Intersections of Music, Politics, and Digital Media: Bandista Ela GEzEn university of Massachusetts, amherst From a world with no borders, no nations and no exiles; we hear dozens of voices echoing from the past, the future, and the present, all together we shout out; we were, we are and we shall be! Forever! (Bandista) Bandista, a self-described music collective, was founded in Istanbul in 2006. Through framing texts provided on their website - in Turkish, English, Spanish and German - the band proposes to sing for a world without borders and classes, characterizing their political orientation and musical approach as «internationalist» (Bandista). Their internationalist scope is further emphasized through the variety of genres incorporated in their music, ranging from reggae and Ska to Dub and afro-Beat. Their songs are politically motivated, and address universal issues of exile, deportation, and human rights violations as can be evidenced, for example, on their most recent album, sınırsız-ulussuz-sürgünsüz (no borderno nation-no exile, 2012). The third song on this album focuses specifically on integration and discrimination of guest workers and immigrants in Germany, while at the same time opening up an international horizon. Furthermore, in choosing the Internet as their sole medium for distribution, Bandista proclaim themselves free from capitalist marketing strategies. While the music industry tends to vilify online piracy, Bandista promote uses of the Internet as a common ground of collaboration and exchange, as well as distribution on their own terms. Through their practice of copyleft and invitation to download and share their music, Bandista abandon the music industry’s monetization of content distribution, and instead mobilize transnationally-oriented Marxist categories. Examining their latest album’s lyrics, musical genres, distribution mechanisms, and attendant web design and meta-commentary, this paper argues that Bandista’s emphasis on digital presentation situates their music at the nexus of politics, aesthetics and class struggle in ways which Marx could not have foreseen, all while mobilizing pre-digital categories of struggle and resistance. Foregrounding lyrics alongside political language, visual iconography, and discussions of access and distribution, Bandista insist on the inextricabil- CG_44_4_s377-466_AK3.indd 438 11.11.14 17: 50 Intersections of Music, Politics, and Digital Media 439 ity of the (multi)medium and the message, opening new avenues for musical protest. Bandista perceive themselves as a «revolutionary band» [eylem bandosu] and conceptualized their first album de te fabula narratur (May 2009) as their manifesto (Yaşar). The album title, taken from Karl Marx’s introduction to Das Kapital (1867), translates into «the story applies to you,» and serves as the motto for the albums to follow. On their album cover text, they cite the passage from Marx’s text in German, as well as in Turkish translation: […] Sollte jedoch der deutsche leser pharisäisch die achseln zucken über die zustände der englischen Industrie und ackerbauarbeiter, oder sich optimistisch dabei beruhigen, dass in Deutschland die Sachen noch lange nicht so schlimm stehn, so muss ich ihm zurufen: De te fabula narratur! […] ama eğer alman okur, i̇ngiliz sanayi ve tarım işçilerinin durumuna omuz silker, ya da iyimser bir biçimde almanya’da işlerin bu kadar kötü olmadığı düşüncesiyle kendini avutursa, ona açıkça şunu söylemeliyim: De te fabula narratur! (Bandista) By quoting Marx in this way, on the one hand Bandista’s cover text addresses and includes the listener by establishing their music as universal and implicating the reader-listener in the fabula of its contention; on the other hand, it clearly situates their music in the context of working class struggle and Marxist politics, urging (with Marx) the forging of an alliance between the working class and others. This not only manifests itself in the intertextual reference to Marx in the title and liner notes, but it is also exemplified through the release date of their first album: May 1 st , 2009. Bandista follow the leftist tradition in Turkey to publish first releases on May 1 st , further referencing the international labor movement by remixing international songs of working class struggle such as, for example, «haydi barikata» (To the Barricades). Furthermore, in an interview with Heide Demmel, Bandista emphasize that