Exactly thirty years ago the Chilean singer/songwriter Victor Jara had his hands broken before he was shot by the Pinochet regime simply because his musical message was so strong. This year Nigerian drummer Tony Allen said: “The only way you can attack this government and change things is through songs”, at a conference organised by Freemuse at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark.

Freemuse is the human-rights organisation combating censorship of music and musicians – in all forms – around the world. “I think the fact that music is so closely related to economics now means that people do the censorship themselves”, said Damon Albarn of Blur at the same conference. The American country trio the Dixie Chicks now know why people might want to do that. The Iraq war is one of the few political events that has made Western pop musicians (like Albarn) speak out and risk getting censored. The Dixie Chicks have had records burnt and blacklisted as a result of (mildly) criticising George Bush. The Song ‘Don’t bomb Iraq’, by the Egyptian singer Shaaban Abdul Rahim fell outside BBC guidelines during the recent war which stated that “presenters can’t convey personal sentiment at this time and they can’t use music instead”.

Freemuse started in 1998 and aims to increase awareness of music censorship, document cases and support musicians in need. Since then, they’ve published four substantial reports on Afghanistan (under the Taliban), Gypsies in Romania, and the current situation in Zimbabwe and Nigeria – all available online free-of-charge. There is evidence that John Baily’s report on Afghanistan – which documented the most severe form of censorship music has ever undergone – actually prompted the Americans to underwrite a major project to document Afghan folk music amongst exiles in Pashawar, before they decided to remove the whole Taliban regime. So Freemuse not only raise awareness, but can make things happen. Check out the website and join at www.freemuse.org