM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poZNhifXLyE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRwGE3C-mYM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vFG49afoUk
>>1178528
yuck
>>1178500
also people were encouraged to adapt and change the 8 model plays to local flavors. I have read books by people who lived in the cultural revolution they lament the fact that modern Chinese culture focuses on "sex, ghosts, and emperors" and not enough about the daily lives of the people, like it did in the cultural revolution.
keep in mind China was backwards as can be, the majority of music was probably folk music and revolutionary songs, although there was change introduced when western style opera and instruments were mixed with traditional Chinese opera
here is a comprehensive sample of the music of that era
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctZ5SvnPvgI
Lin Biao's son (died in 70s) loved Beatles
Bump for interest in this topic.
Anyone know anything about the Eastern Bloc, especially Hungary?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMNvKeykhvk
