Down the highway

“Mixing pop and politics, he asks me what the use is. I offer him embarrassment and my usual excuses.” – Billy Bragg, ‘Waiting For The Great Leap Forward’

Much as some would try to deny it, music and politics have always been bedfellows, a trend that has inspired filmmaker and musician Phillip King in his latest Hummingbird production, Freedom Highway. “There have,” he opines, “always been people who have used their musical talent, or felt a responsibility to use their musical talent, to give a voice to those people that don’t have one.”

Giving itself the remit of examining the music of protest on a global scale, the film is a huge undertaking but one that provides an impressively cohesive view of the music, and history, of the last one hundred years.

Although centering itself on the music of the respective struggles in Africa and black America, Freedom Highway also includes examples of the strident traditions in British folk music and beyond (there are interviews with exiled Tibetan singer Yungchen Lhamo as well as a look at the revolutionary impact of the music of Victor Jara in Chile, an artist ultimately murdered by the government for his influence). And although the work of Irish artists is featured only briefly – a slightly grating Pop era Bono and a sublime performance of his band’s ‘Please’ by Elvis Costello – King believes that the film still has a resonance within these shores:

“Look at modern Ireland and the questions that are being asked about multiculturalism, racism and the whole immigration situation, the questions that are being asked of Irish people – will they pass the test and become a truly pluralist society? It’s hard to believe that the question is yes but nonetheless some of the music here and some of the language used in the film can help open people’s inner ears and eyes”.

Throughout the film’s ninety minutes there are some startling performances from the likes of Ani Difranco, Tom Waits, The Blind Boys of Alabama, June Tabor and South Africa’s Freedom Family, as well as moving reminiscences and incisive comments from Eamonn McCann, author Robin Denslow and Billy Bragg. Most inspiring of all, especially for King, is Pete Seeger – one of the key protest songwriters of the past fifty years.

“You couldn’t make this film without him,” he says. “It was a privilege to be in his company.”

It is Seeger who provides the film with its title and closing image, thoughtfully picking his way through Woody Guthrie’s ‘This Land Is Your Land’.

“That tells you everything, doesn’t it?” says King. “There he is, still singing the song, still holding out for goodness and for right. A lot of people say music on its own won’t change anything and I think they’re right, but when you take it in the context of other actions it can turn back the sea.”

Freedom Highway will be broadcast on RTE as part of their Autumn/Winter schedule