This is the soundtrack of our identity: national mythscapes in music and the construction of collective identity through music in early Flemish radio (1929–1939)

This article is based on a constructivist view of meaning and identities. First, both identities and the meaning of music are seen as social and thus discursive constructs. Second, the relation between collective identities and music is described in two ways: 1) Music is considered to have a strong emotional appeal and a catalytic function that enables it to produce strong feelings of togetherness; 2) Music can be used in an emblematic way to express identity. This expression of identity is however mainly the expression of an ideal and thus also contributes to the construction of that identity. In this article it will be shown that early Catholic radio in Flanders used music both in a catalytic and in an emblematic way to further Flemish cultural emancipation and to construct a Flemish cultural identity. From the study it becomes clear that 1) For this broadcaster, the programming of Flemish music was meant to enhance a feeling of Flemish national belonging through the music’s emotional impact (catalytic); 2) The programming of Flemish music was emblematic of the broadcaster’s explicitly Flemish identity; 3) Its repertoire of Flemish music reflected the Flemish mythscape found in the broadcaster’s discourses. Both discourses and music programs directed the meaning of Flemish identity towards a specific interpretation, reflecting the norms and values of the Catholic radio broadcaster. The emblematic use of Flemish music and the interpretation of Flemish identity that it imparts is illustrated by an examination of the very first music program of the Catholic Flemish broadcaster in October 1929. The article uses theories from both the fields of nationhood studies and sociology as well as from the field of music sociology. Concepts of A.D. Smith and D. S. Bell are merged into the concept of ›mythscape‹, which serves as a tool in the analysis of both discourses and musical programming