this date was particularly chosen to avoid «misunderstandings and emphasize the political orientation.» In addition to releasing their debut album through their website on May 1 st , 2009, the band members distributed 1000 copies for free at Taksim Square. Taksim Square has long been a landmark in the history of political protest in Turkey, occupying this position well before the ongoing Gezi protests that began in 2013. On February 16, 1969, approximately 30,000 leftists marched towards Taksim in an anti-imperialist mass protest, which was violently suppressed by extreme right-wing groups and has been since referred to as «Bloody Sunday» [Kanlı Pazar] (Gökay 93). Eight years later the revolutionary confederation of labor unions, Di̇SK (Türkiye Devrimci i̇şçi Sendikaları Konfederasyonu), organized a rally to take place on May 1 st , 1977 on Taksim Square. Towards the end of the rally, shots were fired CG_44_4_s377-466_AK3.indd 439 11.11.14 17: 50 440 Ela Gezen into the crowd, which in tandem with actions by the riot police, led to mass panic. This resulted in the death of over 30 left-wing demonstrators, an event commemorated as «Bloody 1 st May» [Kanlı 1 Mayıs] (ahmad 169; Gökay 108; Koç 347-367). 1 The political ambition of Bandista’s first album is thus articulated on various registers: album title, content, distribution and release date. Music, Bandista claim, is a tool for resistance and a mouthpiece in service of their anti-fascist, anti-capitalist, anti-authoritarian, and anti-militarist stance (Demmel). The remixing, and/ or covering of existing songs is constant throughout Bandista’s œuvre, leading to a process they described to Özcan and Çakır as the practice of «ripping, tracing, deforming contents, musical and textual, perceiving them as their contribution to their present, their lived history, which in turn is exposed to transformation.» In their self-perception as «tayfa» [crew, collective] whose members remain anonymous, the emphasis, as the above quote illustrates, is put on the collective as well as collaboration, moving away from the «capitalist exaltation of the individual,» foregrounding the interaction and communication between individuals, while understanding history as collectively constructed with the legacy of their productions (Özcan and Çakır). In the same vein, Bandista perceive what they produce as belonging to the collective, not the individual; it is therefore available to all. Moreover, Bandista reject the notion of conservation [«muhafaza»] with regards to the work of art. revolutionary art, they claim, should not and cannot be fetishized but should rather be distributed and remixed by the people, so that new bandistas and new art can emerge therefrom (Özcan and Çakır). Therefore, their music has to be plainly «doable» in what they describe as a punk sense, so that others can play it or simplify it in order for it to be spread. They put it as follows: «we do not have a punk style, but we have a punk attitude» [«Punk tarzımız yok punk tavrımız var»] (Özcan and Çakır). This further manifests itself in their practices of DIY (Do It Yourself), which I address in some detail below. Bandista have repeatedly expressed their support in the fight against discrimination (Demmel). Their latest album, sınırsız-ulussuz-sürgünsüz (no border-no nation-no exile), as the title already indicates, invokes the condition of exile, emigration, and forced migration. again, as with the other albums, the release date of this album was purposefully scheduled to reflect on a historic date of political significance: the 50 th anniversary of the bilateral labor recruitment agreement between Turkey and Germany. Therefore, Bandista included a song titled «kim yerli kim göçmen» [who is a local, who is a migrant] focusing on Turkish immigrants in Germany. This song samples and reinterprets Cem Karaca’s song «Es kamen Menschen,» which was featured CG_44_4_s377-466_AK3.indd 440 11.11.14 17: 50 Intersections of Music, Politics, and Digital Media 441 on his album Die Kanaken (1984), with Turkish immigrants in Germany as its thematic focus. Cem Karaca was a well-known Turkish rock singer, who, having left Turkey in the aftermath of the 1980 military coup, lived in political exile in Germany. not only was Die Kanaken his only album released in German, it is also the first album by a Turkish musician to be recorded with a German label (Pläne, in Dortmund). The majority of songs on