Media file:
mus. 2.1
Title:
Variations on Red is the East before and after the Cultural Revolution
Source:
Heidelberg catalogue entry, DACHS Archive
Courtesy:
Heidelberg University Institute of Chinese Studies
Keywords:
Red is the East, Cultural Revolution, Hua Guofeng, propaganda art, music

Variations on Red is the East before and after the Cultural Revolution

Like so much of the propaganda art of the Cultural Revolution, "Red is the East" in grand epic performance has been re-published endlessly since the 1990s, showing once again that “Red Is the East,” and songs praising it, could be heard long before the Cultural Revolution and did not lose their sparkle even after the Cultural Revolution ended. One LP dating from Hua Guofeng’s 华国锋 (1921–) interim government right after the official end of the Cultural Revolution (1976–78) with music in the style of Cantonese opera again mentions the song. The title song of the LP to be heard here, “We Will Always Follow the Golden Road Which Mao Once Showed Us,” mentions in its second line that “songs praising ‘Red Is the East’ can be heard everywhere.” At the end of it, the melody of “Red Is the East” is invoked.