The Cold War and American Music
The Cold War and its impact on American music, at home and abroad, are the organizing motifs of this international conference. It explored proliferating genres and their respective fusions within American music – from jazz to R&B, to rock-and-roll, to folk and classical music – across a geographic and historical continuum. It will examine the relationship between regionalism and urbanism, on the one hand, and genre hierarchies on the other. Given that music was a pivotal aspect of American Cold War diplomacy, this conference charted the ways in which American music was produced, received and assimilated in Europe, including the Soviet Union, with particular attention paid to Germany.