A tweet about communist anti-rock cartoons reminded me I was once gonna tweet something about the #SovietUnion's embrace of #disco.
Compared to subversive rock 'n' roll, the authorities thought that a much safer outlet for young people's perplexing desire to dance and have fun.
Boney M was invited by Brezhnev and flown to Moscow on a Soviet military plane to perform on Red Square:
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2011/01/10/disco-star-welcomed-by-brezhnev-laid-to-rest-a4081
I never did that thread though, and all I had left was a couple of bookmarks — but now I finally got a chance to post them. This great 2010 RFE/RL piece for example:
https://www.rferl.org/a/boney_m_farrell_gone_not_forgotten_soviet_bloc/2264340.html
As perestroika brought new artistic freedoms to the Soviet Union, Boney M's popularity faded but never completely vanished. Farrell, however, remained a constant, continuing to tour throughout the former Soviet bloc.
Fun fact: the remaining members of Boney M parlayed the nostalgia of that generation of Russians into a lucrative old-age career touring far-flung provinces and corporate events:
https://rbth.com/articles/2012/10/10/the_enduring_popularity_of_boney_m_in_russias_regions_18269
Such is the affection of middle-aged ex-Soviets for Boney M, someone thought it a good idea at some point to bring its aging members over to South-Ossetia to spread love and goodwill as part of the Georgian government's 'hearts and minds' campaign.
Mysteriously didn't stop the war from breaking out a year after, though: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/nov/11/popandrock2
In a corner of the old Soviet Bloc, they're trying to bring warring sides together through a concert by the Seventies disco hitmakers. Matthew Collin reports from South Ossetia, Georgia on just how well 'Rasputin' and 'Daddy Cool' fare as a means of conflict resolution.
The same thread reminded me of reading about #EastBerlin's 1973 World Festival of Youth and Students, with its 8 million visitors, which by all accounts was lit: "the #GDR capital, turned upside down for nine days".
Suddenly stuff was possible that was normally not allowed in the #DDR - though the Stasi was mingling to steer conversations the right way when they got heated:
https://www.the-berlin-wall.com/videos/world-festival-of-youth-in-east-berlin-625/
July 29, 1973: For the second time since 1951 East Berlin is organising the World Festival of Youth and Students. Eight million people descend on the city, transforming Alexanderplatz into a huge festival arena. The GDR, with its new head of state and Party leader Erich Honecker, wants to present a cosmopolitan image. Free love, long hair: a colourful chaos. Suddenly almost anything seems to go in the GDR capital, turned upside down for nine days. West Berlin sports teacher Gunnar Rohn talks about his experiences at the festival. A different kind of provocation is coming from East Berlin's cinemas: the film The Legend of Paul and Paula escapes a ban by the skin of its teeth. It is to become one of the most successful DEFA films of all time.
Another great link about that here, though awkwardly formatted and somewhat meandering:
"I didn’t sleep during that time, at most maybe just one hour standing somewhere and leaning against a wall"
"And then right in the middle of the World Festival Ulbricht died! And everyone thought the events would be cancelled. [W]e were extremely tense [about] whether this asshole would ruin everything for us."
“It's kind of funny how US & Western European youth culture was dragged across the political spectrum in the 1960s and 1970s Below is a Cuban political cartoon criticizing rock and rollers on the right and promoting a more macho Communist with a traditional hat on the left”
Joost
