In 2009, members of Baloberos Crew were detained and intimidated by members of the military intelligence because of a song which criticises the military and the government. Via a live video feed the group will participate in a performance in New York on 30 June 2010.
Baloberos Crew photographed by Maureen Grisot
The project called The Impossible Music Sessions connects censored artists from around the world with artists in New York who learn and perform their music live on stage at Littlefield performance and art space in Brooklyn.
At The Impossible Music Session 2, scheduled for 30 June 2010 at 7 p.m., the New Jersey-based emcee Hasan Salaam will play a tribute to Baloberos Crew, who will appear via live video feed from Africa.
Put into a cell
The underground rapper Hasan Salaam is learning the music of Baloberos Crew, a hip hop group that quite literally has been driven underground in their native West African nation of Guinea Bissau.
In 2009, members of Baloberos Crew were detained and intimidated by members of the military intelligence because of their song ‘Seven Minutes of Truth,’ which criticises the military and the government, “Guinea, where did you go wrong?” the chorus asks. “The republic of Guinea is being written in bullets.”
“They put us into a cell that didn't have any conditions at all, and threatened us for almost two days,” explained one member of Baloberos, speaking through a Portuguese translator.
“We criticize the military, we criticize civil society, we criticize those in government for all of the ways in which the country is not working... We sing about these things, and we want to change people's points of view and change people’s mentality, and call them to change these things.”
Basic human rights
Hasan Salaam commented, “I got involved in the Impossible Music Sessions because I believe in Freedom, Justice, and Equality. I believe that music should inspire that in all people around the world, and I support any artist in any genre that stands for the same basic human rights.”
In the first of the Sessions, on 3 March 2010, the Brooklyn-based group Cruel Black Dove played a tribute to the music of the Iranian band The Plastic Wave — effectively illegal because of their female lead singer — who appeared via video chat from Tehran.
Mark LeVine, writing for the Huffington Post, reported that the event would “go down in the annals of rock history.”
Venue
Littlefield performance and art space
622 Degraw St., Gowanus (btwn 4 and 3 Aves.)
Brooklyn, New York
Doors open at 7 p.m. - R train to Union Street, Brooklyn - US$ 5 at the door
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Guinea Bissau
Hasan Salaam
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