Rock opera and resistance
'Stephen, the King' as a building block of minority ethnic identity in Transylvania and the United States
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/pomh.36186Keywords:
borderland identity, cultural identity, ethnic minorities, Hungarian diaspora, rock opera, state socialism, Stephen, the King, TransylvaniaAbstract
Stephen, the King (1983), the most popular Hungarian rock opera, succeeded in bringing alive the well-known foundational myth of the Hungarian nation state by means of a new genre and its political relevance as a covert protest against the Soviet military presence. The rock opera was also extremely popular among members of Hungarian communities beyond the borders. The article compares two, very different cases of trans-border Hungarian identities focused around Stephen, the King: the Transylvanian reception of the rock opera and, based on Réka Pigniczky’s documentary Incubator, its American-Hungarian readings. The latter qualifies as a hybrid identity in progress, while Transylvania, a site of permanent cultural and political friction between Hungary and Romania, displays a cultural identity that is inherently mixed, a borderland identity. Capitalizing on Stuart Hall’s understanding of cultural identities, we argue that the diasporic/minority reception of the rock opera enabled unique ways of imag(in)ing national belonging, which were, to a great extent, different from its reception in Hungary. Our case studies confirm that both diasporic and borderland identities have received a boost via the new popular genre, enabling both groups to forge bonds with the imagined community of Hungarians and what they perceived as Hungarian national culture.
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Boia, L. 2001. History and Myth in Romanian Consciousness. Budapest: Central European University Press.
Cinpoes, R. 2010. Nationalism and Identity in Romania: A History of Extreme Politics from the Birth of the State to EU Accession. London and New York: Tauris.
Connell, J., and C. Gibson. 2003. Sound Tracks: Popular Music, Identity, and Place. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203448397
Fábri, P. 1983. ‘Mítosz az egész nemzethez szólóan’ (‘Myth for the Whole Nation’). Magyar Ifjúság, September.
Falus, T. 1984. ‘István, a király’ (‘Stephen, the King’). Mozgó Világ, April.
Foucault, M. 1986. ‘Of Other Spaces’. Diacritics 16: 22–27. https://doi.org/10.2307/464648
Gy?ri, Zs. 2014. ‘Discourse, Power and Resistance in Sociographic Documentaries of the late Kádár-era’, Studies in Eastern European Cinema 5/2: 103–123. https://doi.org/10.1080/17411548.2014.925332
Hall, S. 1999. ‘The Question of Cultural Identity’. In Modernity and Its Futures, ed. Stuart Hall, David Held and Tony McGrew, 273–325. Cambridge: Polity Press.
How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin. 2009. Directed by Leslie Woodhead. BBC.
Inkubátor (Incubator). 2010. Directed by Réka Pigniczky. 56 Films. http://film.indavideo.hu/video/f_inkubator (accessed 12 June 2017).
Jesus Christ Superstar. 1973. Directed by Norman Jewison. Universal Pictures.
‘Jesus Christ Superstar’. IMDb. www.imdb.com (accessed 1 June 2017).
Johnson, P. 2013. ‘The Geographies of Heterotopia’. Geography Compass 7/11: 790–803. https://doi.org/10.1111/gec3.12079
Koltay, G. 2008. István, a király emlékkönyv 1983–2008 (Stephen, the King Commemorative Book 1983–2008). Budapest: Szabad Tér.
Krasznai, Z. 1990. ‘János, a király. Avagy árad a kegyelem fénye reánk (Gondolatok egy ál-történelmi misztériumjáték margójára)’ (‘John, the King. Or We’re Bathed in the Light of Mercy’). In Szamizdat, ’81–89. Válogatás a Hírmondó címü folyóiratból, ed. Gyarmathy Katalin and Lévai Jenö, 86–89. Budapest: AB-Beszélö.
Kürti, L. 2001. The Remote Borderland: Transylvania in the Hungarian Imagination. New York: State University of New York Press.
