References:

Wikipedia Music and Politics

Indian Blues John W. Troutman
Music and Politics John Street
We all want to change the world Tom Waldman
Website: http://www.columbia.edu/itc/ealac/barnett/pdfs/link17-nunssong.pdf
Website: http://freemuse.org/archives/133
Website: http://uspolitics.about.com/od/CampaignsElections/tp/10-GreatPresidential-Campaign-Songs.htm

Music is a very subjective thing that most people would not notice the effect it
has on everyday life decisions, but in fact it affects us more than we could
imagine. Politics is power and whoever has the power has control over the
population. When you put music and politics together you are combining
something that has control over peoples emotions, and something that has
control over the laws put in place and the well-being of the people. It may not be
as dramatic as I have made it seem, but it still has a huge effect on the society
we live in and has spurred some controversial events throughout history.
Lets start with the concept of political song which many artists have used to get
a political message across to the people over the years. American folk music has
been a topic of controversy within the government, particularly from the 1940s
to the 1960s, and many of the topical songwriters that we are inspired by today
emerged from the folk music revival in its last stage in the 1960s, such as Bob
Dylan, Tom Paxton, and Joan Baez. The folk revival can be considered as a
political re-invention of traditional song and was encouraged by folk record
labels and magazines that were leaning more towards Left-wing politics. It all
began in the 1930s and carried on after World War 2, in which various Gallup
polls were conducted revealing that the Americans perceived communism as a
threat. A poll from 1954 revealed that at the time 51% of Americans said
admitted communists should be arrested, and in relation to music 64% of
respondents said that if a radio singer is a communist then he should be fired.
This clearly showed that the rift caused by the political movement was effecting
folk music-makers purely by the stigma that folk music is associated with leftwing beliefs, but a number of the folk artists were not even communists.
Eventually McCarthyism began to take over the U.S population and government
and in doing so became the source of a huge amount of debate and conflict in
the U.S. Folk music was no longer popular and made it very difficult for any
artists to perform, not to mention artists were blacklisted and denounced by
politicians. Alongside American folk music, there was Blues and Black folk music
that definitely caused a stir. One example was Paul Robeson, an actor and singer
who became involved in the civil rights movement. Robeson once stated This is
the basis, and I am not being tried for whether I am a Communist, I am being
tried for fighting for the rights of my people, who are still second-class citizens in
this United States of America. Due to his outspoken political views he was
investigated by the FBI, and the State Department denied him a passport and
issued a stop notice at all ports, basically confining him to the U.S. On May 18 th

1952, labour unions in the U.S and Canada organised a concert at the
International Peach Arch on the border between Washington and British
Columbia. Between 20,000 and 40,000 people attended, and that was the
ultimate symbolic act of defiance. One of my personal favourite topical songs
was the blues song Strange fruit performed famously by Billie Holiday in 1939.
The song was very controversial at the time because it was protesting against
the lynching of African Americans at that time, and due to the power behind the
song some rules were set in the nightclub that it was first introduced: Holiday
would close with it; the waiters would stop all service in advance; the room would
be in darkness except for a spotlight on Holiday's face; and there would be no
encore.
Taking this subject back another 100 years to the 1800s, where the Native
people who once owned the land that was America were invaded and forced to
either culturally transform into the Americans idea of civilised, Christian U.S
citizens, or to disappear. Back then, tribal people were considered savages and
their music, dances, and rituals were not civilised in the eyes of society and they
had to be stripped down of their culture if they wanted to live alongside the
people who took their land. Citizenship was conceived for Native Americans as a
reward based upon the completion of a set of specific cultural and political
requirements, such as the children being placed in Indian boarding schools to aid
them in unlearning everything about their culture, including the music. Every
expression of music was politically charged because the civilisation agenda of
the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) depended upon the close monitoring of every
musical utterance in the Indian boarding schools. The political and cultural
meanings of the practice of music were questioned within racial, tribal,
communal, and generational lines; powwow couples dances such as two-step
and owl dance became very popular with returned students in the early 20 th
century. From the work of James Scott: Music could serve as a blatant yet
hidden transcript of resistance it could represent an assault on the assimilation
policy. This is what made the practice of music such a viable, cunning, and
complex political form. The transformative power often lay in the eyes and ears
of the beholder as much as the performer. Americans had, and still do have, a
perception of Native Americans and their culture; the stereotypical melodies and
drone of the drum that is supposed to represent Indianness within their music.
It is easy to pick apart the most memorable sounds within a cultures music that
are different to our own, but it is the same as packing it full of history and in
doing so making it void of substance and emotion which in any musicians eyes
is the complete opposite of what music is. Between the 1880s and 1930s
hundreds of students that were musically trained in the schools would perform
Indianness on the road in musical troupes, and in doing so the Native celebrities
gained opportunities to present individual, tribal, and pan-tribal musical
identities. These identities complicated and contradicted the publics
assumptions of tribal people and the assimilative goals of the BIA.
What I consider to be the most clear cut form of musical oppression is
censorship. In Martin Cloonans survey on state of state policy (1999), he
identifies 5 policy arenas that have identifiable material effects on music:
censorship, broadcasting, law and copyright, cultural polity, and identity. Some
are used with deliberate intention, such as broadcasting quotas, and others as
unintended consequences, such as immigration policy or trade tariffs. In 17 th
century England, if someone was to perform an unlicensed ballad they could end

