In the late 1990s, as part of my doctoral research, I began to research popular music censorship in apartheid South Africa. Fortuitously my work led to introductions to Martin Cloonan and Ole Reitov, two of the original pioneers involved in setting-up Freemuse. Right from the start Ole encouraged me to become involved in Freemuse’s programme and he invited me to a landmark Freemuse workshop on South African popular music censorship held in Johannesburg in 2001.
The workshop included key musicians, policy makers, independent record company executives and others who explored the implications of South Africa’s past for our present understanding of music censorship and to discuss ways forward. While there has been a frustrating lack of action from the South African participants since then, the workshop nevertheless acts as a crucial starting point to a process of exploring South Africa’s censored music.
My research and Freemuse’s interest in South Africa’s transition from censorship under apartheid led to two meaningful collaborations which underline the importance of Freemuse as an organisation working towards free musical expression. The first was their sponsorship and active support of the documentary film Stopping the Music, about anti-apartheid protest singer Roger Lucey and Paul Erasmus, the security policeman assigned to end Lucey’s career. The documentary traced their story and brought the two together for the first time since their confrontations back in the early 1980s.
The experience of making and watching the film has inspired many people around the world, not least of all the two central protagonists themselves. This was made possible because Freemuse have actively sought venues for viewings, from the United States to Turkey and Tanzania.
There is nothing more rewarding for a researcher than to know that one’s work has reached a wide audience, and Freemuse has made this happen through continued effort and commitment.
After the launch of the film, I continued my collaboration with Freemuse through a second (related) project which took the film and the message of free musical expression into a rural township school in South Africa. Freemuse sponsored the production of a scholars’ guide to the film, an accompanying teachers’ manual and the production of a series of educational display posters on South African music censorship, put together by university students for the school pupils. Approximately 100 high school pupils attended a workshop in which they discussed music censorship, watched the film, met with Roger Lucey and Paul Erasmus, and heard Roger sing some of his songs. Not only did the participants praise the workshop but the scholars’ guide serves as a useful pilot for a more developed book in the future.
The importance of these initiatives, along with Freemuse’s various censorship reports, workshops and conferences, is that the organisation has done more than simply document popular music censorship — Freemuse has played and continues to play a crucial role in bringing central role players together in order to work towards greater awareness of and to combat infringements upon musicians’ right to musical expression. Long may this important work continue!
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