Aileen Dillane - Songs of Social Protest

Protest, Media and Culture

Protest, Media and Culture publishes edited collections and monographs dedicated to the study and analysis of an irrepressible phenomenon: the worldwide resurgence of social, cultural, political and economic discontent.

Series editors:

Ruth Sanz Sabido is Lecturer in Media and Communications at Canterbury Christ Church University.

Stuart Price is Professor of Media and Political Discourse, and Chair of the Media Discourse Group, at De Montfort University.

Sites of Protest , edited by Stuart Price and Ruth Sanz Sabido

Protest Campaigns, Media and Political Opportunities, Jonathan Cable

The Pink Tide: Media Access and Political Power in Latin America , edited by Lee Artz

artWORK: Art, Labour and Activism, edited by Alberto Cossu, Jessica Holtaway and Paula Serafini

Songs of Social Protest: International Perspectives , edited by Aileen Dillane, Martin J. Power, Eoin Devereux and Amanda Haynes

Digital Media, Activism, and Change in Ukraine and Russia: Beyond the Protest Square , Tetyana Lokot (forthcoming)

Songs of Social Protest

International Perspectives

Edited by
Aileen Dillane, Martin J. Power,
Eoin Devereux and Amanda Haynes

London New York

Published by Rowman & Littlefield International Ltd

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Selection and editorial matter 2018 Aileen Dillane, Martin J. Power, Eoin Devereux and Amanda Haynes

Copyright in individual chapters is held by the respective chapter authors.

All rights reserved . No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: HB 978-1-7866-0125-4

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Dillane, Aileen. | Power, Martin J. | Devereux, Eoin. | Haynes, Amanda.

Title: Songs of social protest : international perspectives / Aileen Dillane, Martin J. Power, Eoin Devereux, and Amanda Haynes.

Description: London ; New York : Rowman & Littlefield International, [2018] | Series: Protest, media and culture | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018001448 (print) | LCCN 2018002293 (ebook) | ISBN 9781786601278 (Electronic) | ISBN 9781786601254 (cloth : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Protest songsHistory and criticism. | MusicPolitical aspects.

Classification: LCC ML3916 (ebook) | LCC ML3916 .S658 2018 (print) | DDC 781.5/92dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018001448

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

Contents

Dave Randall

Aileen Dillane, Martin J. Power, Amanda Haynes and Eoin Devereux

Robert W. Stephens and Mary Ellen Junda

Robbie Lieberman

Jonathon Bakan

William F. Danaher

Rob Rosenthal

Anthony Ashbolt

Matthew Ord

Joseph OConnor

Geoffroy Colson

Vivek Virani

Trona N Shochin

Isabel David

Riccardo Orlandi

Nria Borrull

Rahul Sambaraju

Omotayo Jolaosho

Evrim Hikmet t

Simran Singh-Grewal

Clare Neil King

Julianne Graper

Tiffany Naiman

Guilnard Moufarrej

Gwen Moore

Thrse Smith

Melissa Hidalgo

Donnacha M. Toomey

Luis Giminez Amoros

Aileen Dillane, Martin J. Power, Eoin Devereux and Amanda Haynes

Mike Hajimichael

Tom Boland

Martin J. Power

Colin Coulter

Kieran Cashell

Dave Randall

Anyone who wants to change the world must begin by answering two questions. The first was most famously posed by Marvin Gaye and the second by Lenin: What's Going On? and What Is To Be Done?

What appears to be going on is a process of political polarisation the like of which we haven't seen for many decades. The neoliberal consensus that has dominated politics for the last forty years is being challenged and rejected by millions around the world. Principled socialist candidates once dismissed as unelectable are poised to take office as thousands of predominantly young people take to the streets to demand change. But in parallel with the gains made by the left are those made by the populist and far right. Two very different visions for the future of humankind are competing for hearts and minds and the outcome of the contest will reverberate for a very long time.

So what is to be done? Well, there are many things that can and must be done to ensure that progressive ideas win out and a better world is delivered to future generations. The contributors to this collection and I share a belief that culture is one of the key battlegrounds in this fight. The everyday stories that surround us, the images we see and the music we experience significantly shape our sense of ourselves, those around us and the world we share. Music can be used to distract us from the things that matter, stir tribalistic enmity and march us off to fight unnecessary and unjust wars. Or it can invite diverse groups of people to come together in celebration and can give them hope, confidence and an expanded sense of what's possible.

Music matters. This is something that rulers have understood throughout history and across cultures. From pharaohs to feudal lords, muftis to maharajahs, republicans to royals, rulers always have a music policy. All have given patronage to some musicians and many have tried to suppress the music of others. Modern day reformists, radicals and revolutionaries would do well to recognise its importance too. If we are to harness its power for progress, we must first delve deeper in our attempts to understand culturehow it shapes our sense of self and society; how it is contested and the integral role it plays in the fight for the future. This excellent collection is a timely contribution to this project. With voices from across cultures and disciplines, it offers a refreshingly global perspective on the subject, always underscored by a reassuringly analytical approach. The essays inform, provoke, surprise and inspire, providing a sound foundation for ongoing discussions about the political power of culture. So read on and join in. There are songs to share and a world to win.

Dave Randall, musician and author of Sound System: The Political Power of Music (2017).

Aileen Dillane, Martin J. Power, Amanda Haynes and Eoin Devereux

Sound is an integral part of protest, and singing is a way for ordinary people, as well as amateur or professional musicians, to sonorously raise their voices in an appeal for justice. The intimate and sensuous activity of singing, in solo form or as part of a collective, has a power and persuasiveness beyond mere rhetoric. Because of musics ubiquity, its presence in all cultures, and its fundamental ownership by all human beings, it is a medium and a performance act that is essentially recognisable, familiar and translatable; therefore, it has the potential to reach across social and political divides, or, at the very least, reveal our shared humanity. Music, of course, is not intrinsically good or inherently utopian, even if, in making musicin musicking people celebrate not only who they are, but also often who they hope to become (Small 1998: xi). Like any medium, music can be used for malign propaganda purposes. It can disinform, it can proselytise, it can incite, and it can exclude; singers, song texts and performance activities may, in fact, be part of the very systems that reproduce oppressive structures and behaviours (Turino 2008). But when singing is mobilised in order to counter injustice, to challenge inequality, to rise above hate and fear, to appeal against the normalisation of bigotry, racism, misogyny, homophobia and a myriad of other anti-democratic, anti-human practices, then the power of song is revealed as affective, persuasive, ethical and hopeful.