Arts & International Affairs: Vol. 3, No. 2, Summer/Autumn 2018 | Page 7

ARTS & INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
music in different political contexts by focusing on the connections between music and
politics. Mario Dunkel explores the tensions in West German cultural diplomacy, especially
during the Cold War period. Far from the promotion of intercultural dialogue,
this paper shows that prestige and superiority of German music are the pillars of cultural
actions abroad, especially concerning South Vietnam in the 1960s. The second article
analyzes the role of Maestro Daniel Barenboim in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. More
precisely, it aims at embedding the actions of a musician in diplomatic studies. With his
friend Edward Said, Barenboim created “The East–West Divan Orchestra,” a very wellknown
structure that was performed in several countries and even in the United Nations.
This second article distances itself from the diplomacy of celebrity (Cooper 2007)
as a relevant category for understanding Barenboim’s action. It also clarifies the ambiguous
nature of a musician “who is not a politician” in the international arena. In the first
brushstroke, Corentin Cohen comes back to Brazilian funk that embodies the soul of
favelas. Thanks to its promotion abroad, this musical genre has global legitimacy. The
second brushstroke deals with the role of music in the Balkans and more specifically in
Bosnia–Herzegovina. Emilie Aussems reflects on the musical actions and performances
supported by intergovernmental organizations for strengthening the reconciliation
process between ethnicities. Based on several field missions, this research leads to call
into question the famous idea of music as a source of harmony and peace. The first aim
of these initiatives is ultimately located at the private sphere more than the public space.
This ambiguity of music must be born in mind. And finally, are we demanding too much
of music?
In the Multimodal Section, Luis Velasco Pufleau underlines the paradox of humanitarian
songs. If they help to bring distant foreigners closer and open our eyes toward their pain
and distress, these songs rely on a depoliticization process. By listening to them or buying
them, western peoples show compassion. But these feelings of pity transform citizens to
consumers of poverty without, at times, leading to any transformation or emancipation.
Luis Velasco Pufleau also points out that connecting artists and scholars to create performance
and new artistic pieces provides paths to deconstruct these representations.
It confirms the idea that “art can also emancipate the mind from stereotypes, prejudices,
and narrow horizons. It repeatedly generates new and useful ways of seeing the world
around us” (Edelman 1995:12). And we could add: of “singing” the world around us.
This issue does not intend to exhaust the possibilities provided by the acoustic turn in
IR. It aims at making a contribution focused on a plurality of sites where music resonates
and unfolds its effects. The acoustic dimension of IR exceeds the research on soft-power
that focus on States’ policies for improving their influence toward peoples abroad. This
perspective relies on an instrumental conception of music that considers arts only as tool
box for political leaders. Similarly, it cannot be confined in cultural issues considered as
marginal in the international realm by numerous rationalists, i.e. to describe the presence
of culture in International Relations and integrate new empirical dimensions in this
academic field. Let’s listen IR means to take into account the role�never written in ad-
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