this album were included in the anti-discrimination play Ab in den Orientexpress (1984), which to this day is still being performed on German stages. The album was produced in the aftermath of the recruitment ban (1973), when West Germany limited immigration, encouraged the return of foreigners, and restricted social integration. an increasing unemployment rate and the competition for jobs raised doubts regarding the economic gain derived from guest workers (Herbert 222). The so-called Gastarbeiterproblem, which had entered the public discussion during the recession, turned into the Türkenproblem. During Helmut Kohl’s term of office, public criticism against labor migrants and immigrants climaxed. In his first television appearance after his election to office, Kohl stated that the numbers of foreigners («ausländer»), and particularly Turks, was too high and needed to be reduced (lüderwaldt 107). For subsequent political proceedings, the main premise was that Germany had never been, and would never be, a country of immigration, something that had already been proposed by Kohl’s predecessor Helmut Schmidt in 1979 (Meier-Braun 78). To understand how Bandista reflect on this period in Turkish-German history, a close examination of their re-interpretation of Cem Karaca’s song is in order. The chorus in both Bandista’s and Karaca’s song is based on Max Frisch’s well-known quote «Man hat arbeitskräfte gerufen und es kamen Menschen.» already in 1965, Frisch pointed toward the permanent settlement of guest workers who had initially been perceived as a temporary phenomenon serving the economic miracle. Bandista base part of the lyrics of their cover on the Turkish-language version of Karaca’s song, but also include their own lyrics in order to update the song to represent their political position. In their digital liner notes and in an interview with the German radio station Radio Z, Nuremberg, Bandista emphasize that this song serves as a means to document a historical moment, while at the same time adapting it to the present and exposing social issues such as discrimination and racism as universal. as part of the lyrics, they interpolate a quote by rosa luxemburg, «Ich war, ich bin, ich werde sein,» from «Die Ordnung herrscht in Berlin» (1919), the last text she wrote prior to her assassination (209). underlining the unavoidability of revolution, rosa luxemburg was herself quoting Hermann Ferdinand Freiligrath, who in his poem «Die revolution» (1851) represented CG_44_4_s377-466_AK3.indd 441 11.11.14 17: 50 442 Ela Gezen revolution as a recurrence throughout history. Through the reference to rosa luxemburg, Bandista establish a connection between the struggle of Turkish immigrants, and the ideological stance not just of Marxist internationalism in the present, but of nationally-bounded German radicalism going all the way back to Marx himself. accordingly, their identification is not just political, but genealogical as well. Thus in their documentation and denunciation of labor exploitation, undocumented immigration, racism, and discrimination as continuing pressing issues, Bandista draw on earlier traditions of the labor movement. The intertextual reference to rosa luxemburg is introduced by referring to her as «rosa comrade» [«rosa yoldaş»], and through this demonstration of solidarity, Bandista close ranks with proletarian Internationalism, the labor movement, and Marxism as represented by luxemburg and the Second International. In addition to establishing the condition of exile as universal, and addressing the German context as a case study, Bandista also draw attention to Turkey’s problematic status as a host country, rather than country of origin; their release date also commemorates the death of nigerian refugee Festus Okey, who was killed on august 20 th , 2007 in Istanbul while in police custody. In their digital liner notes, they comment Festus was neither the first victim of state violence, nor the last immigrant-left to die or killed [sic] at-the borders, out-in-the sea, in the middle of-the-cities, in state institutions or left to die-in-the hands of civilian fascists. Everyone is-a local, everyone is-a migrant. nobody-flees-without a reason.