The Political Agency of Musical Beauty

Abstract

This article argues that music’s political agency derives from its capacity to combine relations of difference into experiences of beauty. The experience of musical beauty can reinforce already existing aesthetic and political relations. But it also has the capacity to redistribute an auditory sensible and to change, thereby, the sonic sens of the political. This article blends concepts from the philosophers Jean-Luc Nancy, Chantall Mouffe, and Jacques Ranciere to create an analytical framework that can make sense of Vera Hall’s collaborations with folklorists and techno musicians over a period of 50+ years. The beauty of her voice shines through those collaborations, compelling a leaning listening attentiveness and evoking an emergent political community.