The Political Force of Musical Beauty by Barry Shank (review)

Barry Shank’s The Political Force of Musical Beauty is an ambitious and wide-ranging exploration of the political and beautiful in popular and avant garde musics. Shank is obviously a fan of the music he investigates, and his love for the eclectic styles he examines is clearly exhibited through his close analysis of the many works and performances he brings together in the text.

Shank dismantles the traditional manner of exploring the political in music by interrogating the focus on identity in music studies, especially popular music studies. Relying upon French philosophers Jean-Luc Nancy and Jacques Ranciere and Belgian political theorist Chantal Mouffe, Shank challenges the conventional approach to examining the political in the musical by stressing beauty (music’s aesthetic qualities) over identity politics.

The subject matter of Shank’s investigation is broad—from the use of a Vera Hall sample in a Moby track to the drone in The Velvet Underground’s music to anthems (Civil Rights and soul) to Japanese composers Yoko Ono and Toru Takemitsu to Patti Smith to contemporary ensembles such as Alarm Will Sound to the Tuareg band Tinerawin. Within this range of musical styles, bands, and musicians, and the investigation of the political and beautiful in each of these different settings, Shank demonstrates that audiences form juxtapolitical communities through the act of listening. These communities, Shank emphasizes, reveal that while different hearings arise from individual listeners, the aesthetic power of music allows for a community to form based on difference. This fundamental reworking of the understanding of how the political in the musical is formed is an important contribution to music studies. By emphasizing the shared recognition of the power of musical beauty among communities of difference, Shank provides an alternative understanding of the political potential of music—one that does not rely necessarily on confined communities based on identity.

A limitation of Shank’s work lies in the eclectic sources he chooses to analyze. While certainly versed in many different genres and musical styles, Shank’s analysis of some musical traditions (especially non-Western ones) are not quite accurate. For instance, Shank’s analysis of the term sawari in Japanese music needed more research. This term, while certainly known to Japanese musicians, is not applied in the way Shank discusses it in the text. However, this critique is a minor one given the range of musical styles analyzed in Shank’s study.

Finally, although a series of case studies, this book, because of the many different genres, styles, and musicians/composers examined, should be read as a whole. While some may find a particular genre or individual interesting, the introduction and first chapter set up a dialogue about musical beauty and its political potential that is continued throughout the book. Therefore, the reading of the case studies independent of one another may leave the reader with questions that are addressed in the first chapters of the text. Therefore, the book provides a cohesive arc and is best read as one large study.

Shank’s work provides an important contribution to the study of music and its political potential. His close analysis of vastly different works through the lens of the political power of musical beauty will prove an invaluable contribution to the study of music writ large.