-The reason might be-war, exile, ecological and economic crisis, pogrom or genocide, discrimination or a desire to live a better life nation-state borders, walls, barbed wires, private-security-forces, death threats, do not, cannot and should not stop the wave of-migrants-whose only motive is to survive. (Bandista) While addressing specific cases, they stress that it is important to understand these as non-nation specific, universal matters of concern to all. In an interview with the Turkish daily newspaper Hürriyet, Bandista again draw the analogy to the German context «Whatever Solingen is, Festus Okey is just that» [«Solingen neyse, Festus Okey De o»] (Dağlar). Two elements of Bandista’s argument are important to mention here. First, there is no national specificity to these crimes. Therefore, Bandista emphasize, they must be perceived as discriminatory practices and human rights violations of universal concern. Second, neither the nationality of the victim, nor the legal status in any given national context, can serve as a basis to justify these crimes or how they are handled in individual judicial systems (Dağlar). By demanding a similar public response to Okey’s death, as occurred in response to the Solingen arson attacks, Bandista not only chose the fifth anniversary of his death as the CG_44_4_s377-466_AK3.indd 442 11.11.14 17: 50 Intersections of Music, Politics, and Digital Media 443 release date for the album, but also dedicate the second song «hiç kimsenin şarkısı» [nobody’s song] to him, which they constitute as «scream» [«çığlık»]. On the album, Bandista provide brief commentaries following each song’s lyrics. For the song dedicated to Okey, they argue the following: In fact, it was not that different from all the other murders we had witnessed for years. again a cog in the wheels of state power, again with hate, again with discrimination, again by ignoring all human values, wiped out a life. It transpires that this time the victim «deserved to die» because he was not a citizen but a refugee, and on top of it, because of the difference of his skin color; just like those who «deserve to be killed» for being a woman, Kurdish, gay, armenian, transgender, roma, rebellious, all of those who are «nobodies.» 2 (Bandista) The first song on the album «haymatlos» [stateless] expresses their «longing for a borderless world» [«sınırsız bir dünyaya özlem»] addressing issues of exile, deportation, and asylum in general. By contrast, the second and third songs on this album are dedicated to specific cases in both the Turkish and German context, while simultaneously deconstructing these as nationally specific circumstances as well as establishing discrimination based on social, ethnic, racial, religious, and national categories of difference as universal concerns. This manifests itself in the second song, in which, while commemorating Okey’s death, they sing «we are all local, we are all migrants, we are here my friend, it’s enough, my friend» [«hep yerliyiz hep göçmen, buradayız kardeşim artık yeter»]. Solidarity is expressed through the band’s inclusion of itself in the communal «we,» as well as through the choice of the title. In calling it «nobody’s song» while dedicating it to Okey’s murder, Bandista emphasize it as common property, it belongs to nobody in particular, and therefore becomes everybody’s song. The collaborative and communicative aspect of Bandista’s music is foregrounded by the multilingualism of their liner notes, songs, and website content. Their multimedial texts are polyglot, and include Turkish, German, English, Spanish, French as well as lingala. The universality of human rights violations, labor exploitation, and social discrimination is communicated and highlighted through the multilingual dimension of their texts. English is decentralized as the dominant language of the music industry, which extends the scope of their conversation through the inclusion of non-Western languages as well. Their collaborations and communication with artists in various locations, emphasizes the transnational aspect of their scope further. In their aim to document the past, they consider the visual, the performative, and the sonic to be equally important in bringing their message across (Dağlar). Their leftist influences with regards to class struggle are clearly identified, and discussed on their website, which is colored red-and-black and CG_44_4_s377-466_AK3.indd 443 11.11.14 17: 50 444 Ela Gezen framed by images of the red star, and hammer and sickle, thus attesting to the extension of their self-performance as Communists into the theater of digital space. The five point red star of communism