Turning Up the Volume to Our Resistance: Launching the Music of Our Movements Studio
Afro-feminists hymns, rock songs, and vulva curses vibrate from the festival stage. Ukelele strums, tabla beats, and spoken word rhythms float across the crowd, with voices joining in song and bodies moving in flow. This is the Music of our Movements, Closer Than You Think’s new studio project, launched in December 2024 at the Association for Women’s Rights in Development Forum in Bangkok.
Music has always been at the frontline of change. From street protests to TikTok videos, music is at the very heartbeat of social justice movements. Songs of resistance communicate where the cries of change are longing to be heard. Poetic lyrics spread the word of oppression. Rhythms amp up energy, and choruses soar in rallying unity. Watch our first project trailer video on YouTube.
Envisioned as a podcast, community archive, and series of events - this studio project aims to study, celebrate, and amplify how music is being used by movements, especially in the Majority World / Global South. The examples are endless:
Songs are a tool for mobilizing action: From the farmers in India chanting and singing "Kisan Ekta Zindabad" (Long live farmer unity) and "No Farmers, No Food" in one of the largest protests in the world, to a rock band of former garment workers in Cambodia composing songs against economic policies that put profit over people and planet.
With song often comes dance as an expression of power and resistance. The anthem “Un violador en tu camino” (A rapist in your path) created by collective Las Tesis from Chile, took over the streets and social media around the world and dancing to local folk songs or international pop hits speaks truth to power against the Iranian government control of women.
Music provides a platform for unheard and historically marginalized voices and perspectives. Check Roma Stars by Niko G x Kali as one example of Roma futuristic feminist expression or the Pasya music album seeking to decriminalize abortion and protect bodily autonomy in the Philippines.
Songs and music videos are empowering, lifting up taboo subjects, breaking stereotypes, and challenging anti-rights agendas - like The Flame On Initiative ’s Troublemaker (Say No to Ghana's Anti-LGBT Bill) that “challenges us to rethink the harmful laws our lawmakers wish to enact, that target marginalised communities, reminding us of our shared humanity. The video is a show of resilience in the face of cruelty; a call to action for freedom, equality, and the protection of all human rights, regardless of sexual orientation.”
Music gives us a rhythm for resistance and perseverance. Passed down through generations of women in Vanuatu, water drumming enables storytelling and connection to the land, while young women playing gidam rhythms with their djembes have become iconically associated with protests in Sudan against military government.
Songs provide comfort during struggle against occupation, armed conflict and colonialism - Ya taliin eljabal" is a song encoded as a message that Palestinian women used to sing to their husbands in the occupation prisons, Himno Afro-Feminista is song by Agojie de MUDE, an Afro-diasporic music collective from Colombia reclaiming traditional rhythms and themes to challenge gender-based violence and inspire healing and change.
There are so many more songs of solidarity and chants of resistance from across the world that this project seeks to showcase. The studio hopes to bring together small and large groups in reverent movement and song, as a way to engage communities and broader society, from babies to elders.
During this time of increasing authoritarianism and changing world orders, we are turning up the volume to the soundtrack of our resistance. When we sing together in a collective spirit, we create coalitions of social and cultural change. Music brings us together in joy, fuelling us with the energy and optimism needed to help create a better world.
Photos from the Music of Our Movements Showcase at the AWID Forum in December 2024, Bangkok, Thailand.
This new studio project is currently people-powered as we search for backers and sponsors. If you like the idea of the project and want to contribute, you can make a gift here and indicate ‘Music of Our Movements’. We hope to set up a crowdfundraiser and/or Patreon fund soon!
If you’re interested in being involved, feel free to send us a message, and we are preparing to do a call for participation soon as well. Stay tuned!
VIDEO CREDITS
Film Editor/producer: : Aerin Prescod aerinnaomi.com
Voiceover: Maria Lumiere @mariamysoul
Artists featured include: Elyanna, Shina Novalinga, Messenger Band, LasTesis, Shadia Mansour, Troublemaker, Krantinaari, Nika G x Kali feat. Bianca, Rémmée, WADAGLIZ KE, Agojie de MUDE, Sara Curruchich, Childish Gambino, Kendrick Lamar, MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, Justina, Ruhiya, The Black Sistaz
PHOTO CREDITS
Alejandro Mendoza Muñoz https://www.behance.net/alejomendoza
