At a time when the Covid 19 pandemic has turned our lives, our families and our professions upside down, and limited our individual freedoms for the good of all, artists, whose resources and working conditions have been hard hit by this crisis, have shared concerts, shows and films, often without compensation. All over the world, they have continued to create.
During this difficult period, they have had to endure, in addition to these health disorders, oppression, disgrace, arrests, imprisonment, unfair trials and, in the best of cases, ostracism.
This tendency towards violence and coercion on the part of authoritarian regimes, which are increasingly muzzling artists, has become more pronounced in recent years, while at the same time the possibilities for informing oneself and sharing knowledge and cultural goods have been enhanced by social networks and digital tools. A trend that is also being felt in our liberal democracies.

They are everywhere, near and far, men and women, young and old, unknown and famous. They play music, sing, go on stage, dance, make films, draw, write books in conditions where every word, every sound, every image is torn from the shadows and anguish.

Hémisphère son is a friendly, independent space where artistic freedom is celebrated, and where the diversity of all cultural expressions is encouraged.

I would like to remind myself today that "artistic freedom is the freedom to imagine, create and distribute diverse cultural expressions without government censorship, political interference or pressure from non-state actors. It includes the right of every citizen to have access to these works and is essential to the well-being of societies", according to the 2005 Unesco Convention.
I would like to remind us that defending this freedom of artistic expression cannot be dissociated from defending the freedom of the people themselves.
And while Hémisphère son is not a political forum, I would like to take advantage of our opportunity to enjoy this freedom of expression, here and now, to make visible their distress and resistance.

In particular, I'd like to mention the fate of Maria Kalesnikava, one of the 82 artists imprisoned this year.

Maria Kalesnikava is a Belarusian musician and a member of the opposition to President Alexander Lukashenko that formed during the protests of 2020.
Maria Kalesnikava was kidnapped on September 7, 2020 and forced into exile. She was taken by force to the Ukrainian border, where she was arrested after tearing up her passport. Like many others, she chose to remain in her country.
On September 6, she was tried in camera and sentenced to 11 years' imprisonment for "plotting to seize power" and "calling for actions undermining national security".

A flutist trained at the Belarusian State Academy of Music, Maria Kalesnikava obtained two masters degrees in Stuttgart in 2012 and has since divided her career between her country and Germany. In 2017 she co-founded Artemp, an art collective, and in 2019 she became artistic director of the OK16 cultural club in Minsk.

To support his action and courage, he has been awarded several prizes: the "Intrepid Speech" prize in Germany (Rhineland-Palatinate - 2020), the Sakharov Prize awarded by the European Parliament (2020), and the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize 2021.
In his book "The Power of the Powerless", Vaclav Havel, a great resistance fighter and later President of the Czech Republic, describes the unsuspected power of civil society to build small alternative societies - music groups, sports associations, literary clubs - in the face of authoritarianism and censorship. 

Every day, initiatives in support of Maria are born: messages or postcards are published on her #Freemariakalesnikava page, concerts are organized on digital platforms, works are written and produced.

And since we're a music platform, I'd like to mention two among many:
" Dream House" by the Mixed Sound Personnel(Viktoriia Vitrenko, voice, music & Lucas Gerin, e-drums, music) feat. Pauline Drand (lyrics, music, voice & text) & Vj Yarkus (video art), in which her friends integrated Maria Kalesnikava's latest flute piece, recorded in Stuttgart, and electronically processed the voice of her latest speeches.

And " à l'air libre ", a work for flute written by French composer Frédéric Durieux to demand the release of Maria Kalesnikava. Consisting of several episodes added up over time as long as necessary, they will be published with the help of Ensemble Linea, La Poulie Production and played and recorded as they go along by flutist Keiko Murakami.
Here's hoping this work is as short as possible.
Begun on November 28, 2021, here's episode 3 from February 6, 2022:

Today I've told you about Maria Kalesnikava, but I could name so many other artists like her who have been persecuted, exiled and imprisoned: Afghan singer Ayesha Khan, Palestinian graphic artist Hafez Omar, Kurdish singer Nüdem Durak , Cuba rapper Maykel Osorbo, Saudi Arabian poet Ashraf Fayad, Iranian painter Shahriar Siroos and Spanish rapper Valtònyc in exile in Brussels.

And since figures can sometimes better illustrate what words are trying to say, I encourage you to visit the website of Freemuse (an independent international non-governmental organization that defends freedom of artistic expression and cultural diversity at UNESCO), whose 2020 report is alarming.
A year in which 17 artists were killed, 82 people were imprisoned in 20 countries, 133 are detained in 23 countries, 107 are persecuted in 27 countries.
Freemuse recorded 978 acts of violation of artistic freedom in 89 countries and on the Internet: 24% visual art, 24% music, 23% film, 12% literature, 9% theater, 6% other art forms.
Which are distributed as follows: 26% in Europe, 22% in North and South America, 19% in the Middle East and Maghreb, 15% in Asia and the Pacific, 9% in Africa, 9% on the Internet.

Sandrine Maricot Despretz

LINKS :
Freemuse
Voiceproject
Unesco
Equaltimes

Photo © Wikipedia / Wikiwand