News stories world-wide About music censorship About Freemuse Publications Study room Activities Conferences & Events Freemuse Awards Music Freedom Day Campaigns Links Press room

MUSIC FREEDOM DAY 2009 03 March 2009 Freemuse invites musicians and broadcasters to participate in a global event on the subject of music and censorship. Let others know about your plans for 3 March This page is for musicians, broadcasters, journalists and activists who plan to contribute to make Music Freedom Day a global awareness and advocacy event on 3 March 2009 We invite you to write in the form below how you plan to take part in the event: Mohamed Samba Kamara aka Luxsonjay 'De Lighting Son' luxsonjay@aucayd.org Born in Conakry, Guinea but raised Sierra Leonean, the now 20 year old Mohamed S. Kamara, artist name 'Luxsonjay,' is a musician, writer and human rights activist. Mohamed's childhood was spent with his father selling wood bundles to survive the terror of the war. Finding hope in God, Mohammed joined the Church of God of Prophecy. Christianity led to art. The young Mohamed, now chorister, was praised for his singing and drumming. His artistic spirit was roused and Luxsonjay was born. In 2004 Luxsonjay participated in Rap4Rights, a contest put on by Plan Netherlands to honour the famous Dutch rap artist Rhymster. Along with friends, Luxsonjay produced songs and video clips to showcase youth street talent. In 2007 Luxsonjay collaborated on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's album 'Salone Go Bete' created to sensitize the public to the findings and recommendations of the TRC. The album was lunched at the national stadium Together with the UN Peace Ambassador, a well-known Caribbean artiste AJA from Barbados. The lunching was free of charge with the distribution of CDs and cassettes to the general public. As a musician, I am proud to be part of this wonderful and mavalous sensitizational event. hope to continue making a difference with the organized sound and concious words of Albert Reguant My programme, HIDROGEN - on Catalunya Radio canal iCatfm - is two hours every Saturday at 06h - 08h, on the public broadcasting channel of the Catalan government - radio cultural FM & interner iCat fm (www.icatfm.cat ). This week, on HIDROGEN at iCat fm, we will dedicate the second hour to the "international day of censored music". Music Freedom Day is celebrated all over the world this next Tuesday 3rd March, destined to defend the right of the freedom of speech in the music. For this special programme we have made a musical selection of artists of Palestina and Israel, are suffering from censorship. Victims of the silence of the means of information in their respective countries, how also in other countrys of Orient and Occident. See also: Media coverage Related reading on freemuse.org Somalia - Music Freedom Report: Music too powerful to ban Video from Somalia - part of the series of Music Freedom Reports which was published in March 2012 on the occassion of Music Freedom Day 2012 07 March 2012 Music Freedom Day 2012 marked in 22 countries world-wide Reports and documentation of Music Freedom Day 2012 which was marked on 3 March 2012 with events, concerts and radio programmes in 22 countries around the world 06 March 2012 Turkey: Şanar Yurdatapan: 'There is a lot of work to do for all of us' In 2012, there were no acticities marking Music Freedom Day in Turkey. "This means the work is not over yet," wrote Sanar Yurdatapan in his chronicle on the day 03 March 2012 West Papua: Violence and oppression against musicians in forgotten conflict Video from West Papua - a supplement to Clara Moksha's Music Freedom Report which was published on 3 March 2012 02 March 2012 Music Freedom Day 2012 - main page 01 March 2012 Azer Cirttan Video interview with exiled singer and composer Azer Cirttan from Azerbaijan 29 February 2012 Newsletter no. 1 / 2012 Freemuse Newsletter no. 1 / 2012 27 February 2012 Freemuse campaign: Release the Iranian singer Arya Aramnejad Freemuse calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Arya Aramnejad, a famous singer who has been imprisoned since 8 November 2011 25 February 2012 Zimbabwe: Journalists and musicians discussed freedom of expression issues Arts journalists and musicians met on 10 March 2011 in Harare at the Book Café to explore and understand issues related to music freedom and its impact in Zimbabwe 23 March 2011 Zimbabwe: Music Freedom Day rocked the crowd In Harare, Music Freedom Day was celebrated in a carnival mood on 3 March 2011 at the Book Café, organised by Magamba and Pamberi Trust 18 March 2011 Cameroon: Lapiro receives award on Music Freedom Day On Music Freedom Day, 3 March 2011, Freemuse visited Cameroon and handed over a much awaited award to the imprisoned singer Lapiro de Mbanga 09 March 2011 Music Freedom Day: Local ownership creates diversity of innovative events Music Freedom Day 2011: An exiled DJ returns to Kabul, music is smuggled out from Burma, and Freemuse hands over an award to an imprisoned singer in Cameroon 09 March 2011 Commentary from South Africa: Music Freedom from self-censorship Day “Buying artists to advance some political party’s cause may not be censorship, but more often than not, it will lead to self-censorship,” writes Mike van Graan from South Africa 03 March 2011 Egypt and the Middle East: The musicians are taking incredible risks “Music has become a potent weapon in the struggles for freedom across the Arab world, but let’s bear in mind that the situation could change for the worse,” writes Mark LeVine 03 March 2011 Music Freedom Day: Meanwhile in Turkey, musicians are persecuted Singer Ferhat Tunç wrote this article as a personal comment to the Music Freedom Day initiative, describing the current situation for more than a dozen musicians in his country 03 March 2011 Zimbabwe: 2,000 musicians unite in protest on Music Freedom Day Close to 2,000 music composers in Zimbabwe protest, asking the national broadcaster to stop playing music for six hours on this year’s Music Freedom Day 03 March 2011 Music Freedom Day 2011 is marked in more than 20 countries Musicians, music clubs, cultural institutions, broadcasters and media in 20 countries joins the annual Music Freedom Day on 3 March 2011 02 March 2011 Myanmar/Burma: New Win Maw songs smuggled out of Burma The singer and human rights activist Win Maw continues his struggle for freedom of expression from the prison. Freemuse received three new songs from him. 16 February 2011 Generation Wave Audio interview with Generation Wave - a group of Burmese hip-hop artists and activists - about freedom of expression and censorship among musicians in their country 11 February 2011 Music Freedom Day 2011: Messages from participants Messages from organisers, broadcasters, musicians and students about their activities on Music Freedom Day, 3 March 2011 11 February 2011