The Lithuanian singing revolution as cultural heritage and source of soft power

The present paper aims to look at the phenomenon known as Singing Revolution, in Lithuania, mostly within the frameworks of semiotics, cultural and political studies. After a short socio-historical introduction to the topic, the paper will focus on the way Lithuania has contextualized and handled the Singing Revolution at cultural and institutional level, particularly in the perspective of what, after Joseph Nye (1990 and, more specifically, 2004), has been called Soft Power. Indeed, despite the absolute centrality of the Singing Revolution in the Lithuanian struggle for independence (a centrality that becomes even more relevant when we think that, unlike the other Baltic States, several Lithuanian intellectuals and opinion-leaders were in fact musicians or musicologists), the Lithuanian academic and political institutions have devoted only a minor effort to analyse these phenomena and repertoires. Moreover, very timid were the attempts to academically promote them at international level, often resulting in international ignorance and misunderstandings (e.g., the Canadian documentary “Cultures in conflict” presents the Singing Revolution as an Estonian-only phenomenon, disowning Lithuania – and Latvia – of their historical roles). What is the role of the Singing Revolution in the current Lithuanian intellectual and institutional discourses? Could the phenomenon become an important tool for cultural and diplomatic promotion of Lithuania abroad? Is Lithuania missing an important opportunity to reinforce its soft power?