International Organization: Freedom of Musical Expression and The International Cities of Refuge Network

The International Thematic Dossier 1 of the Protest Song, in the plan of activities of the first year of the Observatory of the Protest Song (OCP), edited by the Institute of Ethnomusicology (INET-md) of the Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, emerges from the works of the International Conference Protest Song and Social Change – ICPSong’16. It was designed in collaboration with the international representative of the Advisory Board of OCP, Anthony Seeger, special guest in this issue; being carried out by a team of researchers from the doctoral program in Ethnomusicology of FCSH/NOVA, supported by the Foundation for Science and Technology. The International dossier has seven points preceded by a prologue celebrating its identifying concept. The information given in each point, to renew annually presents, relatively to the topic of protest song and its context concerning socially engaged music production, small introductory texts and respective contents, contemplating: (1) researchers and texts associated with conferences or publications; (2) phonography from private and/or public archives; (3) international organizations especially attentive to individuals and music related with the topic; (4) real or virtual places of freedom of expression; (5) filmography, launching the Cinema Cycle Music as Power, showing selected films commented by special guests in an annual program; (6) a person to celebrate with international representation and special relation with Portugal and (7) details of internationalization, referring events, musicians, and/or music projects of international meaning related to the topic. Far from exhaustive, the selected information presented aims to connect the readers to the international dimension of the topic under consideration in perspectives directly and indirectly related with the broad universe that the notion of protest song invokes in OCP, which includes above all political contexts of resistance, revolution and social awareness.