Music and Nationalism: Claudiu Oancea

Today’s episode turns toward a theme that resounds across history and reverberates in the world right now: music and nationalism. Our guest is Claudiu Oancea, a historian whose work investigates the power of music in constructing national culture.

In his article “Political Legitimacy, National Identities, and Cultural Pursuits in the Song of Romania Festival”, Claudiu traces how the Cântarea României festival was used by the Romanian socialist state to weave folklore and performance into a project of political legitimacy and imagined national continuity. His research pushes us to ask not just how the spotlighted “voice of the people” was shaped, but whose voices were strategically amplified — and whose were silenced — in the process.

In this episode, we will explore these historical earwitnesses alongside reflections on the deeper tensions between music and nationalism — how sound becomes a vehicle for both unity and exclusion, and how soundscapes participate in shaping collective memory and political life.