This is a fascinating document for a number of reasons.
Firstly, it is filmed in an interesting way. Although it is a huge rock concert, the editing is very interesting and subtle. You can tell that the filmmakers graduated from a Soviet film school. This is statist filmmaking, not made for profit.
Secondly, this concert took place on September 1991, a month after communist hardliners mounted a coup de etat that was quashed by Boris Yeltsin. It took place four months before the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
The audience is largely young and westernised - almost one million people reportedly attended this concert. The communist police officers violently hit out at them with bayonets. Helicopters hover around the audience. We can tangibly see the left-overs of 'totalitarianism' here - the need to control all aspects of human thought and emotion.
This took place in 1991, around the time that Francis Fukuyama asserted that 'the end of history' was upon us. Politics are fascinating because several ideologies which vie to win the battle of ideas and to control the way we live. According to Fukuyama, liberal democracy had won the battle of ideas and history had culminated. We see this in this clip, as western values and globalisation had arrived at Russia. Several rock fans wave USA flags, though interestingly some people wave red flags, though this might be ironic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=551_hC414UY
I've been procrastinating for the past few hours - and I've been creating memes. Most of these are obscure/niche/esoteric - apart from the first one, which is very universal.
What happened? :)
Instead of writing political rants and philosophical speculations, I thought that I'd get into the habit of posting music every Friday. I've had people tell me that I have great musical taste, but I've also had people tell me that my taste is either pretentious, unlistenable dreck or old man's music (I take the last comment as a compliment, as surely that means that you are wiser than your years). If you are more likely to fall into the first category of people, then you are more likely to be pleased about this.
This piece of music is by Steve Reich, possibly my favourite exponent of 'minimalism.' This is my favourite piece by him - I love the jagged lines and the way in which the counterpoint works (separate musical voices being played at the same time). I also like how the simple lines gradually progress and resolve.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbC5zhFX7Kw
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