On World Day Against Cyber Censorship, The Uncensored Playlist launched 20 pop-songs created from 10 previously censored articles, by 5 acclaimed journalists. Each song was recorded in both English as well as the native language of the original articles and uploaded onto global music streaming sites, that are freely available everywhere, even in the repressed societies where the articles had once been forbidden.

It was launched along with the campaign website www.uncensoredplaylist.com: Here people could explore the background of each journalist, the articles, as well as their transformation into music artists, including: album covers, artist biographies and music videos shot in the different countries. The world’s first playlist that evades censorship firewalls in countries like China, Vietnam or Uzbekistan could be listened to on Spotify, Deezer and Apple Music and was shared using the campaign hashtag #truthfindsaway.

The Uncensored Playlist used music streaming in a way never done before, by taking advantage of an internet loophole. While online censorship is on the rise globally – music streaming services are freely available, even in the most censored countries. For the first time ever, 5 journalists became music artists on music streaming services. Their previously censored articles where recorded as pop songs to evade strict censorship rules in their native countries. By uploading the songs to the services, music served as a Trojan Horse and brought truth back to the places where it had once been forbidden.

The Uncensored Playlist Lyrics (Censored articles turned into songs)

UZBEKISTAN

Galima Bukharbaeva

Dear Shavkat Mirziyoyev

Hello dear Mr. President

I am from the same party as you

I've been trying to make a living

Somehow, I manage to pay my dues

Still I have to withstand oppression

Still I have to give something to your men

Or they'll squeeze me with the State’s hands

While the voices inside resent

Now, I won't pay you

I won't pay you more

That's all I have for now

I won't pay you

I won't pay you more

That's all I have for now

Now I've heard there's no need for justice

Once you know that the law is yours

How I wish I could stand here freely

And not be bullied by your bribing force

No more… No more… That's all I ask for now

But no dictatorship stands on its own

No oppression serves itself

It's not written, but clear as daylight

We all serve under a broader will (x2)

Now we won't pay you

We won’t pay you more

That's all we have for now

UZBEKISTAN

Galima Bukharbaeva

A businessman died in police custody

All my life I held my head up high

Sorry, mister, today I’ve tried

But two hearts stopped in that empty night

Try and wash your hands with my lullaby

Lock me up and shoot me instead

That’s the order I’d rather get

The fear remains, have I paid the price

of staring down corrupted eyes?

Tell me how to stay on my feet

Am I searching for something I’ll never meet?

Tired, tired of the rules of men

Unlock the chains, let the time wheels spin

Show me please that a heart still beats

Behind all this power and greed

Murodillo Omonov died in the early hours

After being detained by the police of Djarkurgan district

His mother claims murder under torture

Still we fight for a different time

Waiting, waiting

Open up to a different mind

Let our children win

Who will ever step in and stand

With us, maybe

Is it you with the guts to try

Mr. President? (x2)

The fear remains and we pay the price

Tarring down corrupted eyes

Show me please that a heart still beats

Behind all this power and greed

Still we fight for a different time

Waiting, waiting

Open up to a different mind

Let our children win

Who will ever step in and stand

With us, maybe

Is it you with the guts to try

Mr. President? (x2)

Vietnam:

Bui Than Hien

When did Do Dang die?

Then she saw him laying down

With his head to the left

What a terrible thing

To see a son like that

He was only seventeen

He got caught stealing cash

Was arrested by the police

He didn’t have a chance

What did Do Dang do?

What was done to Du?

Was it all a lie?

When did Do Dang die?

Even though the laws are strict

He’d been arrested illegally

He left the jail for a hospital

After being beaten brutally

What had happened to that kid?

The evidence are still airy

The records are being kept

By the police and military

What did Do Dang do?

What was done to Du?

Was it all a lie?

When did Do Dang die?

What happened inside that jail?

Has something been left unsaid?

Why did it take so long

To tell the mother he was dead?

They don’t seem likely

To tell us what we’re waiting for

Was it October 10th,

Or October 4th?

What did Do Dang do?

What was done to Du?

Was it all a lie?

