1980s. Pakistan. Music was banned on PTV, the national tv station in Pakistan. 1980s til today. North Korea In North Korea, music is controlled by a government which encourages light, state-sponsored music, or music with patriotic worker-driven themes played on radios or in public by large worker’s orchestras. Kim Jong …

1966-1976. China In 1966, Mao became troubled by the pervasive influence of Western music. He abruptly resolved the issue by banning Westernization altogether during the violent and disruptive purges conducted throughout his Cultural Revolution. Overnight, all things Western were banned, including Western-oriented classical music. Beethoven and Brahms were out, and …

1934. China. Li Jinhui Shanghai-based composer and songwriter Li Jinhui was banned (if only ineffectually) by the ruling Nationalist Party, and repeatedly came under attack from the socialist left because of the association of his music with the colonial, petit-bourgeois culture of urban Shanghai. Li Jinhui had been experimenting with …

“…Anything for the public that is not about how beautyful our country or people are, is not acceptable”, says Chinese opera director Chen Shi-Zhen. His long awaited staging of the 400-year-old classical opera “Mu Dan Ting” (Peony Pavillion) was not only banned inside the borders of China; the Shanghai Bureau …

NON-ARTISTS ON MUSIC CENSORSHIP Audio and video interviews on freemuse.org with researchers, experts, scholars and others Most recent Jeroen de Kloet – Dutch researcher, about China Mario Masvidal – professor from Cuba Maxwell Sibanda – journalist from Zimbabwe Maya Medich & Lemez Lovas – UK researchers, about Belarus Mirwaiss Sidiqi – director, about Afghanistan Introduction video – about Freemuse’s …