On Wednesday, Index launched its latest magazine issue, Unsung Heroes, with an evening of powerful talks, poetry, and music from Joe Mulhall, Rahima Mahmut, Hanna Komar and Solá Akingbolá celebrating fearless musicians who use their voices to stand up to oppression. The event took place at The Jago in London, bringing together artists, activists, and an engaged audience to honour those who risk everything to make themselves heard.
The latest magazine issue explores the universality of music as one of the most potent forms of self-expression—and how, because of this, it is being silenced worldwide.
The evening opened with a compelling conversation between Hope Not Hate’s Joe Mulhall and Index editor Sarah Dawood. Mulhall spoke in depth about his new book, Rebel Sounds: Music as Resistance, reflecting on the role of music in protest and resistance movements across the globe. The discussion delved into the complex relationship between music, hate speech, and censorship, before Mulhall shared his personal experiences of facing threats from the far right for his work.
Renowned Uyghur musicians Rahima Mahmut and Shohret Nur then took the stage to perform songs that spoke to the attempted erasure of Uyghur identity in China. Nur played a moving solo on the dutar and accompanied Mahmut’s beautiful vocals with the rawap instrument.
Belarusian poet Hanna Komar followed, dedicating her performance to political prisoners still held in Belarus, including Andrei Aliaksandrau, who had just spent his fourth birthday behind bars. Komar spoke of the fraudulent elections that once again cemented President Lukashenka’s grip on power and reflected on the pivotal role music played in the 2020 protests against his rule. Moved by her words, the audience joined in an act of solidarity, writing letters to Aliaksandrau.
The evening closed with an electrifying performance by Solá Akingbolá and the Eegun Rhapsodies. As Akingbolá paid tribute to the revolutionary legacy of Fela Kuti, the audience danced, a living testament to the power of music to unite, resist and inspire.
