Vol. 9 • No. 2 • 2025

Music, War, and Other Conflicts

Edited by Gavin S. K. Lee and Melanie Plesch

The resurgence of armed conflicts around the world—both within and between states—has highlighted the enduring significance of music in shaping, contesting, and reflecting sociopolitical realities. In this issue, we invited musicologists to reflect on the agency of music in conflict settings across diverse geopolitical and historical contexts. Contributors were asked to respond to at least three of six thematic prompts. Their responses have been organized into four articles.

The contributions foreground the role of music not as merely incidental to war, but as a dynamic—and at times contentious—agent in processes of resistance, remembrance, trauma, and recovery. We hope this collective reflection will open new avenues for conversation, interdisciplinary inquiry, and public understanding of music’s power in times of violence and upheaval.