Protest song
A protest song is a song that is associated with a movement for protest and social change and hence part of the broader category of topical songs. It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre.
Among social movements that have an associated body of songs are the abolition movement, prohibition, women's suffrage, the labour movement, the human rights movement, civil rights, the Native American rights movement, the Jewish rights movement, disability rights, the anti-war movement and 1960s counterculture, art repatriation, opposition against blood diamonds, abortion rights, the feminist movement, the sexual revolution, the LGBT rights movement, masculism, animal rights movement, vegetarianism and veganism, gun rights, legalization of marijuana and environmentalism.
Protest songs are often situational, having been associated with a social movement through context. "Goodnight Irene", for example, acquired the aura of a protest song because it was written by Lead Belly, a black convict and social outcast, although on its face it is a love song. Or they may be abstract, expressing, in more general terms, opposition to injustice and support for peace, or free thought, but audiences usually know what is being referred to. Ludwig van Beethoven's "Ode to Joy", a song in support of universal brotherhood, is a song of this kind. It is a setting of a poem by Friedrich Schiller celebrating the continuum of living beings, to which Beethoven himself added the lines that all men are brothers. Songs which support the status quo do not qualify as protest songs.
Protest song texts may have significant specific content. The labour movement musical Pins and Needles articulated a definition of a protest song in a number called "Sing Me a Song of Social Significance". Phil Ochs once explained, "A protest song is a song that's so specific that you cannot mistake it for BS." Some researchers have argued that protest songs must express opposition or, at the very least, offer some alternative solutions if they are limited to drawing attention to social issues. A broad definition, which does not exclude any upcoming form of creativity, defines a protest song as one performed by protesters.
An 18th-century example of a topical song intended as a feminist protest song is "Rights of Woman", sung to the tune of "God Save the King", written anonymously by "A Lady" and published in the Philadelphia Minerva, October 17, 1795. There is no evidence that it was ever sung as a movement song, however.
Types
The sociologist R. Serge Denisoff saw protest songs rather narrowly in terms of their function, as forms of persuasion or propaganda. Denisoff saw the protest song tradition as originating in the "psalms" or songs of grassroots Protestant religious revival movements, terming these hymns "protest-propaganda", as well.Denisoff subdivided protest songs as either "magnetic" or "rhetorical". "Magnetic" protest songs were aimed at attracting people to the movement and promoting group solidarity and commitment – for example, "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize" and "We Shall Overcome". "Rhetorical" protest songs, on the other hand, are often characterized by individual indignation and offer a straightforward political message designed to change political opinion. Denisoff argued that although "rhetorical" songs often are not overtly connected to building a larger movement, they should nevertheless be considered as "protest-propaganda". Examples include Bob Dylan's "Masters of War" and "What's Going On" by Marvin Gaye.
Ron Eyerman and Andrew Jamison, in Music and Social Movements: Mobilizing Tradition in the Twentieth Century, take issue with what they consider Denisoff's reductive approach to the history and function of song in social movements. They point out that Denisoff had paid little attention to the song tunes of protest music, considered them strictly subordinate to the texts, a means to the message. It is true that in the highly text-oriented western European song tradition, tunes can be subordinate, interchangeable, and even limited in number, nevertheless, Eyerman and Jamison point out that some of the most effective protest songs gain power through their appropriation of tunes that are bearers of strong cultural traditions. They also note that:
There is more to music and movements than can be captured within a functional perspective, such as Denisoff's, which focuses on the use made of music within already-existing movements. Music, and song, we suggest, can maintain a movement even when it no longer has a visible presence in the form of organizations, leaders, and demonstrations, and can be a vital force in preparing the emergence of a new movement. Here the role and place of music needs to be interpreted through a broader framework in which tradition and ritual are understood as processes of identity and identification, as encoded and embodied forms of collective meaning and memory.
Martin Luther King Jr. described the freedom songs this way: "They invigorate the movement in a most significant way... these freedom songs serve to give unity to a movement."
