Welcome to Episode 46.  We do a deep dive into what happens when governments and authorities ban music, with examples from Trinidad, India, Afghanistan, Russia, and Brazil.  Warren Senders interviews three experts: ethnomusicologist Matthew Rahaim (the 1941-1971 ban on the harmonium on India’s national radio system), Derek Beckvold (the Afghanistan National Institute of Music after the Taliban), and Brazilian pianist and composer Henrique Eisenmann (Samba traditions as musical resistance).

#censorship #samba #afghanistan #harmonium #trinidad #roentgenizdat #xrayrecords #matchbox #brazil

Music and Video

Claxton Bay Tamboo Bamboo

Laventille Steelband Festival

Trinidad, August 4, 2013

Courtesy World Steelpan Trust

of Trinidad and Tobago

“Music From Oil Drums”

Documentary film produced

by Pete & Toshi Seeger (1955)

Community Steel Band

Trinidad, 2013

Courtesy YouTube user

emlatham1

Matt Rahaim Interview

June 29, 2026

Rajasthani Geet

Mohan & Lathib Khan — Dholak & Harmonium

Courtesy YouTube user #Healthy King

“Jogi Rup Banayo Ravane”

Mahomed Hoosein — Voice & Harmonium

Ramagraph  572

“Vande Mataram”

Vishnupant Pagnis (1940)

His Master’s Voice – P. 13361

“Tobu Mone Rekho (Remember Me Still)”

Rabindranath Tagore (1932)

Hindusthan Record Co — LH 98

John Foulds – Essays in the Modes, Op. 78 (1928)

Peter Jacobs — Piano

Altarus Records – AIR-2-9001

“Bajuband Kholo”

Govindrao Tembe — Harmonium

HMV 78 — P 8942

Drut gat in Raga Bihag

Dr. Aravind Thatte — Harmonium

Shri Ramdas Palsule — Tabla

Gaanwardhan, Pune, India

May 26, 2008

Courtesy Chaitanya Kunte

“Gaura Pooja”

Vanita Willie – voice

Produced by Bunty Singh, Trinidad, 2021

Courtesy West Indian Chutney Music

“Mohammed dai nabiyana”

Ustad Doray Logari — voice

Radio Afghanistan Orchestra

Afghanistan: Music From The Crossroads Of Asia

Nonesuch – H-72053

Derek Beckvold Interview

July 28, 2026

“Ay Doostan”

Sarur Logari — Voice

MMC Cassette M-659 (1980s)

“Afghanistan National Institute of Music

Polar Music Prize 2018 Official Announcement”

Video by Polar Music Prize

“Pahadi”

Mohammed Omar — Rabab

YAP Cassette R-101 (1980s)

“Banghari Neem Khat Na Neem”

Pashtun song

Abdullah Muqurai

(Voice & Harmonium)

TAJ Video, courtesy

YouTube user Agha

“Youngsters Make Music in

Afghan School” (2013)

Video by World Bank

“Ay Dil Ay Dil “

Ahmed Zahir  

(Voice & Harmonium)

from “Ahmad Zahir Majlisi Volume 3”

Pashtun Traditional Music

for voice, rabab, tabla

Courtesy YouTube user SijawalKhan

“Chi Pa Sina ” (Pashto song)

Zarsanga — Voice

With rabab, harmonium,

tabla, and dholak

Pakistani TV

Courtesy Imdad Ali

“I’m In Love Again”

Pat Boone

Soviet X-Ray record

courtesy Dimitry Seferov

“Don’t Sit Under The Apple Tree”

The Andrews Sisters

Soviet X-Ray record

Courtesy Great American Songbook Foundation

“Nie Pokiday (Don’t Leave Me)”

Pyotr Leshchenko

Soviet X-Ray record,

Courtesy Clay Peek

“Hippy Hippy Shake”

The Beatles

Soviet X-Ray record

Courtesy George Khutsishvili

Henrique Eisenmann Interview

July 8, 2026

Capoeira Demonstration

Afro-Brazilian Block Party, 2012

Granville Street  Vancouver, BC

“Homenagem ao Malandro”

Chico Buarque

Brazilian TV, December 25, 1978

“Aquarela do Brasil”

Francisco Alves & Mario Reis (1939)

“O Sol Nascerá”

Cartola & Elton Medeiros

from the documentary film, “Meu Tempo é Hoje”

“Estrela”

Eduardo Gudin & Elton Medeiros

Brazilian TV appearance (1999)

“Hello”

Performed by Devin Ramoutar – harmonium

Rohanshyam Deonarain — tabla & dholak

Bhisham Harripersad  — steel drum

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