For Freedom: Protest songs that have inspired generations

From the unflinching portrayal of racial hatred to an uncompromised demand for equality and justice, to breaking the bonds of tyranny, to conveying a subservient message, protest music not only belongs to the era in which they were produced but also represents a forceful timeless political expression.

Amidst the electrifying cheer of the crowd Chris Martin, the lead singer of cold play invites exiled Iranian singer, Golshifteh Farahani to the stage. He laments "There are so many places where people are not able to gather like this …to be free to be themselves, to listen to what they want to listen, to wear what they want to wear, to think what they want to think, to love whom they want to love…." Farhani walks on the stage, stands in front of the microphone, and slowly sways to the music. The LED screen burns with the image of the Iranian composer Shervin Hajipour, 25 whose song Brarve Azadi (For Freedom) has become the anthem of Iranian protest.

After the death of 22-year-old Masha Amin, Iran had been shaken by an unrelenting wave of protest. Iran's morality police had taken Amin to the re-education centre for allegedly not adhering to the Islamic republic's strict dress code. The government argued that she died of a sudden heart attack, but her family denies she had any underlying health condition. Farhani's stage appearance was itself an act of protest, because, after the Islamic revolution of 1979, female solo singing was outlawed in Iran. The song,"Baraye Azadi" till then had garnered millions of views worldwide. Hajipour, the composer was arrested and later released only after the song had been removed from his social media page.

Bararve Azadi, which is now technically banned in Iran, expresses a deep yearning for the ordinary that emerges from the right blend of dignity and mindful existence. It talks about freedom in day to day living devoid of any fear or apprehension. Its simplistic tone and uncomplicated rendering have touched the soul of millions the world over. In the crossroads, streets, international platforms and stage, echoes of Baraye Azadi can be heard, in a show of solidarity with the Iranian protesters.

For Dancing in the streets

For the fear when Kissing

For my sister, your sister, our sister

For changing the rotten brains

For the shame of inability to provide, for being penniless

For yearning of just a normal life….

Music has a transcending appeal that is hard to define. Beyond the meaning of the words and the rhythm, music delves deep into humans eliciting a kaleidoscope of emotions. It can move thousands to tears, excite them to action or calm their nerves in a matter of seconds. From the unflinching portrayal of racial hatred to an uncompromised demand for equality and justice, to breaking the bonds of tyranny, to conveying a subservient message, protest music not only belongs to the era in which they were produced but also represents a forceful timeless political expression.

Martin Luther King Jr acknowledged the power of music to support protest when he said, "The freedom songs are playing a strong and a vital role in our struggle. They give the people new courage and a sense of unity."

Music unites people and gives a rallying cry for the oppressed. Some of the earliest examples of protest songs include "Goodnight Irene" by Lead Belly. Though written as a love song it acquires the flavour of protest, because of the background of the writer. Lead Belly was a black convict and a social outcast. Another notable composition is Ludwig van Beethoven's "Ode to Joy", that celebrates the continuum of living beings who are united in their capacity to feel pain and pleasure and hence empathy. It speaks of universal brotherhood, as opposed to division and segregation. But the song that perhaps raises protest music to the level of powerful art was "Strange Fruit".

Replete with graphic imagery Strange Fruit, written by Abel Meeropol, speaks of the horrors of lynching that was prevalent in the US southern states. It was the biggest hit in the career of the legendary Jazz singer Billie Holiday. The force of her delivery and the message of the song, arrests the listener with a jarring note and crudely churns the conscience. Made up of just three verses the song had been deemed "a declaration of war…the beginning of Civil Rights Movement"

Southern trees bear a strange fruit

Blood on the leaves and blood on the root.

Black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze

Strange fruit hanging from the polar trees

The strange fruit hanging are the lynched bodies of the victim. The harrowing details of the lyrics make it an unhinged study of hatred and violence. In the annals of 20th century history this is perhaps the most powerful of protest songs. When British singer Rebecca Ferguson was invited to sing at the inauguration of President Donald Trump she had just one condition "If you allow me to sing Strange Fruit, a song that had huge political importance, a song blacklisted in the United States. A song that is a reminder of how love is the only thing that will conquer all the hatred in the world….."

War is the basest form of expression in the civilized world. Twenty-three-year old Bob Dylan, restless and angered by his country's self-serving entanglement in war in Cuba and Vietnam wrote, "Masters of the war". "I have never really written anything like that before," a startled Bob later recounts. "I don't sing songs which hope people will die, but I couldn't help it in this one." In a 2001 interview he explains, "It's not an anti-war song. It's speaking against what Eisenhower was calling a military industrial complex…The spirit was in the air and I picked it up."

The venomous ire in "Masters of Wars" is directed against the propagators of the war machinery….

You've thrown the worst fear

That can ever be hurled

Fear to bring children

Into the world

For threatening my baby

Unborn and unnamed

You ain't worth the blood

That runs in your veins.

Closer to home, in 1986, noted ghazal singer Iqbal Bano, stepped on to the stage in front of a packed audience wearing a black saree, and set to tune Faize Ahmed Faizenazm "Hum Dekhenge". It was a act of double defiance, because in Zai- ulHaq's Pakistan, the lyrics of the nazm was considered blasphemous to Islam and wearing of sari was banned.

Hum Dekhange reiterates with unshakable confidence, the eternal truth written in the womb of destiny…that come what may… tyrants and dictators are bound to fall…

By: Emon NC

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