’While struggling with censorship in Khartoum, the Sudanese singer-songwriter Abazar Hamid hopes to bring peace to Sudan with his music. He travels to rural areas of the country where he tries to reform the traditional Arab ‘hate singers’ known as the Janjaweed women. Abazar Hamid told his story to Stephanie …

 Singers, musicians and other artists are fleeing Iraq after dozens have been killed by Islamic radicals determined to eradicate all culture associated with the West, reported The Observer on 11 May 2008 In November 2007, Seif Yehia, 23, was beheaded for singing Western songs at weddings. Since the US-led invasion …

Centre for Ostracised Music aims to recover and revive the forbidden musical voices from the Nazi regime in Germany 70 years ago. Currently it holds 400 works of 50 ostracised composers, reports Deutche Welle.   The centre, Zentrum für Verfemte Musik, is based in Schwerin, a city in northern Germany, …

Musicians, music shop owners and music fans flee from death squads of Islamic extremists in Baghdad. It is no longer safe to sell music in central and southern Iraq, reported Associated Press on 16 March 2007 Similar to the present development in north-western Pakistan, Islamic extremist militants are forcing stores …

The Pakistani-Canadian rock group Falak has been blacklisted on MTV Pakistan After having aired the music video for their song ‘Yadein II’ for a couple of months, the tv channel deemed it too controversial because of its images related to the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New …

Professional musicians, scholars, and composers from 22 countries met at the 3rd Freemuse World Conference. Over two intensive days, they documented how music censorship is being implemented in countries all over the world.

Nearly 80 percent of all Iraqi singers have fled the country and at least 75 singers had been killed since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, according to the Iraqi Artist’s Association. This was mentioned in an article by the UN news service IRIN about the murder of a …

Kamilya Jubran is born in Akka in Israel to Palestinian parents who are from a northern Palestinian village in Al-Jaleel. From 1982 to 2002, Kamilya was lead song performer of the orchestra Sabreen which was a voice of resistance for the Palestinians. In 2002 she began touring with her solo show.   …

Tighter anti-terror security causes problems for touring musicians because their expensive musical instruments are not always allowed on the plane as carry-on baggage. In Paris, a musician had his arm broken by violent airport police officers because he insisted on taking his instrument case onboard, reports Mondomix.com On 9 September …

Controversy and outrage follows American pop singer Madonna to her world-wide ‘Confessions Tour’ where she is “crucified” on a cross on stage. The act has sparked anger from various religious groups. In Moscow, she received death threats. Catholics expressed outrage at Madonna’s decision to be displayed hanging to a cross …