It is not easy to reach the people only with the power of your words, especially if you confront them with topics which are behind their interests, their attention or their imagination. In the last case you can help them at least with the support of music. From the early beginnings until now, from Bob Dylan to Ben Harper, the genre or protest songs brought us the message behind the notes a bit nearer, even if we possibly do not agree with. With the help of a few selected songs I like to explain the movement of the last months which still turns the world into a new direction.
First it began in Tunisia. Before the people entered the streets of the small, generally for his tourism known country a young rapper who named himself El Général expressed his outrage about the social and economic circumstances loud and clear criticizing the policy of the meanwhile former President Ben Ali's regime:
As the spark of freedom flew over to Egypt and we all witnessed the hundreds of thousands crowded at the Tahrir Square in Cairo it took not long until one of the meanwhile most popular revolution songs found its way to the public: 'Sout Al Horeya' (Voice Of Freedom), performed by Hany Adel, Amir Eid Hawary and Sherif Mostafa, describes the motives, demands and feelings of the Egyptians freeing themselves from the Mubarak regime:
More traditional is the musical dedication of Ramy Essam, famous for his live appearances at Tahrir and the setting of the most popular slogan in the Arab world, 'al-shaab yourid isqat al-nizam' (people demand the removal of the regime). In this video the first time footage of the rallies including hurt protesters is to be seen:
Using the ghost thread of Al Qaeda most people associate besides Afghanistan and Pakistan the poorhouse of the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen. A prejudice which adumbrates an age-old culture full of magic and mystery as well as the recent democratic movement led mostly by the younger and the women. For us in the western affluent society it is nearly to impossible to imagine the suffering of the Yemeni population: pent-up between the militant fractions and the more or less selfish interests of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States they live a life sustaining power cuts, fuel rationing and a high unemployment rate. But their will and their resilience is more than admirable. I've chosen one song I received per tweet just yesterday from the awesome blogger Noon and whose music expresses in combination with the images exactly that what's going on there:
While the hide-and-seek between the Gaddafis and the NATO-supported Freedom Fighters in Libya continues, musical contributions for the Benghazi-headed liberation movement are made not only inside the country. Khaled M, an American Rapper with Libyan roots wrote the song 'Can't Take Our Freedom' performing together with his colleague Lowkey, dedicated to the resistance against the self-declared brilliant leader:
Setting of the slogan 'Zanga Zanga Dar Dar', which means 'on the streets and in the houses' and was an original quote from Muamar Gaddafi in one of his (in)famous speeches:
Another musical tribute is Salah Al Ghaly's song 'Shedy Al Azem Ya Mesrata', a coastal city still suffering from the pro Gaddafi forces and partially heavy destroyed:
The Syrian uprise reached last Friday a new climax when estimated 300,000 protesters in Hama and some more hundreds of thousands in the whole land declared the Assad regime for finished chanting 'Irhal!' (Out!). Armed with a wide-ranged creative potential the Syrians show their rulers that they have meanwhile enough from terror and repression. They're supported by local musicians like Hossam Miller who wrote and performed together with the band Huda International the following, especially Aleppo dedicated traditional-style song:
Under the name 'The Strong Heroes Of Moscow' we discover one of the most unusual anthems of the Syrian Revolution. Electro and Industrial influenced rap-style music in straight black, white and red optic. But careful - the last 40 seconds show the torture of an old man through regime guards - nothing for sensible characters:
Finally a real nice peace, the two years old song 'Kooche' from Zedbasi combined with visual impressions of today's Iran:
Lots of musical contributions exist meanwhile in the net. From classic political protest song to digital sample cuts a wide range confirms the renaissance of intoned assailing messages.
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