Freemuse secretariat Info about the members of staff at the Freemuse secretariat 29 September 2013 Ole Reitov Interim Director Co-editor of ‘Smashed Hits – the Book of Banned Music’. Took the initiative to the 1st World Conference on Music and Censorship. Has lectured world-wide on music censorship, cultural policies and cultural diversity. Has worked as [...]

NEWS 24 October 2012 Iran: Exiled Iranian musician responds upright to death threats This interview with Shahin Najafi and Günter Wallraff took place five months after a fatwa – a death sentence – was issued against the singer and rapper Shahin Najafi. It proclaimed him an apostate for recording the rap-song ‘Ay Naghi’ and sentenced [...]

NEWS 21 May 2012 Algeria: Call for the respect of freedom of artistic expression in Algeria “Algerian intellectuals, journalists, cultural activists, artists and writers ring the alarm and request from the Ministry of Culture to lift its control over the cultural sector and let the independent/civil cultural artistic stakeholders undertake their projects freely…” Algerian artists and [...]

NEWS 13 June 2012 Turkey: Acclaimed pianist charged for blasphemy Turkish composer and pianist Fazil Say faces trial on 18 October 2012 on charges of insulting religious values, with a possible 18-month prison sentence, his lawyer Meltem Akyol told news agencies in Istanbul. Fazil Say has long been a controversial artist in Turkey. He is [...]

NEWS 22 November 2012 Colombia: Ten rappers murdered for criticizing the system Ten rappers have been murdered in the last two years in the Colombian city Medellín. Their “crime”: that they volunteered to help getting young people away from paramilitary groups and drug gangs. 14 rappers have gone underground, and even more fear for their lives, [...]

NEWS ##PagePublishedLong## Azerbaijan: Rock musician flees to Germany over concerns for his safety Rapper and guitarist Jamal Ali who was recently interviewed for a video by Humans Rights Watch fled his home country on Wednesday 16 May 2012, he told the British newspaper The Guardian via Skype from Berlin. Jamal Ali claims that police tortured [...]

CAMPAIGNS 05 November 2012 Freemuse sends appeal letter to president of Vietnam _ Email from: FreemuseSent: 5 November 2012 13:13To: Embassy of Vietnam in Denmark Subject: Freemuse appeal – Att: The AmbassadorPriority: High Dear Ambassador, Freemuse is an international organisation with special consultative status to the UN.Please find attached an appeal from Freemuse regarding the imprisonment of two singers in [...]

NEWS 18 May 2012 Turkey: Students charged for singing Grup Yorum song Three students are accused of singing an old Kurdish song and chanting slogans which allegedly were “making propaganda for a terrorist organisation”. Attending the ‘Multi Voiced One Soul Meeting for High Quality Health Service’ rally organised by the Turkish Medical Doctors Association on [...]

ARTICLES 12 November 2012 Russia:First interview with released Pussy Riot member Index on Censorship had the exclusive opportunity to interview Pussy Riot member Ekatrina Samutsevich who was freed by a Moscow court on 10 October 2012. The interview took place during the same week as Samutsevich’s friends and fellow band mates Maria Alekhina and Nadezhda [...]

NEWS ##PagePublishedLong##     Turkey: Ferhat Tunc Turkish singer Ferhat Tunç is the target of seven investigations and two trials at the moment. This time it isn’t because of his music, but due to the speeches he held during his campaign for the general elections in June 2011. Freemuse award winner, Ferhat Tunç, has a [...]

NEWS 16 December 2011 Mauritania: Rap artist injured by grenade The newspaper Alakbar reports that rap artist Abou Fall, aka Abou Ngabou, was injured by a grenade during a protest march organized by the organization “Touche Pas A Ma Nationalité”. The grenade was thrown by the police when they tried to disperse the crowd. The [...]