Music censorship and music activism was in focus at Duke University in USA during March 2009. Two Freemuse ambassadors, Ferhat Tunç and Roger Lucey, joined forces on 20 March at a seminar on music activism, and each of them performed their own concerts as well.

In a presentation entitled ‘Laments for Rebels and Soldiers’ the Kurdish musician Ferhat Tunç talked about his arrests in Turkey and discussed state terror and reconciliation. Ferhat Tunç is currently offered a ‘Visiting Artist's Residency’ at Duke University.

Roger Lucey is currently writing a book about his experiences of music censorship during the apartheid years in South Africa. He is also one of the main characters in the Freemuse produced film ‘Stopping the Music’, which he presented during his presentation at Duke University. The film tells the story about how the South African security police systematically destroyed his music career. Lucey and the (former) security police officer Paul Erasmus later reconciled, and the two of them have since lectured together at a number Freemuse conferences and seminars.

Ferhat Tunç recently performed at the Music Freedom Day in Stockholm, on 3 March 2009. He met Roger Lucey for the first time at the 3rd Freemuse World Conference in Istanbul in 2006.

Lucey’s concert at Duke University was organised as a fundraiser for Freemuse.