Conflict-protesting musicians
Protest songs may come from any country during a conflict that is reported at the global level, American and English musicians not being outdone when it comes to criticizing political actions. Festivals like Woodstock were places to welcome them during the Vietnam War, for instance, and singers became leaders of the anti-war movement from that time. What was their impact? Even if that impact is not quantifiable in a strict way, it may be considered as certain that besides other leaders, artists contributed to save(to the saving of) lives, resources, and money.
During the Apartheid in South Africa, a dictatorship based on racial discrimination that existed from 1948 to 1994, songs written by Johnny Clegg contributed to increasing global awareness about the fate of Nelson Mandela and various political detainees. Johnny Clegg’s music blends Zulu and European sounds in Afro Pop music, a genre that had emerged during 1960s and that was already sensitive to themes like equality between ethnicities and freedom.
The singer, who is also an anthropologist, has written compositions within the framework of two inter-racial formations of which the best known is Savuka. Even if Johnny Clegg refused to present himself as an activist because he did never join(he never joined) any political party, his work is significant in the long fight against dictatorship. Called ‘The White Zulu’, he also expressed himself on migrant workers in his country and other causes related to justice.
What are the motivations that induce artists to interfere with politics? They often seek justice, and freedom of speech helps them to express their views during a conflict, views that are generally shared by a not insignificant proportion of citizens represented by what can be called the global left, whose actions are justified by the fact that a lot of people generally love peace and do not have any desire to see their relatives going to war or their incomes reduced due to a wartime context.
Censorship in the framework of racial discrimination
Musicians do not have any political power; however, they can have a certain influence on their audiences, whether they are small or big. Besides war, other causes do not fail to interest musicians, poverty being one of them. In 1973, Bob Marley, touring in Haiti, composed ‘Get up stand up’ after seeing the precarious living conditions of the general population. Poverty being a global issue, the song was understood and welcomed by many people around the world.
Sometimes, local artists write in local languages to express themselves on local concerns. In South Africa, after the Apartheid, local black South African artists that are black artists could finally begin to give concerts in public venues, whereas before they were prosecuted by the police, especially when they were trying to reunite a mixed audience, without engaging in racial discrimination.