Sounds of War: Recent Episodes

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Welcome to the fifth episode of the Sounds of War podcast. We're excited to have Jacco Visser, a postdoc from the Department of History at Aarhus University and a member of the Soundtrak research project, joining us in the studio.

In this episode, Jacco shares insights from his research, focusing on how the Bangladesh War of 1971 is commemorated through musical events in East London. He sheds light on the role of a unique song form called "song poem" in these commemorations.

Join us as we explore the fascinating connections between history, sound, politics, and culture and how these commemorations bring these elements together.

The Sounds of War podcast is produced and edited by Sigrid Saabye.

Jacco Visser - a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of History at Aarhus University - and Sigrid Saabye participate in this episode.

The original podcast music is by Evan MacDonald.

In this episode, we also use soundbites of two songs: The song "My Golden Bengal" (in Bengal: Amar Shonar Bangla) by Rabindranath Tagore performed by Vocal National Anthems and the song "Song of the Twenty-First (in Bengal: Ekusher Gaan), written by Abdul Gaffar Choudhury" and performed by independent musicians from Folk Studio India.

A particular monument of Mother Language Day is also mentioned in this episode. You can use this link to see what that looks like: https://tinyurl.com/shaheed-minar-London

The podcast is a part of the SoundTrak project: a research project affiliated at Aarhus University and funded by the Velux Foundation. For more information, go to our project website: https://cas.au.dk/en/soundtrak/.

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Welcome to the fourth episode of Sounds of War, in which our host of this episode, Wulf, engages in an insightful conversation with Caroline Kita, an Associate Professor of German and Comparative Literature at Washington University in St. Louis.

Kita delves into her current book project centred around post-World War II German radio dramas. She explores how the soundscapes in these dramas engage with and address the memories of the war.

So, please join us as we discover the profound role of sound in these productions and how they navigate the complexities of remembrance in the aftermath of World War II.

The podcast is produced and edited by Sigrid Saabye, and Caroline Kita and Wulf Kansteiner are participating in this episode.

The original podcast music is by Evan MacDonald.

In this episode, we also use soundbites from two German radio dramas borrowed from the NDR: the radio drama 'Was wäre, wenn (What if?)' from 1947 by Axel Eggebrecht and produced by the Northwest German Radio – and the radio drama 'Klopfzeichen (Tapping Sounds)' by Heinrich Böll, produced by the North German Radio in 1962.

Another sound used in this episode is a soundbite from a speech made by Joseph Goebbels in 1943, borrowed from the Österreichische Mediatek.

The Sounds of War podcast is a part of the SoundTrak project, a research project affiliated at Aarhus University and funded by the Velux Foundation. For more information, visit our project website at this link: https://cas.au.dk/en/soundtrak/.

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In this episode we talk about community singing and how it's been used and experienced through times of crisis. We are focusing on community singing during the German occupation of Denmark in WW2, but we will also meet two brilliant experts on community singing and on the history of the German occupation of Denmark who will give their views and contribution to the topic of community singing.

The podcast is produced and edited by Sigrid Saabye who is also the host of today's episode. Our two expert guests participating are: Puk Elmstrøm Nielsen and Lea Wierød Borcak.

The original podcast music is by Evan MacDonald.

In this episode we also hear various soundbites from transmissions from the Danish radio and television broadcaster the Danish Broadcast Corporation / DR.

Other soundsbites used in this episode come from various online video materials - links are here below

The Sounds of War podcast is a part of the SoundTrak project, a research project affiliated at Aarhus University and funded by the Velux Foundation. For more information, go to our project website: https://cas.au.dk/en/soundtrak/

Various links to music, songs and other online materials included and referred to in this episode:

• “Mu isamaa on minu arm”, song performed at the Estonian Song Celebration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34mYlYkzPVU
• “Den danske sang”, performed at an Alsang-event in Aalborg, Denmark in 1940. Recorded and broadcasted by DR: https://www.dr.dk/bonanza/serie/294/1940erne/57696/alsangen-i-aalborg
• “Dejlig er jorden”, song performed as an online collective singing performance at DR in 2020: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KitD3ui_ndw&list=PLLPmc6YZypll4ZZ5TciFSCcUuymb2CyNv&index=28
• “Tusind stykker”, song by Anne Linnet performed as an online collective singing performance at DR in 2020: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxLYuwjNie8
• Video shared on Twitter by Alejandro Alvarez, “Ukraine's national anthem sung inside a bomb shelter”: https://twitter.com/aletweetsnews/status/1497367213971582980?s=20&t=RJinZQh9PpxRHpXbpMKsOA
• Video shared on Youtube by Dmitry Kogan, “Singing together in support of Ukraine on Tartu Town Hall Square 05.03.2022”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c3qmpOEG2k

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In this podcast episode, we hear how war and war memories are expressed through auditory media. We share two stories across different countries: Japanese military songs in Taiwan and occupation sounds in Denmark. 
Our first speaker, Chung Ai, shows us how Japanese military songs reflect Taiwan's diverse - and somewhat conflicting - war memories. 
Next, Sigrid Saabye outlines what the German occupation of Denmark during WW2 sounds like in the nonfiction programmes of the Danish Broadcasting Corporation.

The Sounds of War podcast is produced and edited by Sigrid Saabye. Participating in this episode are: Andreas Steen, Chung Ai and Sigrid Saabye.

The original podcast music is by Evan MacDonald.

The episode contains soundbites of songs and music by Liva Weel - performing the song "Man binder os på mund og hånd", and by the Imperial Japanese Naval Band performing the Warship March. We also hear the Patriotic March sung by nine popular Japanese singers during the war, accompanied by the Columbia Brass Band.

The podcast is a part of the SoundTrak project: a research project affiliated at Aarhus University and funded by the Velux Foundation.

For more information, go to our project website: https://cas.au.dk/en/soundtrak/

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In this podcast episode we talk about two famous love songs: one from China and one from Germany. And we will talk about the role of recorded music in the development of collective memories and about love songs as propaganda tools and sites of personal and political memories. 
We focus on the specifics of war memory through song and sound and on the role of censorship from the wartime period and into the present. 

Hosts: Andreas Steen and Wulf Kansteiner. 

This is the first episode of our podcast, Sounds of War. The podcast is produced and edited by Sigrid Saabye, and participating in this episode are Andreas Steen and Wulf Kansteiner.

The original podcast music is by Evan MacDonald. In this episode we also hear soundbites of songs and music by the singers Zhou Xuan, Teng Li-chun, and Jasmine Cheng performing their three different versions of the song, When will you return.

We also hear five different versions of the song, Lili Marleen, performed by Lale Anderson, Vera Lynn, Marlene Dietrich, Hannah Shigulla and the Heeresmusik-korp Kassel. 

The podcast is a part of the SoundTrak project, a research project affiliated at Aarhus University and funded by the Velux Foundation. For more information, go to our project website: https://cas.au.dk/en/soundtrak/