Africa
Algeria
is a form of folk music, originated in Oran, Algeria from Bedouin shepherds, mixed with Spanish, French, African and Arabic musical forms. Its origins date back to the 1920s and has been primarily evolved by the women referred to as cheikhas, who performed in cafes, bars or bordellos, often for men. A typical performance included the cheikhas accompanied by two to four male instrumentalists playing a gasba and gallal. Rai was considered a rejection of the traditional Algerian music of the time, and the cheikhas "... used lewd lyrics focusing on the hardships of life facing peasant women in a big city, the pain of love, the lure of alcohol, immigration, and mourning."By the 1950s, and through the 1960s, male musicians began performing rai music and incorporated the use of what was considered to be modern musical instruments of that time, such as the violin, the accordion, the lute, and the trumpet. As the genre evolved over time, it continued to have associations with political movements and organizations, such as the Algerian Freedom Fighters who rallied against the French occupation. Even after Algeria achieved independence in 1962, Rai continued to have an adverse relationship with the Algerian government, which exerted a tight grip upon its culture. In fact, Raï had been banned from broadcast media, though it thrived in underground spaces, such as cabarets. It was forbidden to the point of one popular singer, Cheb Hasni, being assassinated. However, since the government lifted its restrictions on rai in the 1980s, it has enjoyed some considerable success.
The song "Parisien Du Nord" by Cheb Mami is a recent example of how the genre has been used as a form of protest, as the song was written as a protest against the racial tensions that sparked the 2005 French riots. According to Memi:
It is a song against racism, so I wanted to sing it with a North African who was born in France... Because of that and because of his talent, I chose K-Mel. In the song, we say, 'In your eyes, I feel like foreigner.' It's like the kids who were born in France but they have Arab faces. They are French, and they should be considered French."Rai continues to be regarded, as Al-Neen states, " music of rebellion and the symbol of cynicism. Rai has emerged as an outlet for voicing the frustrations of youths and placing greater emphasis on freedom and liberty."
Egypt
is considered a key dissident figure whose poetry in colloquial Arabic gave voice to the underclass in Egypt, and inspired protesters. He teamed up in the 1960s with composer Sheikh Imam Eissa who gave music to his verses, the partnership lasting for twenty years. Lines from Negm's poem "Who Are They, and Who Are We?" were chanted at Tahrir Square in 2011 during protests against President Hosni Mubarak.Music played a key role in mobilizing the 2011 protests at Tahrir Square against President Hosni Mubarak which led to the Egyptian revolution. "Ezzay," meaning "How come?" by Egyptian singer and actor Mohamed Mounir is considered one of the most popular songs associated with the protests. "Irhal," meaning "Leave", by Ramy Essam became an internet hit, and was subsequently described in the media as having become an anthem for the revolution.
South Africa
Anti-apartheid
The majority of South African protest music of the 20th century concerned itself with apartheid, a system of legalized racial segregation in which blacks were stripped of their citizenship and rights from 1948 to 1994. As the apartheid regime forced Africans into townships and industrial centres, people sang about leaving their homes, the horror of the coal mines and the degradation of working as domestic servants. Examples of which include Benedict Wallet Vilakazi's "Meadowlands", the "Toyi-toyi" chant and "Bring Him Back Home" by Hugh Masekela, which became an anthem for the movement to free Nelson Mandela. The Special AKA wrote a song on Nelson Mandela called "Free Nelson Mandela". The track is upbeat and celebratory, drawing on musical influence from South Africa, was immensely popular in Africa. Masekela's song "Soweto Blues", sung by his former wife, Miriam Makeba, is a blues/jazz piece that mourns the carnage of the Soweto riots in 1976. Basil Coetzee and Abdullah Ibrahim's "Mannenberg" became an unofficial soundtrack to the anti-apartheid resistance.In Afrikaans, the 1989 Voëlvry movement led by Johannes Kerkorrel, Koos Kombuis, and Bernoldus Niemand, provided a voice of opposition from within the white Afrikaner community. These musicians sought to redefine Afrikaner identity, and although met with opposition from the authorities, Voëlvry played to large crowds at Afrikaans university campuses and was quite popular among Afrikaner youth.