Grant, Morag Josephine. “Pathways to Music Torture”

In this article, the social musicologist Morag Josephine Grant examines the phenomenon of music torture against a broad historical background. “Music” discussed here “may cover the whole gamut of human musical expression”; it “bears a potential in conjunction with or as a method of torture” (4). The use of music as an instrument of torture comes into focus in the post-WWII context, when torture was camouflaged in new forms to shelter from an international legal system for preventing and punishing torture. Music torture is different from traditional forms of torture; its efficacy is known to us via testimonies from survivors. These testimonies “connect psychological or mental torture chiefly to the sound of music, screams, and loud noises” (3), and bear similarities in terms of historical circumstances and techniques for torturing. Based on this, Grant proposes five pathways which illustrate the connections between music and torture and “the history and logic behind these connections” (14). They are:

1)       The “sensory deprivation” pathway. It is a form of “no-touch torture” developed in the Cold War period. Victims are deprived of “meaningful sensorial interaction with their environment through sight, touch, or hearing” (5).

2)       The military tradition pathway. “[T]here was a close and long-standing relationship between music and military discipline” (7). Music torture was imposed on prisoners in concentration camps since the 19th century, which takes the form of forced singing and music played by camp bands during punishment.

3)       The political communication pathway. Victims are forced to listen to or sing politically charged music. This functions as a way to reeducate and impose ideology on political opponents.

4)       The humiliation pathway. Music is used in “both informal and institutionalized practices of mockery and humiliation” (23).

5)       The power performance pathway. Musical communication can demonstrate the relationship between the torturer and the tortured, “a relationship marked by the complete and absolute power of the former over the latter” (12).

This article contributes to Perpetrator Studies by interpreting music as a form of torture and perpetration; it also suggests topics for researchers to further explore, such as the longer history of music torture, and the effects of music torture on the torturer.

Author of this entry: Runcong Liu.

Grant, Morag Josephine. “Pathways to Music Torture.” Transposition, no. 4 (2014): 1–23.