Deeyah
Musician and composer, Norway / Pakistan

Music has been an intrinsic part of not only my life but human life and the development of every people, society and culture throughout history. Music possesses the power to cross social, racial, cultural, economic and religious barriers and has the ability to truly touch people on a personal and emotional level which is why some even today fear the influence and impact of music.

Music is the most honest, boundless and potentially truly free form of expression that conveys tradition, hope, love, despair, history, emotion, ideas and opinions. The cultural and social relevance of music is paramount.

This beauty and power of music has throughout history also been followed by persecution and social or legal punishment of its performers and composers for its very nature and capacity to affect people.

As a result of the various forms of censorship, artists have faced extreme and even violent consequences. In many cases musicians have been made to pay with their life for exercising their individual right to freedom of expression risking not only their own life and livelihood but also that of their loved ones.

Silencing music would be to deprive us all of our very basic human rights as individuals and musicians, specifically our rights to free expression and the exchange of ideas and the right of the audience to their freedom of choice.

We unfortunately still live in a world where this precious form of expression is in danger of being “sanitized” and compromised for the political, social and so called religious agendas of some. This is where the work of Freemuse in highlighting the cases of censorship affecting artists, musicians and composers worldwide is so preciously valuable to us all.

I first became aware of the work of Freemuse in 2006. I have spent half of my life either being directly affected by externally imposed and expected censorship or the most creatively paralyzing being required to constantly having to exercise self-censorship in fear of violent reactions or cultural excommunication.

Learning about the existence of an organisation like Freemuse has been a great source of comfort and inspiration. In the past two years I have had the opportunity to get to know more about the work that Freemuse does and also become friends with some of its members. This connection with Freemuse has given me the support and sense of community that I was especially desperate for through the harsher experiences in my career. Not only is the independent voice of Freemuse essential for artists like me but the platform they have provided to address the situation of music censorship is vital in the fight for the freedom of artistic expression.

Across the world music is under the constant threat of being muzzled and silenced. Music is the pulse of life – which with the continued help, passionate campaigning, commitment and voice of Freemuse – will not be stopped.

I stand in solidarity with Freemuse and would like to thank this wonderful organisation for their crucial work.

I am forever grateful for your support and kindness. Thank you for being there for me through my struggles and for standing up for the human rights of musicians and fighting for freedom of expression.

Deeyah