Bashar Shammout (Palestine/Germany): Freemuse and the Middle East
In this three minutes video interview, Bashar Shammout – who is a member of Freemuse's executive committee – speaks about three important issues concerning music censorship in the Middle East: religion, politics, and the Israeli-Palestinean conflict. He also touches on how Freemuse works in the region.
About Bashar Shammout Bashar Shammout holds a Masters Degree in sound recording and engineering. Currently he works as a sound engineer and producer with Bertelsmann in Germany. He is part-time technical supervisor of the Media Center of the Birzeit University in Palestine.
The video interview was recorded in Copenhagen, Denmark, by Mik Aidt on 10 March 2007.
See introduction video about Freemuse with Bashar and three other Freemuse executive committee members
Rock star Salman Ahmad desribes his encounters with angry mullahs and oppressive dictators who wanted all music to be banned from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Interview with Fatma Adow who is one of 25 women who on November 2008 faced the wrath of Somali militiamen the for taking part in a folklore dance galore in Somalia
Five people were injured and 10 shops damaged in a bomb blast on 28 January 2010 in a music and video market in the small town of Jand in Pakistan's Punjab province
In Iraq, the clerics have conflicting opinions about music prohibition, writes Wisam Tahir from Nasiriya in an article published in The Herald Scotland
Government-owned radio stations in Iran have been ordered to stop broadcasting certain singers’ music and certain songs, reported Ilna and Iran Human Rights Voice.
On 15 September 2009, the newly appointed information officer in Belet-Hawo town published a list of edicts the Al-Shabaab want to see implemented in the media
Pakistan's performing artists face deadly occupational hazards. Lahore's music festival, and theatres across the city are bombed in co-ordinated overnight raids
The Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra has negotiated performances in 2010 in the holy Shiite cities of Karbala and Najaf, where conservative religious values dominate