is adorned with piano keys resembling a bandoleer, emphasizing the understanding of music as weapon. Beyond extending the thematics of revolution into electronic space, and commenting on each individual song, the website offers a textual commentary on each album, providing a political framework within which each album can be interpreted. For sınırsız-ulussuz-sürgünsüz, they offer the following paratext: anti-immigrant sentiments find their expressions in and through the actions and policies of the state as well as in daily life, in civilian fascist attacks, in professional associations of various sectors or in the discriminatory violence of precarious-workers. against this, we should-strive-to make immigration movement immanent to class struggle and anti-fascist/ anti-nationalist movement-remembering-that the world of dissent and resistance gain [sic] its power from our international and collective struggle. (Bandista) Solidarity is the central component of their struggle, and music is the means to support it. This finds further expression in their understanding of concerts as «meetings» and «actionz» and of listeners and concertgoers as «participants,» «friends» and «family» (Mehrabov 85; interview with Yaşar). The collaborative nature is also emphasized by the anonymity of Bandista’s members on the album, in interviews and line-ups. no individual member is mentioned by name and singled out. In their anti-capitalist stance, they are opposed to stardom and star culture. The communal aspect is further enacted in the distribution methods of their music through the practice of copyleft, a «communal system of ownership» (Berry 137) 3 . The music industry has undoubtedly changed through the advent of the Internet. But while the Internet has been associated with pirating and file sharing, with Bandista we encounter a subversive use of the Internet as a means of collaboration, exchange, as well as of distribution on their own terms. Their practice of copyleft and invitation to download, copy, and distribute their music stand in direct opposition to common practices in the music industry. Furthermore, it is considered «a return to the earliest ideas of intellectual property,» embodying «three traditional principles that governed intellectual property before the industrial revolution when intellectual property was still considered common good» (Friedman 96). These principles basically refer to the conceptualization of knowledge as «build[ing] on prior knowledge» and «requir[ing] the support of tradition,» as non-proprietary, and as growing through its circulation as common property (Friedman 96). Finally, «[t]he philosophical position of copyleft is that communities have rights in knowl- CG_44_4_s377-466_AK3.indd 444 11.11.14 17: 50 Intersections of Music, Politics, and Digital Media 445 edge along with individuals. Moreover copyleft asserts that copyright is often used against individuals by a legal system that favors powerful interests over individual creators» (Friedman 96-97). In that sense, knowledge can only be owned by sharing, which contradicts the conception of knowledge as private property (Friedman 96-97). The band perceives the practice of copyleft as a political statement that embodies not only their understanding of music as common good, but also their conception of the audience as participants and contributors (Demmel). These practices, together with sampling and re-recording well-known political protest songs, constitute an anti-capitalist approach to the circulation of knowledge inclusive of tradition. aware of how even counter-cultural products have been affected and absorbed by capitalism, Bandista see copyleft as instrumental to fighting the industry’s common practices and the commodification of culture. The production and circulation of knowledge central to Bandista’s music, realized through copyleft licensing, draws upon the Marxist understanding that everything produced - material and intellectual - is not private property but collectively owned. Bandista not only take matters of distribution into their own hands, they also advocate and engage in the DIY (Do It Yourself) process (Mehrabov 85). They thereby cut out «a set of intermediaries that act upon and channel the music from producers to consumers. These intermediaries include producers and engineers, artists and repertoire (a&r) specialists, marketing and media experts, and so on» (leyshon et al. 