Abstract
‘Intellectual Intervention’ explores the reasons why intellectuals and governments get involved with folk music. Modernization radically changed society in Europe and America, leading to a schism between universalists, who favoured local culture, and nationalists, who saw local culture as a means to building strong nations. The intelligentsia realized that folk music can shape society, and modern academic expansions encourage both interactivity and consideration of traditional values. Folk music has been controlled and used by governments for centuries. Socialist governments saw regulated folk music as a means of legitimizing their regimes. When war broke out in former Yugoslavia, factions used folk music as an ethnic emblem — and as a weapon.
