{"id":180388,"date":"2025-08-13T14:12:29","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T13:12:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/centmagazine.co.uk\/?p=180388"},"modified":"2025-08-14T17:59:47","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T16:59:47","slug":"protest-records-are-a-bright-light-to-a-better-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.centmagazine.co.uk\/?p=180388","title":{"rendered":"Protest Records; Are A Bright Light To A Better Future"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

‘Southern trees bear a strange fruit, Blood on the leaves and blood at the root, Black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze, Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees’. These words are some of the most infamous and frightening used in a protest song. Perhaps the first time you heard Billie Holiday or Nina Simone sing it, you were caught up in the melody but didn’t quite catch the sentiment. The idea of using music to raise social consciousness, combat oppression, and challenge hatred has never left us. One of the kings of this genre, Woody Guthrie, has new work coming out, 75 years after he died. Meet some of the best made here in Protest Records; Are A Bright Light To A Better Future<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this day and age, the protest song is as relevant as it ever was. A rallying cry of strength and unity, serving as a call to action against injustice, and giving a voice to the marginalised. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This opportunity to crystallise raw emotions and inspire all to take a stand, raise awareness, and feel heard, contributing to social collective change by creating shared identities and narratives.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The song Strange Fruit quoted above originated as a protest poem against\u00a0lynching, written by Abel Meeropol, and was originally called Bitter Fruit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He then set his lyrics<\/a><\/strong> to music alongside his wife, Anne Shaffer and the singer\u00a0Laura Duncan\u00a0and performed it as a\u00a0protest song\u00a0in\u00a0New York City\u00a0venues in the late 1930s. It wasn’t the first protest song, but it is one of the earliest, gaining massive status after many covers, with the most renowned being Billie Holiday and Nina Simone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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