When the gun is replaced by the melody: how does music resist?

‘Even if they don’t have a message, the act of actually playing music itself is resistance,’ says Dr. Sara McGuiness, senior teaching fellow in Music at SOAS.

Classical Thai musician Luang Pradit Pairoh fought through the melodies of his songs surrounded by oppression; Ahmed Maher signed petitions to bring down the Morsi government in Egypt whilst at concerts around the country, and the melody of an old Catalonian song travelled almost a century of different resistance movements.

This is a podcast of musical adventures. It features conversations with musicians, writers and academics with special guest appearances from random people pulled off the street.

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The podcast was produced by Lara Şarlak, Fino Patanasiri, Diego M. Mosquera and Kelly O’Donovan, students on  'Digital broadcasting', an MA course taught  as part of the skills training options offered to MA students studying within the school of arts (which combine music, media and history of art and archeology) at SOAS, University of London. This course exposes students to the latest thinking in digital podcasting, social media research and social entrepreneurship. During the course students make a group podcast on a theme related to research at SOAS and are encouraged to disseminate them as widely as possible using digital platforms. Pod Academy is involved in the teaching on the course.

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Ahmed Maher: Listening to the concert on a CD and attending one on the street, in the middle of everything cannot be compared to one another.

Esteve Sala:  They were trying to mobilize a society against the dictatorship with their songs.

Fino Patinasiri:  So instead of fighting back actively, he chose to use music as a weapon of hidden resistance.

 

Vox Pops

E contare e camminare insieme, lo sai fare?

Sì, penso di sì...

Allora forza. Conta e cammina. Dai.

Uno, due, tre, quattro, cinque, sei, sette, otto..

[Song: Modena City Ramblers (I Cento Passi) ]

Vox pop: My resistance song is “i cento passi.” It is the story of the son of a mafia boss who resisted against his father and go killed in Italy, and no one ever spoke about it for a long time.

[Song: Chuck Berry (Roll Over Beethoven)]

Vox pop: “Roll Over Beethoven” is a protest song because it was a sort of protest against almost a sort of your parents’ culture, your grandparents’ culture.

[Song: Ton Steine Scherben (Live on TV)]

Vox pop: “Ton Steine Scherben”

[Song: Bob Marley (Exodus)]

Vox pop: Umm, “Exodus”? Bob Marley.

[Song: Victor Jara (Los Estudiantes)]

Vox pop: “Los Estudiantes” by Victor Jara.

[Song: I Solisti Dell’Oltrepo Pavese (Bella Ciao)]

Vox pop: This guy called Deniz Gezmiş. He was executed by the Turkish army. He was whistling this song. “Rodrigo’s Guitar.”

[Concierto De Aranjuez For Guitar And Orchestra: II - Narciso Yepes]

Vox pop: My favorite resistance song is “Bella Ciao.” It’s about the partisan movements and resistance to fascism in Italy.

[Song: Shehzad Roy(Ham Aek Hein)]

Vox pop: In Pakistan there is a growing tradition of songs about unity. There’s one called “Ham Aek Hein”, which in Urdu means “We are one.”

[crowds cheering ‘’Azadi song]

Vox pop: Kashmir is a conflict zone, so there are many resistance songs. People sing against the Indian state. Azadi. “Azadi” means freedom. So they always chant, “What do we want? We want freedom.”

[Song: N.W.A.(Fuck the Police)]