“Rise like a Phoenix”: Communist Mythology and Rock Music
“Rise like a Phoenix”: Communist Mythology and Rock Music

Summary/Abstract: This article addresses the interaction between communist mythology and rock music in Romania. It analyses comparatively cultural and political myths, as identified by Tănăsoiu, with particular emphasis on the political myth of unity. Supported by an intensive use of historical myths and legends, this myth carved out a place of its own in a communist discourse designed to legitimate the new regime. Deforming the past and attaching different interpretations to it in order to suit their purposes, communists fabricated a mythology that could work for their own advantage. As the paper shows, the restrictive regulations imposed on all forms of cultural manifestation (as a result of a nationalist policy), forced artists to find inspiration in medieval sources, national mythology and folklore. Surprising as it may seem, the Phoenix band, the landmark exponents of rock music, successfully tuned in their lyrics about Dacians, national mythology and folklore to a Western beat.

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