About the CD
Shoot the Singer! Music Censorship Today comes with a free CD album presenting some of the artists and cases described in the book.
Please note that the CD album is not sold seperately.
1. (unknown artist): Taliban chant
Taliban tarana or “chant” (from audio cassette). Unaccompanied singing was the only kind of music permitted by the Taliban and this is an example of a new genre they themselves created. Rooted in Pashtun folk song, the text talks about Taliban readiness for sacrifice for their country, and eulogises several Taliban who have died for the cause.
2. Ale Möller Band, featuring Kurash Sultan: Atlan Dok
The Uighurs, an indigenous people in East Turkestan in north-western China, are struggling to keep their language and their culture. The Uighur composer, musician and poet Kurash Sultan, has been imprisoned and tortured by the authorities. Many of his songs were banned. He now lives in exile in Sweden and performs with the renowned Ale Möller Band. He wrote Atlan Dok (To Freedom) in his prison cell.
3. Roger Lucey: Lungile Tabalaza
Lungile Tabalaza was a young man from the township of Kwa Zakhele. He was arrested and within days was found dead in his cell. The song tried to tell the story but was banned for possession and distribution. According to The Directorate of Publications it was apparently "dangerous to the safety of the State".
Website: 3rdearmusic.com
4. Thomas Mapfumo & The Blacks Unlimited: Disaster
From the album Chimurenga Explosion (2000), Mamvemve and Disaster were both named by Robert Mugabe as being banned. Chimurenga Rebel (2002) was banned as an entire CD, and Toi Toi (2003) was treated as if it didn't exist.
Website: anonymousweb.com 5. Marcel Khalife: Oh My Father, I Am Yusif
This song, based on a poem by the Palestinian poet and writer Mahmoud Darwish, resulted in Marcel Khalife being accused of blasphemy.
Website: marcelkhalife.com 6. Amal Murkus: La Ahada Yalam
La Ahada Yalam (No One Knows) was written in 1989, shortly after the outbreak of the first Intifada in the occupied Palestine. Amal Murkus, a Palestinian singer living in Israel, recorded the song amidst a feeling of helplessness towards the flood of names and TV pictures of the Intifada victims. Amal Murkus took part as a panellist at the 2nd World Conference on Music and Censorship in 2002, and is a member of the Freemuse Advisory Board.
7. Porno Para Ricardo: Tan Loco
I've been so crazy all these years
I've told off so many wiseasses
that want to make out of me
a puppet like they want
I've lost so much weight smoking cigarettes
and I've gone to work reluctantly and bitterly
they disrespect you so much
that make you hate everything... like this.
I wished I could believe in them
I'd like to but I can't
I am a bad son
- they all complain
they spent their money
teaching me what they wanted
They did get me to think
and now at least my mind is free
I wished I could believe in them
I'd like to but I can't
No more lies, old man In August 2003 Porno Para Ricardo singer and guitarist Gorki Águila was sentenced to four years imprisonment. Tan Loco (So Crazy) by Cuban rock band Porno Para Ricardo has been played on Cuban radio now and then - not so the associated video-clip on TV, where censorship is much more rigid. Once after a concert, a secret police officer asked Gorki to clarify what he meant with this song, and threatened him that he could get into trouble if he kept singing it.
In October 2003 Freemuse launched an international campaign, calling for a fair trial for Gorki.
Read more
Website: pornopararicardo.com 8. Andrés Contreras: Corrido de Osama Bin Laden
Listen, gringo criminal, the devil has appeared to you
A man in a beard and turban has given you a terrible fright
Even your way of walking Osama has taken from you
And just to hear him talk gives you the shakes.
Andrés Contreras was the balladeer of the Zapatista uprising. A street singer, he travels Mexico, going wherever there is political strife, and has often been arrested and beaten by police. This “corrido” is his tribute to the man who terrorized Mexico’s traditional oppressors. Translation © 2002 Elijah Wald. Full lyrics in English and Spanish are at elijahwald.com/corridowatch.html
9. Sanar Yurdatapan: Sela
A religious theme: Saluting Mohammad. Composed by Mustafa Itri (17th century). The music is sung at the end of "Mevlid" ceremonies at Mosques, with Arabic words. Hearing the appeals from minarets of burning Baghdad, Sanar Yurdatapan was so impressed and made this song out of the historical melody. Sanar – composer, songwriter and spokesperson for Initiative for Freedom of Expression – has been imprisoned three times and endlessly harassed.
10. Koma Asmin: Herne Pesh
A historical song from 1946, from the days of the “Mahabad Kurdish Republic” (Northern Iran today) that only survived for 6 months. Koma Asmin, a Kurdish female orchestra were arrested because they sang it together with the public at Diyarbakir Cultural Festival in 2002.
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