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.  

To conclude, while it was the activity of the underground recording studio networks and the ''stiliagi'' which enabled the production and circulation of x-ray discs, there were a number of structural developments which increased demand for this underground product. These included the jazz ban, satirising of the ''stiliagi'' in the official press, and the emerging Soviet consumerist culture. Nevertheless, ''roentgenizdat'' was borne out of a desire, not specifically to subvert the official institutions and censors of artistic expression, but to help obtain an individual style in the new era of Soviet consumerism. By the 1960s, just as rock music replaced jazz music and the ''stiliagi'' became ‘clichéd and outmoded’ (Johnson 2011: 204), ''roentgenizdat'' was replaced by a more technologically advanced phenomenon – ''magnitizdat'', the unofficial practice of (re-)recording uncensored music or speech onto cassette tapes.

To conclude, while it was the activity of the underground recording studio networks and the ''stiliagi'' which enabled the production and circulation of x-ray discs, there were a number of structural developments which increased demand for this underground product. These included the jazz ban, satirising of the ''stiliagi'' in the official press, and the emerging Soviet consumerist culture. Nevertheless, ''roentgenizdat'' was borne out of a desire, not specifically to subvert the official institutions and censors of artistic expression, but to help obtain an individual style in the new era of Soviet consumerism. By the 1960s, just as rock music replaced jazz music and the ''stiliagi'' became ‘clichéd and outmoded’ (Johnson 2011: 204), ''roentgenizdat'' was replaced by a more technologically advanced phenomenon – ''magnitizdat'', the unofficial practice of (re-)recording uncensored music or speech onto cassette tapes.