On Saturday 3 March 2007 Radio and TV Broadcasters Worldwide Will Focus on Music Censorship

Copenhagen, Denmark – Freemuse invites broadcasters to participate in a global media event on the subject of Music & Censorship. Consider being a part of an international, tri-media look at the subject through all of our many languages, cultures, countries and points of view

In November in Istanbul, Freemuse held a very successful international conference on Music & Censorship. Present were musicians, journalists, academics, writers, activists – all focused on the fact that today still musicians in many parts of the world face a variety of censors to their music. Initially a suggestion from Ann MacKeigan from Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, one of the outcomes of the conference was to designate a specific date for the world’s media to explore the issue of Music and censorship… in their own countries, in their own mediums, and in their own way.Freemuse has designated the first Saturday in March, annually, to be Music Freedom Day, and we invite any and all colleagues to consider directing their programming on this day, or the days leading up to it, on the subject of banned music.

This page is currently under construction – with the aim to include a list of all of the various partners who wish participate in this world-wide Music Freedom Day, as a way for all of our listeners, readers and viewer to participate beyond borders. The Freemuse web site is already an excellent resource on the subject for research purposes and we will now extend our services to the media and load up free high resolution video and audio clips for use in radio and tv programs, and – if time allows – a special 30-minutes radio program on music censorship as well.

Committed participants so far

Radio
• Canadian Broadcasting Corporation: 1 week of dedicated programming, involving 17 programs, and a music documentary called Censor-This! on 3 March
• Radio Canada’s Espace Musique are going to, (quoting host Dan Behrman) “keep talking about it before and after 3 March”.
• Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation are preparing a day of specific programming for 3 March.
• BBC R3 in UK is going to run a radio report by Songlines editor Simon Broughton on 3 March.

Online
• MondoMix: will devote a site to Music & Censorship leading up to March 3

Print
• Songlines Magazine (UK): will address music censorship in their February-March issue. Editor Simon Broughton writes about the Istanbul conference in his opening editorial and there will be an article on Simon Bikindi.
• Djembe Magazine (Denmark): will publish an article about ‘forbidden music’ in relation to an event in Copenhagen (debate and film screening) about music and Islam on 1 March, and also writes about it in the magazine’s opening editorial.