up imprisoned or fined. Music has been the source of fear and the object of
repression and those in authority will use their powers to silence certain sounds
or performers. An extreme example is of 14 Tibetan nuns who, In June 1993,
arranged for a tape recorder to be smuggled into the women's section of Drapchi
prison where between 30 and 40
Tibetan women were serving sentences of up to 7 years each for having taken
part in brief demonstrations calling for independence. The 14 women recorded a
number of songs, mainly laments addressed to their parents and relatives or
songs of praise for their exiled leader, the Dalai Lama. The women sing of their
determination not to give up hope for independence, despite their prison
sentences. The tape was smuggled back out of the prison and copies were
circulated amongst the underground movement in Lhasa. Under Chinese law the
recording of the songs, which may have been discovered by the authorities,
would have been regarded as "disseminating counterrevolutionary propaganda"
or "carrying out splittist activities". This occurred during a time of intense
security in the Lhasa and peaceful demonstrations were dealt with harshly. In
countries like Sudan, Afghanistan and China, violations of musicians rights to
freedom of expression is normal. In the USA and Algeria, petitioning groups have
succeeded in keeping popular music off the concert stage, and out of the media
and retail. In ex-Yugoslavia musicians are often pawns in political dramas, and
the possibility of free expression has been badly affected. If you were to unpack
the thought of new ideas, knowledge, freedom of expression, and link it to the
use of drugs and why most are illegal; it is all based on a system of fear. There is
wide speculation amongst young and old persons that drugs open your mind and
cause you to see the world in a different way, possibly even change your beliefs
on the meaning of life and the world, which the government is afraid of and thus
drugs are illegal. A child will follow an adult and copy what they do because they
have more knowledge than the child in that time and therefore are needed in
order for the child to survive. If the child grows up and surpasses the adult in a
new society when time has changed and there are new beliefs, then they may no
longer feel like they need that adult to survive anymore. Fear and ignorance
given to a person in a state of power makes them react drastically to protect
their version of right and wrong. The Beatles were aware that marijuana
increased sensitivity and creativity and wrote songs about the feelings and
experiences they felt on various drugs, not to mention The Beatles were known
for their controversial and political songs. Thankfully, their success surpassed
their possibility to be a threat rather than a benefit on society.
On the lighter side of music coinciding with politics is the use of rock and roll for
campaign runners. Running for office in America is blatantly not about the real
you, it is about the voters and what they relate to. In 1996, what had long been
anticipated or feared (depending who you were), had now presented itself;
former weed smokers, ex-hippies, and forever rock and roll fans were being
elected to office. Bill Clinton is a prime example, due to his love of The Beatles
and Bob Dylan, he was very popular with the young voters. Tom Waldman stated
In a sense, rock and roll has only itself to blame for being co-opted by the other
side. If rock and roll had disappeared in the 1950s [like it was predicted it
would], then it would have never had the opportunity to sell out to establishment
republicans. But it was, and became so popular for Republicans to win over the
young demographic with rock, its value deteriorated and it became cheap and
easy to access. Ever since Bob Dylan, rock has been stapled with the notion that
it should be addressing the serious, adult themes so how could it not eventually
be taken under the governments self-promotion? A few examples of songs that
were used for campaigns: Dont stop Fleetwood mac, used by Bill Clinton in his

successful campaign for president in 1992; Born free Kid Rock, used by Mitt
Romney in the Republican Party's 2012 presidential nominee; This land is your
land Woodie Guthrie, used by presidential candidate George Bush in 2000, it
being one of the most famous and overtly political folk songs in American history
it should have been used sooner. You couldnt say for sure the real reason behind
these songs being chosen for each political candidate, but you would hope for
your government that they would be chosen out of respect and understanding
for the meaning behind the lyrics, and the relevance to America at that point in
time.
In each moment in time, music is created for a purpose. To generate a message
that is known but being ignored or abandoned by a frightened society. Does the
government spark these controversial issues that songs are written about and
then censored? I think it is safe to say that the artists are not writing songs to stir
up conflict. There are very real issues in the world to do with law, what is right
and wrong, who supports the people and who supports themselves, but the
musicians are part of the small handful of people brave enough to stand up for
the events that are being blurred out of history. There is a clear cycle in this
society of discovering something, stripping it of its background, and then
reclaiming it as your own. I think it is important to remember the roots of a
particular musical movement and celebrate the meaning behind it and never
forget the reason it was introduced in the first place.