A Delicate Dance of Music and Politics

Soundcheck | May 3, 2010
The death last month of Russian author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn brought to mind the long tradition of dissidents who take a stand against authoritarian governments. But lately, it seems the tides have turned: Conductor Valery Gergiev has been performing on behalf of Vladimir Putin. And countless Chinese artists worked in support of their government’s Olympic program last month. Today, Washington Post cultural critic Philip Kennicott and Princeton University professor of East Asian Studies Perry Link, talk about whether modern-day dissidents still exist.

Soundcheck blog: John Schaefer asks where have the dissidents gone?

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