MUSIC WILL NOT BE MUSIC MUSIC WILL WILL NOT BE NOT BE SILENCED SILENCED 3RD FREEMUSE WORLD CONFERENCE ON MUSIC & CENSORSHIP ISTANBUL 25-26 NOVEMBER 2006 MUSIC MUSIC WILL NOT MUSICBE SILENCED WILL WILL NOT BE NOT BE SILENCED SILENCED MUSIC MUSIC WILL NOT MUSICBE SILENCED WILL WILL NOT BE NOT BE SILENCED SILENCED MUSIC WILL NOT BE SILENCED MUSIC MUSIC WILL WILL NOT BE NOT BE SILENCED SILENCED ///// 04/05 MUSIC WILL NOT BE SILENCED 3RD FREEMUSE WORLD CONFERENCE ON MUSIC & CENSORSHIP ISTANBUL 25-26 NOVEMBER 2006 Published by Freemuse MUSICConference Rapporteur and Report Writer: Teresa Hanley Session Rapporteurs: Doruk Yurdesin (session 8) Bram Posthumus (session 9-11) Conference Photos: Anna Schori Editor in Chief: Marie Korpe MUSIC WILL NOT BE SILENCED ISSN: 1601-2127 Layout & Graphics: Ümit Kurt Printed in ‹stanbul, Turkey 2007 by Ömür Matbaas› © Freemuse 2007 The views in the report do not necessarily represent the views of Freemuse. Report no. 08/2007 WILLOTHER PUBLICATIONS BY FREEMUSE “1st World Conference on Music and Censorship” (2001, ISBN: 87-988163-0-6) “Can you stop the birds singing?” - The Censorship of Music in Afghanistan, MUSIC WILL NOT BE SILENCED by John Baily (2001, ISSN: 1601-2127) “A Little Bit Special” - Censorship and the Gypsy Musicians of Romania, by Garth Cartwright (2001, ISSN: 1601-2127) “Playing With Fire” - Fear and Self-Censorship in Zimbabwean Music, NOTby Banning Eyre (2001, ISSN: 1601-2127) BE “Which way Nigeria?” - Music under threat: A Question of Money, Morality, Self-censorship and the Sharia (also available in French), by Jean-Christophe Servant (2003, ISSN: 1601-2127) “Singing in the Echo Chamber” - Music Censorship in the U.S. after September 11th , by Eric Nuzum (2005, ISSN: 1601-2127) MUSIC WILL NOT BE SILENCED “All that is Banned is Desired” - Conference on Freedom of Expression in Music in Beirut 2005, (2006, ISSN: 1601-2127) “Hidden Truths - Music, Politics and Censorship in Lukashenko´s Belarus” SILENCby Lemez Lovas & Maya Medich (2006, ISSN: 1601-2127) Freemuse Nytorv 17 · 1450 Copenhagen K · Denmark www.freemuse.org +45 33 32 10 27 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION MUSIC WILL NOT BE SILENCED 6 SESSION 1 AFGHANISTAN 8 You can’t stop the birds singing SESSION 2 INDONESIA 14 Singing with the Mullahs C SESSION 3 CUBA 18 Cuban alternative sounds……and silences SESSION 4 ZIMBABWE 22 Playing with fireMUSIC – but WILL no NOT fuel BE SILENCED SESSION 5 SOUTH AFRICA 26 On tour with the enemy SESSION 6 BELARUS 32 Hidden Truths – launch of new Freemuse report SESSION 7 TURKEY 36 And the ‘beat’ goes on – censorship in Turkey SESSION 8 CHINA 44 Singing under the Red Flag SESSION 9 WEST AFRICA 48 Africa wants to be free MUSIC WILL NOT BE SILENCED SESSION 10 MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA 52 All that is banned is desired SESSION 11 RESEARCH AND EDUCATION 56 Researching music censorship EFINAL REMARKS 62 SPEAKERS & MODERATORS 64 TESTIMONIES 70 CEDMUSIC WILL NOT BE SILENCED ///// 06/07 * INTRODUCTION * MUSIC WILL NOT BE SILENCED * Listening to many of the horrifying testimonies by musicians and composers at the 3rd Freemuse World Conference on Music & Censorship one could easily get depressed. But the spirit of the conference left most of the participants with a great deal of hope and optimism. Suggested by our main Turkish collaborator, composer and human rights activist, Sanar MUSICYurdatapan, Association of Freedom of Expression, the conference was held under the slogan “Music will not be silenced”, and indeed the conference was a proof of this vital statement. Musicians all over the world are being harassed. Composers are being jailed or exiled. Death threats are even hitting musicMUSIC WILLpresenters. NOT BE SILENCED And music is being silenced in some spaces by dictators such as Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, by media controllers in China, police forces and state television in Turkey and by the absurd political dictatorship in Belarus. But musicians, composers and listeners do find their ways of bypassing even the strictest censors. Even in Afghanistan during the Taliban Regime, who officially banned all music – music did find its way to some houses and cars through “illegal” cassettes, private gatherings and... WILLWell, yes even the Taliban did not manage to “(can you) Stop th e birds singing” – the title of the first ever Freemuse report written by Professor John Baily in 2001. The combination of participants - researchers, musicians, composers, human rights activists, students and media may possibly be the best explanation to the special atmosphere at the Freemuse conferences and the reason why Baily later commented “a fantastic experience, probably the most interesting and certainly the most moving conference I have ever attended.” MUSIC WILL NOT BE SILENCED Certainly the participants were magnetised from the very first minute of the conference by the exceptional voices of Iranian sisters Mahsa and Marjan Vahdat. Artists of world class who are not able to perform for mixed audiences in their home country. This is what music