Equally, this research on human senses and their social control will reveal the reverse effects of categorization and regulation on broader everyday experiences. 1 Inasmuch asĢsounds belong to the domain of the everyday, the chapter will throw light on an aspect of people’s everyday existence which has remained as yet largely unexplored by historians. The inquiry will also address the fate of unde sirable sounds disgraced as noise, and the Bulgarian Communist Party’s (BCP) ideological rationale for sanctioning the soundscape. I explore the fragile threshold between sounds and noise and attempt to explain why certain sounds qualified as appropriate for the ears of the socialist citizen. Either wanted or unwanted, sounds are an intrinsic part of the everyday life of people, and, for the present case, of Bulgarians in the socialist society of the period 1944–1989. 1 Jo Tacchi, “Radio texture: between self and others,” in Daniel Miller, ed., Material Cultures: Why (.)ġThis chapter is about the perception of sounds in socialist Bulgaria.
Seneca to Lucilius, Letter LVI, “On unpleasant sounds” I can hear the slapping of a greasy hand on the shoulder of a body being massaged with oil from the type of the sound I can even infer how the oil is being applied, with a stretched or with a curled palm … ‘Oh, you will exclaim, you are either made of iron or are deaf, if your mind is not affected by so diverse and inharmonious shouts, when the stoic Chrysippus was brought to death by some endless cheers alone.’ … I swear, this noise does not bother me more than the murmur of running water, although it is known that one people changed the site of their city just because they could not stand the noise produced by the river Nile … I force my mind to remain concentrated and unaffected by any external phenomenon … Calmness is not reached but by the mind.” There is the noise of those who do physical exercises, and the noise of the swirling of the plumb-heavy ball, and the panting of those working, or better said pretending to work I can hear how they breathe heavily, hold their breath, and then emit hoarse and rough exhalations. Imagine, there are all types of sounds able to make anyone start hating the very organ of hearing. I live quite near the baths and at this very moment I am surrounded by a multitude of sounds. “I would have died if, for a man concentrated on work, silence had indeed been so indispensable as it seems at first glance.
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