Musik ist politisch. Wen wir wann wie wo warum hören, sind alles politische Fragen, insbesondere, wenn es um die Musik von Minderheiten geht. Das Thema Musik und Minderheiten griff im Februar 2026 ein spannendes Symposium des Music and Minority Research Centre an der Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Wien (mdw) auf, unter dem Titel: Between Research and Activism – Futures of Music and Minority Studies. Dafür kuratierte die Initiative Minderheiten eine Diskussionsrunde zu Musik als Form des politischen Ausdrucks. In der heutigen Sendung spielen wir euch Ausschnitte aus dem Gespräch der vier Redner*innen (s.u.), die aus verschiedenen Perspektiven auf die politischen Dimensionen minorisierter Musik blicken. Außerdem hört ihr Ausschnitte eines Konzerts, das im Rahmen des Symposiums stattfand.
Wir bedanken uns bei den Redner*innen und Musiker*innen sowie der mdw für das Zurverfügungstellen der Aufnahmen.
Sonic Encounters – Music from the Afghan Diaspora and the Burgenland Croatian Minority
Shakib Rasa and Fayaz Mohammadi are musicians from Kabul, Afghanistan, who studied at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM) – the country’s leading music institution before the Taliban takeover. Shakib Rasa started singing at the age of five, and began performing internationally in 2015. He studied ghazal and classical music under Ustad Moghaddam Mitra, a master musician from India, and piano with Ustad Adriana Stop, an American teacher. Fayaz Mohammadi studied tabla with Afghan master Ustad Fereydoun Miyazadeh, also at ANIM. Both are considered among the most talented young Afghan musicians of their generation. Following the Taliban takeover in 2021, they left Afghanistan and have been living in exile in Germany for the past three and a half years.
Kolo Slavuj is the central folklore ensemble of the Croatian minority in Burgenland. The Burgenland Croats migrated from Croatia to their current settlement area in the 16th century and are one of Austria’s six officially recognized ethnic groups (Volksgruppen). The transregional ensemble has existed since 1971, with members from Croatian villages in Burgenland, Hungary, Slovakia, and Vienna, where it is based. But there are also members from other ethnic groups and nationalities. The development of the ensemble and its repertoire reflect a cultural shift: while initially oriented toward the former homeland of Croatia, it now emphasizes regional characteristics of its current environment in Austria. The former “national” identity has given way to diverse regional and transcultural forms of belonging. Alongside its traditional repertoire, Kolo Slavuj blends traditional expressions with contemporary dance and music. Based on preserved elements of folk culture, this approach has produced new choreographies and musical arrangements.
Infos zur Sendung:
Die folgenden Biographien sind dem Programm des Symposiums entnommen:
Moderation: Isabel Frey is an ethnomusicologist, a Yiddish singer and a cultural and political activist. She currently works as a Senior Artist and postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Folk Music Research and Ethnomusicology and an affiliated researcher at the Music and Minorities Research Center at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. She is an internationally sought after performer and teacher of Yiddish song, has released three albums of Yiddish music and is the co curator of the KlezMORE Festival Vienna. She is also the founder of the Jewish Arab peace initiative Standing Together Vienna, where she is active both musically and as an activist for a just peace in the Middle East.
Mira Gabriel is a filmmaker, translator, and contributor to the Slovenian weekly newspaper NOVICE. During her school years, she was actively involved in political theater projects. She is an activist in the Klub slovenskihštudentk*študentov na Dunaju / Club of Slovenian Students in Vienna. She organizes demonstrations, commemorative events, and anti fascist camps, among other things.
Santino Stojka is a roma rights activist, trainer and musician. He is the current the president of HÖR (Hochschüler*innenschaft österreichischer Rom*nja / The Austrian Romani Student Union) which focuses on remembrance culture, community support and non formal education through excursions and workshops. He gives workshops with a focus on anti racism, antiziganism and roma music. In his musical projects he satirizes life in Vienna and various political topics, and performs them on stages and protests throughout Vienna.
Konstantin Milena Vlasich studies language arts at the University of Applied Arts and is a journalist and author. Since his youth, he has been involved in politics and multilingual artistic activities. From 2020 to 2025, he was editor in chief of the print and online magazine NOVI GLAS. In 2023, he was awarded the first major art scholarship from the province of Burgenland. In fall 2024, his first collection of multilingual texts, “Erac wird beim Schnapsen verspielt” (Erac is lost in a game of cards), was published by Edition Lex Liszt 12. He is co-curator of the Literaturpassage in Vienna’s Museumsquartier and is responsible for the “Literakuga” series at the cultural center of the same name in Großwarasdorf/Veliki Borištof.
