Armed With Techno, Vilnius DJs Are Taking On The Worlds Autocrats
It's one of the most controversial releases of the year, but La Voz de la Libertad—an album of recordings by autocrats—is a protest against the propaganda and censorship of the time.
Antidote Community, a collective of independent electronic music producers and DJs from Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania and home to a rich and active electronic music scene, created an electronic music album as a statement against the dictators of the world.
Entitled The Voice of Freedom, the CD combines audio clips from various autocratic regimes with techno music that has historically been used to protest anti-democratic regimes over the years.
Antidote project manager Edmundas Puchorius said the album represents people's belief in the power of cultural change, especially in electronic music.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, electronic music and rave parties have been used as forms of protest and national unity, including in the reconstruction of devastated areas and the country's Independence Day celebrations in Vilnius.
“For the first time since 2004, there are more autocracies than democracies in the world. Dictators are caught in an information trap.
"In Voices of Freedom, seven musicians confront this tyranny and use their words to deliver a message of hope and freedom, a move that would lead to a recording ban on the autocracy."
The album and its cover were unveiled this week at the Vilnius Open Gallery, a unique open-air art gallery in the city's New Town.
Called The Ultimate Dictator, the artwork is an AI-generated composite portrait that combines the faces of 40 dictators.
evil face"We want to see the face of evil. To do this, we rank countries using data from various indices of freedom and free democracy. Forty countries with the best scores are selected. As a visual tool, we transform the faces of these dictators into one." , which is the basis for creating the work," Puchourius said.
The work, painted by Pijus Ikauskas, appears in a brick wall portrait reminiscent of George Orwell's "Big Brother" from the dystopian novel 1984.
A rough yellow marker covers the image, a reminder of how quickly dissidents who tarnish the image of the autocratic ruler must act quickly to avoid being caught.
This open gallery is presented as part of the latest addition to Lofta fest'22, featuring various musicians and various art installations, taking place in a converted factory and industrial estate.
Loftas presents the largest street art exhibition in Vilnius, constantly evolving with new works of art by world-renowned muralists.
Sound of Freedom can be streamed on Soundcloud or Bandcamp.
Photo: Edmundas Puckorius
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