Difference between revisions of "Roentgenizdat (USSR)"

''Roentgenizdat'' (also known as ‘music on ribs’ or ‘music on bones’) was the unofficial practice of cheaply reproducing and disseminating discarded and reprogrammed x-ray photographs as music records in the Soviet Union. The term ''roentgenizdat'' is etymologically composed of two words – roentgen (the Russian word for x-ray, named after Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, the German physicist who discovered electromagnetic radiation in wavelengths), and ''izdat'' (from Russian meaning to ''publish''). ''Roentgenizdat'' was the first self-made mechanism for reproducing music recordings in the Soviet era, a time of prohibition of musical styles and material shortage. The practice thus became the metaphorical ersatz-bread, satisfying the post-war musical hunger of the masses.  

''Roentgenizdat'' (also known as ‘music on ribs’ or ‘music on bones’) was the unofficial practice of cheaply reproducing and disseminating discarded and reprogrammed x-ray photographs as music records in the Soviet Union. The term ''roentgenizdat'' is etymologically composed of two words – roentgen (the Russian word for x-ray, named after Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, the German physicist who discovered electromagnetic radiation in wavelengths), and ''izdat'' (from Russian meaning to ''publish''). ''Roentgenizdat'' was the first self-made mechanism for reproducing music recordings in the Soviet era, a time of prohibition of musical styles and material shortage. The practice thus became the metaphorical ersatz-bread, satisfying the post-war musical hunger of the masses.