Zbigniew Wojnowski (Advanced Academia Fellow, Jun ’22 – Jul ’22) will give his talk on:

Pop Music in the USSR – Show Business and the Advent of Capitalism

on 06 July, 2023 (Thursday) at 16:30 h.

Moderated by Martin Valkov.

This presentation explores the life and posthumous commemoration of the pop musician Volodymyr Ivasiuk. Although Ivasiuk promoted his Ukrainian-language music on Soviet radio and television in the 1970s, he turned into a symbol of Ukrainian resistance to Soviet rule after his premature death. I will argue that this anti-Soviet turn in Ukrainian popular culture was a rebellion against state-sponsored emotional norms.