music of resistance

Music of Resistance

Telling the stories of the musicians who fight repression and sing about injustice.

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The Music of Resistance is a six-part documentary series that tells the stories of musicians who fight repression and sing about injustices.

They are unique musical personalities from some of the world’s most troubled areas – what makes them different is their need to communicate their politics through music.

They are all ambitious and talented but for them ‘making it’ is not about diamonds and sports cars – it is about radical political change. They come from Nigeria, Mozambique, the favelas of Brazil, Cape Verde, the desert of the Southern Sahara and inner-city London.

Framed in their historical context and current political circumstances, The Music of Resistance will illustrate their messages through live performances, interviews and images from the communities they sing about and inspire.

Presenter Steve Chandra Savale is the musical force behind Asian Dub Foundation – a London-based group that has for years brought a strong anti-racism message to an international audience. 

 Human rights for the most marginalised

Seun Kuti is carrying the weight of one of the heaviest musical legacies in Africa. He is the youngest son of Fela Anikelapu Kuti, the creator of Afrobeat and the voice of Nigeria’s disenfranchised.

Seun is motivated by endemic corruption and the abuse of Nigeria’s youth.

Survival in the southern Sahara

The nomadic Touareg tribes have endured years of drought and civil war. The one constant through this hardship has been the music of Tinariwen.

Once a group of rebel soldiers, training alongside Colonel Gadaffi in Libya, after years of struggle and violence Tinariwen decided to lay down their guns and fight with a different weapon – music.

 The race to fight racism

For almost 15 years, Asian Dub Foundation has delivered uncompromising messages of social change – looking at prejudice against Britons of Asian descent.

Alarmed by the number of inner-city youngsters turning to gangs, the group formed Asian Dub Foundation Education (ADFED) as a way of getting them back on track.

 Fighting for clean water in Mozambique

It is a simple request – clean water and sanitation. Afflicted by polio as a child, Feliciano Dos Santos was determined to make sure that young citizens of his native Mozambique do not suffer the lack of sanitation that spreads disease.

This message has become central to the music of his band, Massoukos.

 Finding dignity as an African immigrant in Europe

Nuno Santos (aka Chullage) is a Cape Verdean living in Portugal. Half of his fellow Cape Verdeans in Lisbon do not have official documents and live on the fringe of society.

Like so many migrants from this small African island, he faces discrimination daily. His music tries to redress this injustice.

 AfroReggae

Vigario Geral is one of the most dangerous, drug-invested, suburbs, or favelas, in Brazil. Shootings are a daily occurrence but it was the massacre of 21 residents by police that sparked a remarkable music group.

Anderson Sá turned his back on drug dealing and crime and formed AfroReggae – a group devoted to providing an alternative to the children in the favela.