190). Furthermore, Bandista proclaim their independence from the exploitation of the music industry by producing and distributing their music themselves. In a Marxist sense, they take back control over means of production «by engaging in DIY processes, by learning the sound technologies and their engineering, recording and producing the music on one’s own» (Mehrabov 86). While their first album was produced in a studio in Italy, with the band very much involved in the process, the second album was mastered at different places with «a sound card and a laptop» (qtd. in Mehrabov 85) which further exemplifies their artistic and economic independence. Moreover, by making their albums available with framing texts and without attaching it to individual personalities, they decoupled the production of music from the production of star personalities. On all their musical releases Bandista is presented as Oppa tZupa zound Zystem «hareketi» [movement] or «hamle» [move] (Bandista). Bandista are part of the label Oppa tZupa zound Zystem (Opzzz! ) which perceives itself as a «collective musical, textual, visual, political, unionist platform for action and solidarity,» thus continuing in the steps of the original anti-industry stance of Jamaican sound systems, with the inclusion, in addition to Bandista, of bands like ahibba, Deli, Enzo Ikah Band, Fitisound, Hariçten Gazelciler and Viya who CG_44_4_s377-466_AK3.indd 445 11.11.14 17: 50 446 Ela Gezen came together and formed this ‹zystem› in order to develop musical sharing, to encourage collective trans-genre production and action, to create staging and acting possibilities, to hinder unjust treatment in the commercial relationships with the third persons and during the festivals, spaces, and works that are involved by way of agreements and collective bargaining and to create a counter-cultural space outside of the existing forms of the system. (Opzzz) The emphasis is again put on the collective and collaborative aspect of music making, as a means of self-representation and production outside of the exploitative practices of the entertainment industry. The label «tries to build a collective life with its two studios, one office, regular meetings, booking, working groups on graphic and law, and an inner economy» (Opzzz). The creative and economic domain is intertwined in the collective, which takes the means of production, distribution, labeling and performance into its own hands. The members of Opzzz! further emphasize that Within the entertainment industry as a one big market system based on popularization, packaging, labeling, economical, emotional or genre-wise exploitation under different names such as music, culture or art, Opzzz! is concerned with creating alternatives with guerilla tactics and form its own agenda. It has the principle of establishing solidarity and producing together with the artistic, political, trans-genre, and vital actions, organizations, individuals and invitations which work for the same causes. (Opzzz) Solidarity, in addition to collaboration, becomes the hallmark of music making, production and distribution - activities that feed into one another, and which Opzzz! situate at the nexus of politics and aesthetics. Bandista actively intervene in the production process, which as Walter Benjamin wrote in his essay «Der autor als Produzent» (1934), is key in the artist’s declaration of solidarity with the proletariat, as well as providing the basis for social change. Since «gesellschaftliche Verhältnisse» are conditioned by «Produktivverhältnisse,» Benjamin, in his discussion of operative, revolutionary art, shifts the focus from the question of the relationship between a work of art and its connection to production relations, to its position within them (222). He discusses Brecht’s practice of «umfunktionierung,» which according to Benjamin, describes «die Veränderung von Produktionsformen und Produktionsinstrumenten im Sinne einer fortschrittlichen - daher an der Befreiung der Produktionsmittel interessierten, daher im Klassenkampf dienlichen - Intelligenz» (104). Brecht’s epic theater is presented by Benjamin as a prime model for the intervention into and transformation of production processes, insofar as it reorganizes the relationship between producer and audience (spectators, listeners, readers), turning readers and/ or spectators into collaborators, «Mitwirkende» (110). Brecht, like Benjamin, stressed