The Routledge Companion to Music and Human Rights (SOAS Studies in Music)

The Routledge Companion to Music and Human Rights is a collection of case studies spanning a wide range of concerns about music and human rights in response to intensifying challenges to the well-being of individuals, peoples, and the planet. It brings forward the expertise of academic researchers, lawyers, human rights practitioners, and performing musicians who offer critical reflection on how their work might identify, inform, or advance mutual interests in their respective fields. The book is comprised of 28 chapters, interspersed with 23 ‘voices’ – portraits that focus on individuals’ intimate experiences with music in the defence or advancement of human rights – and explores the following four themes: 1) Fundamentals on music and human rights; 2) Music in pursuit of human rights; 3) Music as a means of violating human rights; 4) Human rights and music: intrinsic resonances.

Julian Fifer is Executive Director of Musicians For Human Rights. As cellist and founder of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, he conceived a method of orchestral music-making using democratic principles and collective leadership. The artistic outcomes have been documented by Deutsche Grammophon on 55 Orpheus recordings.

Angela Impey is Professor of Ethnomusicology at SOAS, University of London and co-editor of the Routledge SOAS Studies in Music series. She has published widely on music and social justice in Africa, including the award-winning Song Walking: Women, Music, and Environmental Justice in an African Borderland.

Peter G. Kirchschlaeger is Professor of Theological Ethics and Director of the Institute of Social Ethics ISE at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Lucerne as well as Research Fellow at the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein. Prior he was Visiting Fellow at Yale University.

Manfred Nowak is Professor of International Human Rights Law at the University of Vienna and Secretary General of the Global Campus of Human Rights, a network of some 100 universities in all world regions, based in Venice.

George Ulrich is Academic Director of the Global Campus of Human Rights (Venice, Italy) and Professor of Human Rights at the Riga Graduate School of Law. Research interests relate to the philosophy of human rights, global justice, and human rights and development cooperation.