Today is Music Freedom Day
Imagine a world without music. Or---something I think would be just as bad---imagine a world in which there is music but you can choose none of it. Or, a world in which you have to make the kind of music that The Powers That Be decree. Such a world already exists around the world, as the FreeMuse website says regarding music censorship. Today, March 3, is Music Freedom Day, an annual event in which, the world over musicians, music clubs, cultural institutions, broadcasters and media join Freemuse in the celebration of freedom of musical expression.

Music is a human right, says FreeMuse:

In countries like Sudan, Afghanistan and China, violations of musician’s rights to freedom of expression are commonplace. In the USA and Algeria, lobbying groups have succeeded in keeping popular music off the concert stage, and out of the media and retail. In ex-Yugoslavia musicians are often pawns in political dramas, and the possibility of free expression has been aversely affected.

Music is a free expression of the ideas, traditions and emotions of individuals and of peoples. It may express musicians’ hopes and aspirations, their joys and sorrows, their very identity as a culture. Yet these expressions may conflict with those of people in power. The ideas themselves may simply be unpopular or outside the current thinking or practices of a regime or special interest group. For there are those the world over who are threatened by the very nature of a free exchange of ideas. There are those who will stop at nothing to stifle them.

Musicians around the world are being tortured, jailed, exiled and even killed and their music silenced:

* Win Maw was originally imprisoned from 1997-2003 for writing songs in support of Aung San Suu Kyi. He is currently being held once more under severe conditions for his role in pro-democracy demonstrations of September 2007 that led to a major crackdown in Burma and the imprisonment of intellectuals, writers and monks. FreeMuse is making available three new songs by Win Maw, smuggled out from Burma: In ‘Go to Sleep’ he calls for continued struggle and criticizes those who “just talk”.
* Lapiro de Mbanga will spend Music Freedom Day in court in Cameroon. His song “Constipated Constitution” made him unpopular with the Cameroonian regime and he has served almost three years in prison. Lapiro is taking the manager of a local banana company to court for alleged false charges that led to his current imprisonment, so, although currently a prisoner, on 3 March he will take the prosecution’s side in a court in his home city of Mbanga. A representative of FreeMuse will observe the trial in Cameroon.
* Six years after Afghan DJ, Shakeb Isaar had to flee Kabul after death threats he is returning to Afghanistan and presents a programme about banned music at Radio Arman. In another corner of the world, New York, ‘Impossible Music Sessions’ is celebrating Music Freedom Day by inviting two secret guests to talk about music censorship in their home country. Their identities will only be revealed during the session as they are members of an underground group banned in their home country. They will be joined on phone by Deeyah, co-producer of the Freemuse CD “Listen to the Banned,” who as an artist experienced death threats.
Music Freedom Day starts with a concert at Mumbai’s Blue Frog Club, and the continues in Kabul, the Middle East, and Europe. It ends with a session in New York and a special broadcasting programmes in Canada. Here are some of the activities around the world: * A concert in Cairo organised by the exiled Sudanese musician Abazar Hamid will put focus on the genocide in his home country. * In Amman, Jordan, a ‘People’s Choir’ conducted by the founder of the Cairo Complaints Choir, Salam Yousry, will salute the ongoing Arabian revolutions. * In Egypt and Lebanon, the Egyptian musician Ahmed Basiony, who died tragically during the initial days of the uprising in Cairo, will be commemorated. * Close to 2000 music composers in Zimbabwe have resolved to protest against non-payment of royalties, by ordering the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, ZBC, to stop playing their music for six hours during Music Freedom Day; For a complete list of events to celebrate Music Freedom Day, please go here. There's always music playing in our car and in our house. My teenage son Charlie is on the moderate to severe end of the autism spectrum. He was able to sing phrases of songs ('Twinkle Twinkle Little Star') years before he could say complete sentences. He is minimally verbal and has a lot of trouble recalling words when he needs them, and, too, understanding what is said to him---but he learned long ago to tell someone's mood and even the basic content of what they were saying based on the pitch, rhythm, tone of their voice; on the music of their words. Over the years, he has learned to play the piano (a little) and the cello (a little bit less). And Charlie loves, loves music---he is currently a big fan of the Kinks.
It's very recent that Charlie has been able to listen to music entirely on his own. Then, several months ago, my parents and aunts gave him an iPad. He was easily able to use the touchscreen (he has some difficulties with fine motor coordination) and he has just been very happy that he can listen to music all on his own.
It's a different sort of freedom than the circumstances the musicians described above face. But I can only say, the joy in Charlie's face and being since he's been able to choose just what he wants to hear when he wants to, is as priceless as freedom, as music, are for sure.
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