Censorship In the Middle East

Censorship in the middle east

Music and society have always been intimately related. Music reflects and creates social conditions which could be controversial or an impede social change. Even the development of recording techniques in the latter half of the 20th century has revolutionized the extend to which the majority of people have access to music besides the Middle East. It is very easy for someone like myself in the UK to access the internet and listen to all kinds of music, 24 hours a day, at the touch of a switch. This is all refers to Globalization which is able to exchange world-wide cultural resources around the world and includes advances in transportation and telecommunications.

The Middle East are not yet globalized and the government intend on keeping it like that. They are also not technologically advanced as the rest of the world. The government has censored the internet which simply means they have limited the internet access. This is very unfortunate to the musicians in the Middle east countries who have a huge passion for music and want to seek different music as there is no access to the latest music, news and trends. Even watching a music video on the internet is very difficult and the downloading speed is poor. 
But why do the Middle East countries have censorship laws? Is it simply for the fact that they are afraid of musical expression? and therefore oppresses it. The government also fear they will loose control and power of their people so by limiting the internet they are not able to stand up to the government or protest as its very difficult to communicate because things are usually handled my social websites. Some of this is also due to religious beliefs 'religious/social/cultural censorship'. A decade ago many artist were threatened and sometimes killed by extremist religious forces. A lot of threatening is still happening in the Middle East now-a-days mainly through the Taliban and the Iranian state. Furthermore, censorship by the Islamic government prevents Islamic citizens from finding out or learning about the past current failures and abuses of the government that could start up a protest or riot against them. Many users saw the Internet as an easy way to get around Iran's strict press laws. 

Musical instruments and computers for music soft wares had to smuggled in to the country. Citizens had to use these equipment in sound-proofed rehearsals rooms at certain hours of the day. The government also banned use if instruments in the country which caused an underground music scene to be formed, this is where artist hosted there own illegal gigs and sold tickets on the black market. Even though this was risky and dangerous the Iranian citizens did pay a lot of money to purchase instruments and musical soft wares. With technology becoming a neccesity to create music, the people in Iran would find it extremely different to keep up to date with the new programmes and soft wares.

Most musicians from Iran tried to escape to somewhere where music was not banned. The band 'Take It Easy Hospital' had to find refuge in the UK after being caught by the police for creating music. Going back to there had there lives at danger especially when there film 'No one knows about the Persian Cats' was played at the Cannes festival. The film represented the country in a negative light so the idea of going back to Iran was IMPOSSIBLE.

Even though censoring music shouldn't be allowed it did help them develop their cultural sides and help them appreciate music more. Whilst us  people in the UK do not understand the worth of having music there at your disposal as we are saturated in it. Music now being very easy to access and also very cheap it is hard to think of a life where music could be censored. Politics is definitely one of the main reasons for the underexposure of music in the middle east. The education curriculum makes sure music lessons are very limited, they insist on the classical/cultural route so the children do not habe a creative mind to try anything different, they do not have the chance to explore the different genres and styles that music has to offer.

The idea of censoring music in Iran doesnt not allow citizens to develop their own beliefs and thoughts, it is basically controlling people. This defintely should be stopped and given the light it needs to show people the different ways people are living due to dictatorship.


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Disco

The Joy of disco

    Disco started in the late 1960's it was aimed at the people who were valued less in society. An example was the homosexuals who found life very hard by being discriminated from the law, society and the general public. It was said that homosexuality was a mental illness and was very shameful. This was reflected from the bible as it states that "You shall not lie with a man as with a woman; that is an abomination."

Not only did homosexuals have no rights but also women didn't have equal rights as men did. This was because of the whole 'housewife' image still being taken as a view by society. It was almost as if homosexuals, women and black people where in the same boat with not having equality.
Disco was a dancing music culture that accepted those who wanted to get away from the critical world. By dancing it was an easy form of expression and it was a necessity for crowds that needed escapism for the judgmental public.
 For a while disco and gay liberation enjoyed a synergistic relationship. Years later Stonewall, gay clubs, which had been sites of repression and supervision, became something related to liberated zones. Through Disco, gay men felt sexually legible to each other. There was also a thriving drug subculture, particularly for drugs that would enhance the experience of dancing to the loud music and the flashing lights. They took drugs such as cocaine, poppers and Quaalude etc. The drugs caused a lot promiscuity and public sex. Disco became kind of a main reason in a hedonist's menu for a night out.

Histories of disco emphasize the antagonism between rock and disco. But just like disco that was used to express and escape from an oppressive society by those who were oppressed, Punk was also invented by working class people so they could escape the Thatcher government. Nevertheless, unlike disco which was a dancing joyous genre for expression, punk was an escapism of anger. 
The reason why the working class punk rockers were so angry was because the Thatcher government had caused a recession which meant there were no jobs so there was no source of income. Punk rockers also hated disco because everybody enjoyed and danced to it whilst rock was going down the drain at the time. The era of disco ended in 1979 when an event called 'Disco Demolition Night', which was held at the Chicago White Sox stadium. It quickly became one of the worst sports disasters of the century when disgruntled rock fans wrecked the stadium screaming "Rock Sucks!" while racing to get the disco records burned and blown up.

Disco can also be compared to a more recent movement in music, to censorship in Iran. There are many similarities within this field.  With Disco, homosexuals were segregated by there own American government and weren't allowed to express there sexuality. The Iranian government censored all the music that was not cultural to the Iran's, the government were not giving them rights to express themselves and listen to popular music. The similarities they have is not being able to have rights as the government stopped them. 

Also both Homosexuals of America and Iranians stood up to their oppressors. The Stonewall riots began in 1969 on June 28th. This was a riot by the gay members against a police raid. It started at 1:20am in the morning where four undercover cops entered the bar and started arresting people for performing homosexual behaviour. The homosexuals refused to go to the police and thats where everything became explosive. They stood up to the police and fought for equality.
Till this day from the 1980's popular music is still banned from Iran. Reasons being is that the government fears the radical spread of western music, therefore they think it will invade the cultural revolution. They fear the people of iran will start a political revolution which would mean a war against the government. However, Iranian musicians still rebel and sneak in popular music instruments in order to play them. They also throw private gatherings to show their music which is very risky as Iran's are not allowed to be in groups. Furthermore, they wait days to download JUST an introduction to a song because the government controls the internet to the country which means that all software available to download music works very slow. The Iran's are rebelling which they believe is fighting the oppression.

Both movements show that it is important to fight for your rights, equality and most importantly FREEDOM.

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