CG_44_4_s377-466_AK3.indd 446 11.11.14 17: 50 Intersections of Music, Politics, and Digital Media 447 the necessity of changing the relationship between producer and audience; he sought to transform the radio from a «Distributionsapparat» to a «Kommunikationsapparat des öffentlichen lebens» (147). In «Der rundfunk als Kommunikationsapparat» (1932), Brecht further emphasizes (as he does with music and theater as well), that radio should not merely have a «dekorative Haltung,» but rather a social significance based on an active exchange with the listeners (148-49). This transformation of the radio adds the dimension to receive beyond one-directional, static transmission. While admitting to the utopia of this transformation, the emphasis is again, as in Benjamin, put on social relations. as Brecht writes: «Durch immer fortgesetzte nie aufhörende Vorschläge zur besseren Verwendung der apparate im Interesse der allgemeinheit haben wir die gesellschaftliche Basis dieser apparate zu erschüttern, ihre Verwendung im Interesse der wenigen zu diskreditieren» (151). Though Benjamin and Brecht wrote their essays in a different historical context, as the shadow of fascism fell across the Weimar republic, they prove an apt frame of reference for Bandista’s practice of the politics of production as well as politics of aesthetics. The quote by Brecht above illustrates the Brechtian principle behind Bandista’s work; they transform the use of apparatuses of the existing social order (i.e., the internet, music industry), and disrupt the commonplace economic exploitation of both media (music and the internet), thus discrediting their use in the interest of the few for monetary gain and political control, while also giving access to these media back to any spectator who is interested, and opening them up for everybody to use, change, and produce. Bandista remove the division between artist and spectator by perceiving audience members and listeners as part of the collective, and by encouraging everyone to be part of the creation process and act as collaborators. This is also reflected in Bandista’s emphasis on the participatory aspect of their music and their use of techniques of collage - of genres, texts, melodies - through which, they, like Brecht, draw attention to the contingency of social, historical, and political processes. Collage techniques acknowledge the incompleteness and the ongoing construction of culture, which is exemplified in Bandista through their perception of listeners as collaborators in the production of meaning, their understanding of their works as provisional collaborations that are in progress and open to further transformation, by continuously being deconstructed, remixed, reinterpreted and re-rendered. Bandista’s work exists in a curious interstice, geographically speaking. While Bandista are internationalist in their political scope and transnational in their aesthetic choices and incorporation of diverse genres, their theoretical model for reconceptualizing and refunctionalizing the media through which CG_44_4_s377-466_AK3.indd 447 11.11.14 17: 50 448 Ela Gezen culture is distributed is a specifically national one, derived from Benjamin’s and Brecht’s work on the politics of culture. Moreover, they construct an intellectual genealogy that begins with Karl Marx, leading to rosa luxemburg, and situate themselves at the end of this genealogical trajectory. Digital media have been instrumental in Bandista’s increasing popularity, particularly facilitated through their website and their political participation in world-wide protests, such as the «Occupy Gezi» movement, that has been predominantly coordinated through social network interactions. Furthermore, in their eclectic musical genre choices, including Punk, Ska, and reggae, Bandista present a novelty within the folk song dominated political music scene in Turkey that had been in existence since the student protests in 1968 (Mehrabov 82). In addition to their attention to national concerns (Cypriot, Kurdish, and the armenian question) of relevance for contemporary Turkey, Bandista’s internationalist approach and mindset, foregrounded on their website, perceives and presents human rights violations of any kind in any context, as universal problems that need to be contested in solidarity. Music serves as a way to document, disseminate, disclose, and counter questions of racism, exile, forced migration, deportation, and asylum, using digital media as their tools. In the creation of their message, which relies on visual, sonic, and textual signifiers, and only emerges in all its complexity through digital media, they build on earlier traditions of Marxist protest from the German context, but apply these to worldwide issues. Notes I would like to thank Jonathan Skolnik for introducing me to Bandista, Seth Howes for being an invaluable interlocutor and Diogenes Costa-Curras for always being a sounding board to my ideas. 