Appendix 6 - International Music Council

well. There are scientific and other archives, but in the present context, it may be allowed to
concentrate on scientific archives.
For musical diversity, archives of traditional music are of special interest, since – at least in
Europe – they are often linked with national identities. Examples can be found in almost
every European country, such as the Volksliedarchiv, Freiburg i. Br. in Germany, to give
just one example. Among others, these archives tend to preserve musics from the past.
Since musical realities often changed over time, the archives preserve musical situations
that do not exist anymore. Therefore, they act as a memory. Concerning musical diversity,
this function is vital, especially regarding the fact that national identities are of special
importance to the inhabitants of present day Europe.
5. The tendency to favour a uniform and non-pluralistic
interpretation of the notion of identity hindering the
manifold and free expression of cultural diversity
Generally all states in Europe allow the diversity of musical expression and one can
observe a great diversity of musical forms everywhere in Europe. Exceptions are Turkey,
where musics of national minorities as well as of some religious groups are restrained and
Belarus, the last totalitarian state in Europe, where some repressions against Rock
musicians could be observed.
The general tendency in all European states is the strong support of classical music and
other kinds of "serious" music, like contemporary and medieval music. In some countries
jazz has reached the status of "serious" music and is also supported by the state. This
consciousness of the importance of classical music is typically European and dates back to
the 19th century. Today in some countries, about 80% of the state subsidies flow into the
"serious" music sector.
Some European countries also support different kinds of "national" music, that are specific
for each state. In Norway, this is a living tradition of rural music. In the Ukraine, it is rather
a music which is a product of the transformation of a number of living rural traditions into
one single musical standard, which has been exploited during the soviet era and still is
associated with the Ukrainian national identity. In Bulgaria, there is a rich rural tradition
alongside the arranged folklore à la Bulgarian Voices. (More on national identity can be
found in section 6.3.)
The involvement of the state with national music culture might not be predisposedly judged
as non-pluralistic. In the most European countries today this involvement can be seen as
balanced promotion, which restrains no other musical forms and often helps protecting and
maintaining local traditions and counteracting international tendencies of globalisation in
music. An example of this trend might be the Netherlands where the authorities have
considered to impose a Dutch content quota as a precondition for subsidizing orchestras
and ensembles that benefit from public funding. This idea caused a lot of public protest.
The idea has been changed into an additional funding program for programming Dutch and
modern repertoire.
An opposite trend can be observed only in Belarusian state radio, where a 75% quota for
Belarusian music has been introduced by the state (s. Section 4.1)
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