From Czech refugees to Austrians with Czech roots: determinants of musical creativity of contemporary Viennese Czechs.
Abstract
The most important markers characterizing the Czech minority in Austria are (1) several differently motivated and socio-politically determined waves of mainly voluntary, but also involuntary, migration, (2) presence of descendants of those Czechs who stayed on the territory of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, and (3) coexistence of several generations and groups of people with different political orientation and attitudes towards integration into Austrian society. At present, the Czech Viennese minority is a very heterogeneous community with different "culture cohorts," or minorities within the minority.
Being conscious of each other, the members of these diverse segments negotiate their relationship not only with the Austrian society, but also with each other, being in more or less deep conflict. A dozen Czech organizations - a very influential Czech Comenius school among them - are still active.
My research is dealing with individuals who intentionally create their own musical performances with the support of these official associations, while others organize concerts intending to avoid any contact with minority institutions. Combining the perspective of ethnomusicology and diaspora studies, it seems to me theoretically and methodologically suitable to focus on the issues as reasons for, and conditions of, the dispersal, relationship with the homeland/hostland and also interrelationships within communities of the Viennese Czechs regarded as a diasporic community.
Giving an example of several musicians, individual creators and organizers of musical events, I will try to reply to the question of how the musical creativity of several Viennese Czechs - members of different "culture cohorts" - is determined by self-positioning of its members towards the Austrian majority, the Czech minority, generational differences and various migrant situations.