1 In the aftermath of the events surrounding May 1 st , 1977 public gatherings on Taksim Square were outlawed. Moreover, May Day lost its status as official holiday following the Turkish coup d’état in 1980 (Gökay 108). 2 «Yıllardır yaşanılan cinayetlerden çok da farklı değildi aslında. Yine tahakküm makinasındaki bir çark, yine nefretle, yine ayrımcılıkla, yine her türlü insani değeri hiçe sayarak bir canı yok etti. anlaşılan bu sefer maktul, vatandaş olmayıp sığınmacı olduğundan, üstüne üstlük derisinin rengi farklı olduğundan ‹öldürülmeyi hak etmiş› ti; tıpkı kadın olduğu, kürt olduğu, eşcinsel olduğu, ermeni olduğu, trans olduğu, roman olduğu, isyankâr olduğu, ‹hiç kimse› olduğu için ‹öldürülmeyi hak edenler› gibi. artık yeter […].» Translation mine. 3 The Encyclopedia of New Media offers the following definition of copyleft: «[It] is a general license agreement granted by a copyright owner permitting anyone to freely use copyrighted property, but under specific terms. Common terms of a copyleft license state that a copylefted work is freely available to all potential users» (Friedman 96). CG_44_4_s377-466_AK3.indd 448 11.11.14 17: 50 Intersections of Music, Politics, and Digital Media 449 Works Cited ahmad, Feroz. The Making of Modern Turkey. london: routledge, 1993. Bandista. «Bandista.» tayfabandista.org. 2009. Web. 24 april 2014. -. de te fabula narratur. Oppa tzupa zound zystem, 2009. CD. -. sınırsız-ulussuz-sürgünsüz. Oppa tzupa zound zystem, 2012. CD. -. «Bandista’dan ‹anlatılan Senin Hikayendir›.» Interview with Bawer Çakır and Emine Özcan. bianet.org. Bianet, 23 May 2009. Web. 17 april 2014. -. «Bandista ein Bandkollektiv aus Istanbul.» Interview with Heike Demmel. freieradios.net. freie-radios.net, 18 Oct. 2012. Web. 17 april 2014. -. «Bandista ailesinde Eşitsizliğe Yer Yok.» Interview with Hanife Yaşar. hurriyetaile. com. Hürriyet aile, 23 aug. 2011. Web. 18 april 2014. Benjamin, Walter. «Der autor als Produzent.» Versuche über Brecht. Ed. rolf Tiedemann. Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp, 1966. 95-116. Berry, David M. Copy, Rip, Burn: The Politics of Copyleft and Open Source. london: Pluto, 2008. Brecht, Bertolt. «Der rundfunk als Kommunikationsapparat.» Bertolt Brecht: Ausgewählte Werke in sechs Bänden. Vol. 6. Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp, 1997. 146-51. Dağlar, ali. «Pablo neruda, biz orada.» hurriyet.com. Hürriyet Pazar Gazetesi, 1 May 2011. Web. 17 april 2014. Friedman, Ken. «Copyleft.» Encyclopedia of New Media. An Essential Reference to Communication and Technology. Ed. Steve Jones. new York: Moschovitis, 2003. 97-98. Gökay, Bülent. Soviet Eastern Policy in Turkey, 1920-1991: Soviet Foreign Policy, Turkey and Communism. london: routledge, 2006. Herbert, ulrich. Geschichte der Ausländerbeschäftigung in Deutschland, 1880 bis 1980: Saisonarbeiter, Zwangsarbeiter, Gastarbeiter. Berlin: Dietz, 1986. Koç, Canan and Yildirim Koç. Disk tarihi: efsane mi gerçek mi? (1967-1980). Maltepe, ankara: Epos, 2008. leyshon, andrew et al. «On the reproduction of the Musical Economy after the Internet.» Media, Culture & Society 27.2 (2005): 177-209. lüderwaldt, Detlef. «ausländerpolitik als ausländerverdrängungspolitik.» Türken raus? oder Verteidigt den sozialen Frieden. Beiträge gegen die Ausländerfeindlichkeit. Ed. rolf Meinhardt. reinbek: rowohlt, 1984. 105-18. luxemburg, rosa. Politische Schriften II. Ed. Ossip K. Flechtheim. Frankfurt a.M.: Europäische Verlagsanstalt, 1975. Mehrabov, Ilkin. «Turkey and Copyleft Music Production: reflections on Bandista.» Journal of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music 3.1 (2012): 80-90. Meier-Braun, Karl-Heinz. «Gastarbeiter» oder Einwanderer? Anmerkungen zur Ausländerpolitik in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Frankfurt a.M.: ullstein, 1980. Oppa tzupa zound zystem - Opzzz. «about.» Facebook.com. Web. 18 april 2014. CG_44_4_s377-466_AK3.indd 449 11.11.14 17: 50