Martyn Joseph performs his song ‘Albert’s Place’ to the woman who inspired it, Andrea Bell, in the Sunderland foodbank and soup kitchen that she runs.
The Unthanks and Angeline Morrison sing that Katie Toner, from Northumberland, “will make a dream” for neurodiverse children by organising accessible parties and sleepovers
Teesside group The Young’uns perform their song ‘Doctor Boro’ to the man who inspired it, Dr. Ifti Lone, and his wife Miriam.
Michael Dodds, a fifth-generation foyboatman who helps ships dock in the Port of Sunderland, stars in a modern maritime folk tune by Kathryn Williams and Squeeze’s Chris Difford.
The 21st Century Folk project is intended as a modern version of the BBC’s groundbreaking Radio Ballads, in which Ewan MacColl wrote about ordinary British people in the late 1950s and early ’60s. The programmes made a creative use of environmental sounds and other ground breaking uses of audio recordings.
For those wondering what is meant by Agit Disco please download the ebook and in there are essays that will explain all. https://payhip.com/b/NmXU
Matt Callahan has been one of the notable writers and players of political music in the USA for many years. His book The Trouble with Music was published by AK Press.
I was just made aware that he’s still very active and playing with Yvonne Moore and they have a new record out. See above.
Also notable his ambitious project on songs of slavery in the US has a great documentary. See below!
The SPECIALS “response to the George Floyd case last year, was to utilize lockdown and raid their record collections, putting together Protest Songs 1924-2012, a collection of covers which, in some way or form, cast a reflection on the circumstances that could allow such a thing to happen. Protest songs, one and all, if sometimes not necessarily appreciated as so, with about as eclectic a selection as could be, with source material including the unlikely triad of the Staples Singers, Frank Zappa and Leonard Cohen.” Seuras Og https://www.covermesongs.com/2021/10/review-the-specials-protest-songs-1924-2012.html
Protest Songs 1924-2012 Tracklisting:
1. Freedom Highway (The Staple Singers cover) 2. Everybody Knows (Leonard Cohen cover) 3. I Don’t Mind Failing In This World (Malvina Reynolds cover) 4. Black, Brown And White (Big Bill Broonzy cover) 5. Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Us Around (Dixie Jubilee Singers cover) 6. Fuck All The Perfect People (Chip Taylor & The New Ukrainians cover) 7. My Next Door Neighbour’ (Jerry McCain cover) 8. Trouble Every Day (Frank Zappa & Mothers of Invention cover) 9. Listening Wind (Talking Heads cover) 10. Soldiers Who Want To Be Heroes (Rod McKuen cover) 11. I Live In A City (Malvina Reynolds cover) 12. Get Up, Stand Up (Bob Marley & the Wailers cover)
“There was plenty of genuine discontent in Britain at the tail end of the 1970s, and it had little to do with bin strikes or dark rumours about overflowing morgues. In the world of popular music, the most liberating after-effect of the Sex Pistols was that anyone with something to say now felt they could make a 7” single. WINTER OF DISCONTENT is the sound of truly DIY music, made by people who maybe hadn’t written a song until a day or two before they went into the studio. It’s spontaneous and genuinely free in a way the British music scene has rarely been before or since. WINTER OF DISCONTENT has been compiled by Saint Etienne’s Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs, the latest in their highly acclaimed series of albums that includes The Daisy Age, Fell From The Sun and English Weather (“really compelling and immersive: it’s a pleasure to lose yourself in it” – Alexis Petridis, the Guardian). The era’s bigger DIY names (Scritti Politti, TV Personalities, the Fall) and the lesser known (Exhibit A, Digital Dinosaurs, Frankie’s Crew) are side by side on WINTER OF DISCONTENT. Mark Perry’s Sniffin’ Glue command – “Here’s one chord, here’s another, now start a band” – was amplified by the Mekons and the Raincoats, whose music shared a little of punk’s volume, speed and distortion, but all of its obliqueness and irreverence. The discontent was with society as a whole. No subject matter was taboo: oppressive maleness (Scritti Politti); deluded Britishness (TV Personalities); gender stereotypes (Raincoats, Androids of Mu); nihilistic youth (Fatal Microbes); alcoholism (Thin Yoghurts); self-doubt and pacifism (Zounds). The band names (Thin Yoghurts!) and those of individual members (Andrew Lunchbox!) had enough daftness to avoid any accusations of solemnity. WINTER OF DISCONTENT is the definitive compilation of the UK DIY scene, and a beacon in grim times.” Bob Stanley
This great archive project includes playlists on: Mexican-american songs, Soul, gospel, funk, anti-protest/pro govt songs(!), Country music, Garage rock, song poems, European, Australian and of course Vietnamese! as well as the white peacenik songs that are more well-known.
“This channel looks at Vietnam War songs and spoken-word records. The purpose of this project is for those listening to learn about the Vietnam War, the music and the artists. It also seeks to preserve the records for the future. See playlists for different themes.”
There is a good playlist that pop’s up on my TweeetR feed regularly with single tracks called Music to Fight Evil. I’m not sure who the compiler is possibly originated on Apple music:
I don’t really believe in evil as it seems like an overly religious concept. But maybe that’s being pedantic. And with Agit Disco I was trying to get away from the limited idea of protest music as it seemed to me music could be political is many ways without having protest lyrics.
This is another one with he same name on Musicto.com by a Brit called Jon Ewing. Its nicely illustrated and each track has a paragraph of text.
Apparently 16 year old Sarina Esmailzadeh was singing this song before she was killed for protesting in #Iran. A song by Andrew Hozier-Byrne (born 17 March 1990), known simply as #Hozier, an Irish musician, has gone viral globally amongst young people oppressed by institutional religions.
The extent to which people will risk their own health and life to resist oppression once there is the momentum of a communal rebellion never ceases to amaze me.
Hard to bear the news of hundreds (it seems?) of teenagers killed by right-wing death squads, (are they actual cops?) in the cities of Iran. شروین – برای https://youtu.be/z8xXiqyfBg0
Whilst the regimes industry makes drones to kill civilians in Ukraine.
Shervin – Baraye | شروین – برایبرای توی کوچه رقصیدنبرای ترسیدن به وقت بوسیدنبرای خواهرم خواهرت خواهرامونبرای تغییر مغز ها که پوسیدنبرای شرمندگی برای بیپولیب…
Stefan Szczelkun's Agit Disco noticeboard 