Apparatus. Film, Media and Digital Cultures of Central and Eastern Europe (Nov 2021)

An Open Invitation: VIA as a Field of Research

  • Clemens Günther,
  • Christiane Schäfer

DOI
https://doi.org/10.17892/app.2021.00013.277
Journal volume & issue
no. 13

Abstract

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Vocal-Instrumentral-Ensembles, abbreviated as VIA, were a distinct format of late-soviet popular culture. Music groups carrying this label enjoyed tremendous success from the mid-1960s until the mid-1980s and have since become the object of a nostalgic revival. As a research subject, they offer important insight into cultural politics and the music industry of their time, as well as movements of negotiation, popularisation and canonisation of new sounds, aesthetics and performance techniques. This issue invites scholars to take a more active interest in the VIA’s musical and institutional qualities and offers first explorations into this multifaceted phenomenon.

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