Category Archives: Music Activism

LEFT FORUM 2015: “REVOLUTIONARY ARTS PERFORMANCE” SEGMENT, Opening Remarks

Text by John Pietaro (http://theculturalworker.blogspot.com/2015/05/revolutionary-cultural-work-on-crises.html)

About the LEFT FORUM

john reed clubThe art of rebellion is a tradition as old as dissent itself. Radical writers, musicians, painters, actors, dancers and other creative activists have long used their artwork as a weapon in the fight for social justice. If the very nature of expressive freedom lends itself toward a revolutionary voice, then it is arguable that the arts gave birth to radicalism, or in the least offered a vision toward its path. And the cultural workers fight for his or her own freedom of expression—and against the confines of censorship—further exemplifies the voice of creativity in this good fight.

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Music Activism: ‘Jazz Women And Girls Advocates’ Demand “BLIND AUDITIONS NOW!”

Date: Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Venue: on the sidewalk outside of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Gala, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Broadway at 60th Street, New York City
Text and photos by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

Is this a fabulous band, or what?…Can women play, or what…And do women belong in The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, or what?

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Music Activism: Who Counts As An Expert?

Text by  on April 6, 2015 (http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/who-counts-as-an-expert/#.VSLzghXwGCU.gmail)

When you read about music industry issues in the news, does it feel like it’s connected to your life? Do you see yourself reflected or hear your concerns included? These questions were on my mind most recently last week, as rapper Jay Z was joined by a crowded stage of pop superstars to roll out the music streaming service Tidal. It’s something I think about every time a big music news story bubbles up.

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Fair Trade Music Shows Seattle Musicians They Have Power

Text by Paul Bigman, Organizer AFM Local 76-493 (Seattle, WA)

(Officially published in the INTERNATIONAL MUSICIANS January 2015 issue: http://internationalmusician.org/fair-trade-music-shows-seattle-musicians-they-have-power/)

cropped-FTMS.bannerFair Trade Music Seattle was launched through a public meeting in 2012. “We saw a major part of our industry in Seattle with no union presence,” explains Local 76-493 (Seattle, WA) President Motter Snell. “We needed to have interest from affected musicians, and when some came to us, we took action. This has the potential to build new leadership, and help improve wages and working conditions for area musicians.”

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Woody Guthrie: 75 Years into “This Land is Your Land” and the Fight’s Still On

Text by John Pietaro – videos selected by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

Woodrow Wilson Guthrie was born on Bastille Day, 1912 and some say that revolution was his birthright. Few before him, or since, can lay claim to the mastery of protest music as honestly as Woody. Though he battled the ravages of Huntington’s disease in his later years and lived only into middle age, his time remains eternal. And his life story is the stuff legends are built on.

75 years ago today, February 23, 1940, Woody completed work on an acerbic song of fight-back he then sang as “God Blessed America For Me”. Later, upon further reflection, Woody shifted its emphasis to include an embrace of the nation’s beauty and promise as much as it damned its inequity. “This Land is Your Land” has, through the decades, come to be seen as the ultimate folk revival song, indeed, our second national anthem. A closer examination of it, though, reveals the revolutionary core.

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