Lena, J. C. 2012. Banding Together: How Communities Create Genres in Popular Music. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400840458
Makkai, L. 1994a. ‘The Hungarians’ Prehistory, their Conquest of Hungary and their Raids to the West to 955’. In A History of Hungary, ed. Péter F. Sugár, Péter Hanák and Tibor Frank, 8–14. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
—1994b. ‘The Foundation of the Hungarian Christian State, 950–1196’. In A History of Hungary, ed. Péter F. Sugár, Péter Hanák and Tibor Frank, 15–22. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Minahan, J. B. 2016. Encyclopedia of Stateless Nations: Ethnic and National Groups around the World. Santa Barbara and Denver: Greenwood.
Nemes, Robert. 2013. ‘Mapping the Hungarian Borderlands’. In Shatterzone of Empires: Coexistence and Violence in the German, Habsburg, Russian, and Ottoman Borderlands, ed. Omer Bartov and Eric D. Weitz, 209–227. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Németh, Z. 2005. ‘Szlovákiai magyar irodalom: létezik-e vagy sem?’ (‘Slovakian Hungarian Literature: Does It Exist?’). In A bevégezhetetlen feladat, 5–24. Dunaszerdahely: Nap Kiadó.
Péter, B. 2013. ‘István, a király: egyszeri és megismételhetetlen’ (‘Stephen, the King: Unique and Unrepeatable’). Székelyhon, 5 June. https://szekelyhon.ro/magazin/istvan-a-kiraly-egyszeri-es-megismetelhetetlen (accessed 3 March 2017).
Pigniczky, R. 2017. What’s in a Name? KQED Radio. https://ww2.kqed.org/perspectives/2017/05/05/whats-in-a-name-3/ (accessed 12 June 2017).
‘Proiect revoltator al deputatului Tudor Ciuhodaru: inchisoare pentru cei care protesteaza. PSD se opune “categoric”’. (‘MP Tudor Ciuhodaru’s Revolting Project: Prison for Those Who Protest’). Stirile ProTV. https://tinyurl.com/stiri-politic-3 (accessed 3 March 2017).
Ránki, Gy. 1994. ‘From Liberation to Revolution, 1945–56’. In A History of Hungary, ed. Péter F. Sugár, Péter Hanák and Tibor Frank, 368–83. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Rockin’ the Wall. 2010. Directed by Marc Leif. Rockin’ the Wall Studios.
Ryback, T. W. 1990. Rock Around the Bloc: A History of Rock Music in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sándor, K. 2014. A székely írás nyomában (On the Tracks of the Székely Script). Budapest: Typotex Kiadó.
Stephen, the King. 1984. Directed by Gábor Koltay. Mafilm and Mokép.
Stroschein, S. 2012. Ethnic Struggle, Coexistence, and Democratization in Eastern Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511793769
Szöcs, L. 2012. ‘A csíksomlyói búcsú közelmúltja és jelene’ (‘The Recent Past and Present of the Csíksomlyó Pentecost Festival’). Székelyhon. https://szekelyhon.ro/aktualis/csikszek/a-csiksomlyoi-punkosdi-bucsu-kozelmultja-es-jelene (accessed 25 May 2012).
Szörényi, L., and J. Bródy. 1984. Stephen, the King. Hungaroton, LP.
Turner, V. 1974. ‘Liminal to Liminoid, in Play, Flow, and Ritual: An Essay in Comparative Symbology’. Rice Institute Pamphlet–Rice University Studies 60/3: 53–92.
Weaver, E. B. 2006. National Narcissism: The Intersection of the Nationalist Cult and Gender in Hungary. Bern: Peter Lang.
Published
2018-04-16
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Bülgözdi, I., & Réti, Z. (2018). Rock opera and resistance: ’Stephen, the King’ as a building block of minority ethnic identity in Transylvania and the United States. Popular Music History, 11(1), 10-27. https://doi.org/10.1558/pomh.36186
