‘Empathy is the currency of all music and Joe Mulhall does a great job of explaining how that quality has been used to generate solidarity for the struggle and sympathy for those who suffer injustice’ Billy Bragg
While the global history of the dictatorships, oppression, racism and state violence over the last century is well known – the role that music played in people’s lives during these times is less understood.
This book is a collection of stories and hidden histories about how music provided light in the darkest of times over the past century. How it steeled souls and inspired resistance to oppression. Rebel Sounds will explore freedom songs in the Republic of Ireland, the Soviet Union’s oppression behind the Berlin Wall, authoritarian dictatorships in Brazil and Nigeria, institutionalised racism and police violence in America and South Africa, street violence in Britain, ethnic cleansing in the Balkans and musical resistance in war-torn Ukraine.
This is a social history of the twentieth century but one that takes in the human impulse to create, share and enjoy the one thing that connects cultures and spans generations: music.
‘Illuminating, uplifting and important’ James O’Brien
‘Mulhall’s thrilling pilgrimage through the sites of global resistance, from Lagos to Kyiv, reminds us that music is indispensable to struggle, and that wherever oppressed people find their voice, song is usually more powerful than shouting’ – Paul Mason
‘I so enjoyed this book. Mulhall’s envious ability to mix personal history with public brings the book joyously to life, and, on top of that, he supplies a mouthwatering song-list. A triumph.’ – Paolo Hewitt
‘A beautiful account of how music has unified, healed and inspired humanity during some of history’s darkest days. Illuminating, uplifting and important’ – James O’Brien
‘Empathy is the currency of all music and Joe Mulhall does a great job of explaining how that quality has been used to generate solidarity for the struggle and sympathy for those who suffer injustice’ – Billy Bragg
‘Rebel Sounds serves as a potent reminder of how music can epitomize the soul of a movement and be a rallying cry, a way to unify and a reason to persevere’ – Spectator
Joe Mulhall is a historian, journalist and writer. He is the Director of Research at the UK’s largest anti-fascism organisation, HOPE not hate. Joe has published a series of books focusing on far-right extremism including British Fascism After The Holocaust and the co-authored The International Alt-Right: Fascism for the Twentieth Century? and in 2021 he published Drums in the Distance: Journeys in the Global Far Right.
He has written for the Guardian, Independent and New Statesman, appears regularly on international broadcast media and has worked on numerous documentaries including Undercover in the Alt-Right.