censorship NOTis about - voices that are not being heard and allowed to developBE in their own countries. The opening of day two - a dozen testimonies by Turkish composers and performers witnessing about harassments, jailing and threats provoked tears and anger…but also action. The very same artists from Turkey launched the SSS initiative - Sanatta Sansüre Son - which means “End to Censorship on Arts” after the session. This may be one of the reasons Mahsa Vahdat after the conference declared that “it was so moving for us. It gives us more power and courage to continue our aim in our work...” Meeting colleagues, exchangingMUSIC WILL experiences NOT BE SILENCED and creating network is an essential part of the Freemuse conferences. In Istanbul this was made possible by the generous collaborations with our partners – Bilgi University and Professor Turgut Tarhanl› playing a very special role inviting us to make use of the university facilities. SILENCIstanbul – for many other reasons – also seemed to be the right place at the right time, best described by Songlines editor, Simon Broughton in his editorial as ”the perfect location because it’s a vibrant city and Turkey has undergone a dramatic transformation in terms of freedom of speech and music.” The vibrant city was well made use of in what has become a great world conference tradition – “the farewell party” where speakers and participants join each other and the artists perform and join in new formations. This time the after party became a world class jam-session when Turkey’s most celebrated and reclusive singer Sezen Aksu came to join and sing with the other amazing conference artists. This report presents in short the discussions, testimonies and papers presented at the conference. Teresa Hanley did the major job of being conference rapporteur and writing the report. C The impressive Turkish session was referred in detail by Doruk Yurdesin and finally did Bram Posthumus add his impressions of the final sessions. Some of you were not able to attend, and papers do not always reflect the personality of the speakers, so in addition to the report we wouldMUSIC like WILLto offer NOT theBE SILENCEDvoices and faces of some of the speakers. For the first time in a Freemuse report we add a CD-R with some of the interviews that our web editor, Mik Aidt, made in Istanbul assisted by Gaelle Gauthier-Brown. The CD-R also includes two songs that in many ways are the result of the networks that our conferences have been able to create. During the conference several of our media collaborators decided to move on with an idea that originally came from CBC producer, Ann MacKeigan – the Music Freedom Day. Freemuse asked Jason Carter and Marjan Vahdat to record a song – they performed for the first time together at the amazing afterparty – and rapper Ourrad Rabah to consider making a song on “music censorship” for this special occasion. Included in the CD-R you will find these amazing songs. Ole Reitov MUSIC WILL NOT BE SILENCED Conference Project Manager E////////////////////////////////////////// The Conference was hosted by Bilgi University and organised in association with Association for Freedom of Expression, Association for Intercultural Communication and Turkish Pen. All local partners are deeply involved in the protection of freedom of expression for artists. Freemuse receives core funding from Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) ////////////////////////////////////////// MUSIC WILL NOT BE SILENCED Special thanks to: Zeynep Taflk›n, Freemuse co-ordinator in Turkey, fianar Yurdatapan and his team, Turgut CEDTarhanl›, Füsun Özatav & Seda Peker, Bilgi, Burçak Ada Döner, Sinan Odabafl› & Selim Sezer, conference guides, the BANT Magazine Team, Vecdi Sayar, Ferhat Tunç, our friends at HBF, Nazl› B at Richmond, Annika Svahnström & Ingmar Karlsson, Consulate General of Sweden in Istanbul, Layla Al-Zubaidi, Gaelle Gauthier-Brown, McTia, Sally Ouattara and not the least all speakers, participants and media who attended. ///// 08/09 SESSION 1 AFGHANISTAN “You can’t stop the birds singing” PANEL MUSIC WILL NOT BE SILENCED John Baily, Professor, Goldsmiths College, UK Shakeb Isaar, Exiled VJ from Afghanistan Mirwaiss Sidiqi, Programme Manager, Aga Khan Music Initiative for Central Asia, Afghanistan Moderator: Simon Broughton, Editor of Songlines * MUSIC WILL NOT BE SILENCED A significant first session, Afghanistan which has experienced probably the most extreme forms of music censorship was also the subject of the first Freemuse report. This session explored the current situation of music in Afghanistan, placing it in its recent historical context and probed the grounds and potential of optimism for the future. John Baily, author of the first Freemuse report, Professor of Ethnomusicology at Goldsmiths University of London and a long-time active observer and researcher of censorship and ethno-musicology in Afghanistan spoke first. John commented on the remarkable return of music to the streets of Kabul where there are signs in the streets for music and instruments – modern andMUSIC traditional.