Musicians, researchers and media people from Cuba, Afghanistan, and
the Middle East are amongst the confirmed speakers at the 3rd Freemuse World
Conference on Music and Censorship in Istanbul, on 25-26 November 2006. The list
of approximately 30 speakers includes guitarist Jason Carter, who has toured
extensively in the Middle East, exiled musician Kurash Sultan, researchers
Michael Drewett, Jeroen de Kloet, Andy Weintraub and Martin Cloonan.
Musicians and music presenters affected by music censorship will testify
at the conference and speakers and participants will discuss music censorship
and freedom of musical expression in Cuba, the Middle East, West Africa,
Indonesia, Belarus, China, Zimbabwe and several other countries.
The conference will be hosted by Istanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi.
Local partners in Istanbul will be Association for Intercultural Communication,
organizer of the PERAFEST, Association for Freedom of Expression and Turkish
Pen. All local partners are deeply involved in the protection of freedom of
expression for artists.
The conference is open to everyone but registration is necessary. To register,
go to: http://www.freemuse.org.
Conference program:
Tentative conference program. To be continuously updated.
SESSION 1
AFGHANISTAN – “You can’t stop the birds singing”
SPEAKERS
John Baily, Professor, Goldsmiths College, UK (CONFIRMED)
Shakeb Isaar, VJ, Afghanistan, exiled in Sweden (CONFIRMED)
Mirwaiss Sidiqi, Co-ordinator for the Aga Khan Music program, Kabul (CONFIRMED)
SESSION 2
ZIMBABWE – “Playing with fire – but no fuel”
SPEAKER
Maxwell Sibanda, journalist, Zimbabwe, member of Freemuse Exe. Com. (CONFIRMED)
SESSION 3
SOUTH AFRICA – “On tour with the enemy”
MODERATOR
Ole Reitov, Program Officer, Freemuse (CONFIRMED)
SPEAKERS
Roger Lucey, musician, South Africa (CONFIRMED)
Paul Erasmus, former police agent, South Africa (CONFIRMED)
Michael Drewett, researcher, South Africa (CONFIRMED)
SESSION 4
RESEARCH & EDUCATION – “Researching music censorship”
MODERATOR
Martin Cloonan, Professor, UK, Chairperson of Freemuse (CONFIRMED)
SPEAKERS
IN PROGRESS
SESSION 5
MIDDLE EAST – “All that is banned is desired”
MODERATOR
Layla Al-Zubaidi, Program Officer, HBF Middle East Office (CONFIRMED)
SPEAKERS
Jason Carter, Musician, UK/Finland (CONFIRMED)
Thomas Burkhalter, Music ethnologist, journalist, Switzerland (CONFIRMED)
SESSION 6
IRAQ – “Playing in the warzone”
MODERATOR
Layla Al-Zubaidi, Program Officer, HBF Middle East Office (CONFIRMED)
SPEAKERS
IN PROGRESS
SESSION 7
WEST AFRICA – “Africa wants to be free”
MODERATOR
Daniel Brown, Editor, Vice-chair of Freemuse (CONFIRMED)
SPEAKERS
Didier Awadi, rapper, Senegal (CONFIRMED)
Musician (IN PROGRESS)
SESSION 8
CUBA – “Cuban Alternative Sounds… and Silences”
MODERATOR
Ariana Hernandez-Reguant, Professor, University of California, USA, member of
Freemuse Exe. Com. (CONFIRMED)
SPEAKERS
IN PROGRESS
SESSION 9
CHINA – “Singing under the Red Flag”
SPEAKERS
Jeroen de Kloet, Researcher, Netherlands (CONFIRMED)
Kurash Sultan, Exiled Uighur musician from East Turkestan/China (CONFIRMED)
Chinese musician (IN PROGRESS)
SESSION 10
BELARUS – “Singing for Belarus”
SPEAKER
Maya Medich, Researcher, UK (CONFIRMED)
SESSION 11
INDONESIA – “Singing with the mullahs”
SPEAKER
Andrew Weintaub, Associate Professor of Music, US (CONFIRMED)
Musician (IN PROGRESS)
SESSION 12
TURKEY – “Crossing the bridge”
MODERATOR
Sanar Yurdatapan, Ass. For Freedom of Expr., Turkey (CONFIRMED)
SPEAKERS
Former censor (IN PROGRESS)
Testimonies by Turkish musicians (IN PROGRESS)
Author: World Music Central News Room
World music news from the editors at World Music Central
