Music censorship by the baath party in Syria and Iraq

Introduction

In contrast to acts of censorship stemming from women wearing too little clothing, women have also been censored by being required to wear certain items of clothing. While explicit laws in Saudi Arabia require women to remain completely covered with veils, shawls, and other garments, many other Muslim countries still implicitly require that women dress modestly, by means of garments including a head covering (known as a hijab), a face covering or veil (known as a niqab), and a burka (a garment that cover a woman's entire body). The censorship of women via these pieces of clothing has stirred controversy in recent years, prompting discussions about whether the Quran requires women to cover themselves or if laws about clothing simply remain in place to censor women's appearance and freedom. Women have also been censored for their involvement in the arts.

For instance, female music artists have also been common targets for censorship, mainly in countries in the Middle East and Africa. In some Middle Eastern countries, women are forbidden from becoming music artists, and in Africa, one woman in particular has been censored for her desire to question the political practices of her country in her lyrics. The Website Free muse: Freedom of Musical Expression reports incidents of musical artists who have been censored for their choices. Censorship of women remains a 21st-century issue worldwide, and can target everything from advertising, laws regarding women's appearance and clothing, and regulating artistic works such as literature, fine art, and filmmaking. Many of the reports on the site concern Middle Eastern countries. In early 2010 in Herat, Afghanistan, the Morality and Knowledge Association fought to ban all women from the airwaves. Supporters say that hearing women speak and sing on the air leads to societal corruption. Similarly, third-place finalist Lima Sahar of Afghan Idol also was forced into a life of exile after receiving countless death threats for choosing to pursue her dreams of being a famous singer. Women are also banned from singing and playing music in public in Iran, where, in February 2010, a concert by Iranian singer Homayoun Shajarian was banned because several members of his band were women (Shannon, pp. 13). In Africa, the female Zimbabwean musician Viomak has seen her music censored because her work often protests contemporary government practices and advocates for social justice. The censorship of women in music deserves special attention since women are literally and figuratively silenced; their needs are ignored and, instead, male voices dominate already-patriarchal cultural institutions and movements (Muller, pp. 54).

Music

Religion and musical practices are closely linked in most, if not all, societies and are interacting across cultural boundaries in the global age. Siegfried Nadel proposed that music may have had its origins in heightened speech at religious rituals—language performed in a musical way as a means of communicating with the supernatural, or at least as a way of demarcating sacred language from everyday language. We cannot know the origins of music, but ...