Telekom Electronic Beats
Culture

12 Songs So Powerful They Have Been Banned By Governments

YouTube

By loading the video, you agree to YouTube’s privacy policy.
Learn more

Load video

A timely reminder of how music can be used as a form of politics and protest.

If the music you’ve been listening to recently has felt rather beige or lacked that little bit of urgency, it might be time to check out this awesome project, Unsongs: Forbidden Stories. Photographer Jørgen Nordby and musician Pål Moddi Knutsen have traveled around the world to “trace the footsteps of songs that have, at one stage, been banned, censored or silenced.” They have compiled twelve of these forbidden songs into an album accompanied by a series of mini-documentaries that detail how these songs have come to take on a political life of their own, and how their creators have risked their own lives fighting for their right to speak out on injustice through music.

Read more: This Documentary Traces How Punks Stopped Skinheads In ’80s Paris

Loading...