Positive Feedback: Blinken Rocks in Kyiv

Published in Süddeutsche Zeitung
(Germany) on 15 May 2024
by Martin Zips (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Anna Wright. Edited by Michelle Bisson.
Awesome feedback: By picking up an electric guitar and playing a classic Neil Young song in a Kyiv bar, Antony Blinken rekindled memories of Billy Joel’s live concert in Leningrad in 1987.

Anyone who wants to get a sense of what a national awakening feels like should watch the recording of the concert that Billy Joel, who has just turned 75, performed in the Russian city of Saint Petersburg in 1987. Back then, the city was still known as Leningrad, and Billy Joel was the first U.S. rock star the ruling Soviet authorities had allowed in to play a series of live concerts. Although Joel’s Leningrad show was modest by the standards of today’s Taylor Swiftian productions, it is hard to imagine ever before having seen so many young faces visibly lit up with joy as in that concert crowd — a crowd which was still being closely watched by uniformed state security officers.

It was a time when hopes were stirring that the Cold War might end. An entirely different zeitgeist from the current mood. As such, it is difficult not to be even more in awe of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s recent stage appearance, even though he did not make it into a Russian concert hall — the fallout of that scenario does not bear thinking about — but in the Kyiv basement venue “Barman Dictat.” The 62-year-old diplomat picked up an electric guitar and played Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World” — a song whose lyrics pointedly criticized Republican President George H. W. Bush’s polarizing politics in the late 1980s.

The Ukrainian audience greeted Blinken’s performance enthusiastically. Even if it was obvious from the cell phone videos that the bar was a much smaller venue, and the ambiance less exuberant, than the time Joel played in Leningrad, the moment resonated. It was refreshing to see a politician still capable of appreciating something “instrumental” in a musical sense, and not just the security concept of “instrumentalization.” It was also gratifying to see a politician not above putting on a dark, casual shirt without any body armor, someone who was more inclined to scooching by some old microphone stands than having guardsmen open 10-meter-high (about 30 feet high) gold doors for him. Yes, it was a genuinely good thing to have done. After all, didn’t the great Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky once remark that “Truly there would be reason to go mad were it not for music.”



Stilkritik: Blinken rockt

Wie gut das tut: US-Außenminister Antony Blinken nimmt in einer Bar in Kiew die E-Gitarre in die Hand, spielt einen alten Neil-Young-Song - und weckt Erinnerungen an Billy Joels Jahrhundert-Konzert in Leningrad.

Wer wissen möchte, wie sich Aufbruch anfühlt, sollte sich das Konzert anschauen, welches Billy Joel, gerade ist er 75 Jahre alt geworden, im Jahr 1987 in Sankt Petersburg gegeben hat. Die Stadt hieß damals noch Leningrad, Joel war der erste US-Rockstar, den das Sowjet-Regime für eine Tournee reingelassen hat. In Leningrad zog er eine - für heutige Taylor-Swift-Verhältnisse - freilich bescheidene Show ab, selten aber glaubt man in jungen Gesichtern so viel Glück gesehen zu haben, wie damals im von uniformierten Staatskräften noch streng beobachteten Publikum.

Es war eine Zeit, in der Hoffnung aufkeimte auf ein Ende des Kalten Krieges. Ganz anders als jetzt. Umso größeren Respekt muss man vor US-Außenminister Antony Blinken haben, der es zwar nicht in eine russische Konzerthalle geschafft hat, man möchte gar nicht wissen, was das für Folgen gehabt hätte, aber in der Kiewer Kneipe "Barman Dictat" aufgetreten ist. Blinken, 62, nahm die E-Gitarre in die Hand und spielte "Rockin' in the Free World", also den Song, mit dem Neil Young Ende der Achtzigerjahre die fürchterlich spaltende Politik des republikanischen US-Präsidenten George Bush kritisierte.

Das ukrainische Publikum feierte Blinken für den Auftritt. Und auch wenn es - wie man auf Handyvideos sehen kann - in der Bar doch deutlich enger und weniger ausgelassen zuging als damals bei Billy Joel in Leningrad: Es tat einfach gut, mal zu sehen, dass es noch Politiker gibt, die unter Instrument nicht nur Kriegsgerät verstehen. Die ein lässiges dunkles Hemd einem nackten Oberkörper vorziehen und sich lieber an irgendwelchen Mikrofonständern vorbeiquetschen, als sich von ihrem Wachpersonal zehn Meter hohe Goldtüren öffnen zu lassen. Ja, das war wirklich eine Wohltat. Denn wie sagte schon der großartige - russische - Komponist Pjotr Iljitsch Tschaikowsky? "Gäbe es keine Musik, so hätte man in der Tat einen Grund, verrückt zu werden."
This post appeared on the front page as a direct link to the original article with the above link .

Hot this week

Bangladesh: Machado’s Nobel Prize Puts Venezuela and US Policy in the Spotlight

Turkey: No Kings in America but What about the Democratic Party?

Switzerland: Don’t Give Trump the Nobel Peace Prize Now!

India: The Real Question behind the US-China Rivalry

Pakistan: The Beginning of the 2nd Cold War

Topics

Canada: Canada Has a Better Model for Cutting Government than Trump’s Shutdown Theatrics

Australia: Trump Seems Relaxed about Taiwan and Analysts Are Concerned

Australia: Breaking China’s Iron Grip on World’s Supply of Critical Minerals

Hong Kong: Trump’s Obsession with the Nobel Peace Prize Is a Farce

India: The World after the American Order

India: The Real Question behind the US-China Rivalry

Pakistan: No Coalition for Reason

Related Articles

Hong Kong: The Logic of US Hegemony Is the Real ‘Paper Tiger’

Thailand: Could Ukraine Actually End Up Winning?

Germany: Donald Trump vs. James Comey: A Legal Vendetta

Austria: Trump’s U-Turn on Ukraine Is No Reason To Celebrate

Malaysia: A Major Breakthrough of US and EU on Ukraine or Mere Rant? ASEAN Taking Notes