When did Do Dang die? (x2)

Vietnam:

Bui Than Hien

Introducing Chaos

Nhan Dan honored Nguyen Phu Trong’s anti-corruption campaign

But inspectors of the central committee have not confirmed

There were only mistakes made in a business operation

He thinks he is in control of an oblivious nation

Trong used an anti-corruption shirt in Thanh's trial

Even though the focus of the investigation was poor management

So, what's up with that fake T-shirt

When nothing’s been proved

People walking to their demise

Feeling wrong and confused

Government leads the press

Trong has nothing to lose

Covering Formosa's trial

Forcing Trinh Xuan Thanh to move

Sargent, Lieutenant, General Le Why Vuong dared to make a statement

The investigation must be objective on the basis of innocent speculation

The principle is to be open, transparent and serious and this

Investigation must obey the law, only then we can find peace

We can find peace

So, what's up with that fake T-shirt

When nothing’s been proved

People walking to their demise

Feeling wrong and confused

Government leads the press

Trong has nothing to lose

Covering Formosa's trial

Forcing Trinh Xuan Thanh to move

Vietnam feels like a joke, but it's more like a comedy drama

It just needs one glimpse of fire from somewhere and the regime will die

So, what's up with that fake T-shirt

When nothing’s been proved

Showing up the Formosa's trial

Takes the spotlight from you

Egypt:

Basma Abd-Elaziz

Hunger Games

Fortified castles,

A fancy and good life,

Nothing is missing

Where the gentlemen live their lives

Here they sleep

With their power and pride,

Buildings of gold

And govern the poor outside

They keep people busy

Playing a strange sport for these days

Like in the medieval times,

When animals fought slaves

People wrestle each other

Their skin getting thinner

But games won’t end

Until there is a single winner

These are the games of hunger

The government proclaims

People struggling in anger

These are the hunger games

Lakes are so blue

The vast lawns on spring

It’s so beautiful to see

Our capital on tv

But reality is not like it

Times are menacing

We want children to get

Good treatment and medicine

People can’t fight forever

Below poverty lines

On this game between us

The gentlemen rely

No more buildings

When our lives stay the same

The hope is in making

a new future with no games.

These are the games of hunger

The government proclaims

People struggling in anger

These are the hunger games

Egypt:

Basma Abd-Elaziz

Modern Ovens

History is repeated from time to time

Just like Hitler was driven by a mad desire

There’s a determination to remove every voice

These are the seasons of evil…Seasons of evil from time to time

They have ways, methods, all reasons why

Many regimes have tried and tried

To remove their people till they are wiped out

These are the seasons of evil…Seasons of evil from time to time

In a common sense

Whatever the fight

Whoever has a heart can only cry

No one ask questions and I’m not surprised

Why the prisons of the state kept them to die?

A brotherhood in charge, they will hurt and kill

These are the seasons of evil…Seasons of evil from time to time

In a common sense

Whatever the fight

Whoever has a heart can only cry

In a common sense

Whatever the fight

Whoever has a heart can only cry

Seasons of evil…Seasons of evil from time to time

China:

Chang Ping

Freedom Cage

Across that yellow sun

A place I used to call home

So, few will try to overcome

When the cage begins to crush us all

Freedom is dying

Fading as times change the way we think

We live in denial

Can’t see clear

When we don't belong

And some see it is big enough to live in

Hide in here and stay

Regret those words and pay

You just can't pray it away

When the cage begins to crush us all

Freedom is dying

The mystery is bigger than we know

We live in denial

In rooms of dirt

We look at monitors

So, the work is left undone

My name is Chang Ping.

Seven years ago, I had been fired for critical writing in Mainland China.

And then the government of Hong Kong denied me permission to work there.

Now my family and I now live in exile.

Freedom is dying

Fading as times change the way we think

We live in denial

Can’t see clear

When we don't belong

Freedom is dying

The mystery is bigger than we know

We live in denial

In rooms of dirt

We look at monitors

So, the work is left undone

This way of life is not fair

We are stuck in this freedom cage.

In China I have tried a recent trip to raise the freedom of speech ?

China:

Chang Ping

Speech Is Freedom Itself

Well, I’m honored.

But I can’t say that I’m happy

They say foreign awards are sugar-coated poison

Which should be firmly rejected

They say it’s all part of a plot

But time goes by, and it’s not, it’s not

Freedom, peace, human rights, democracy, civil society

Constitutionalism, independence, these things that take your breath away

Are frightening words that back in my place have sent people to their death

They say it’s all part of a plot

But time goes by, and it’s not, it’s not

Speech is freedom itself

Don’t let it be an old book on your shelf

In China political prisoners are made criminals for their speeches

Convicted of various trumped up crimes, like in a dictatorship

They say the world is forming a plot

But time goes by, and it’s not

I’ve been fighting for speaking out, that’s why I’m here, that’s for sure

Without freedom of speech, nothing will be left in the civilized world

They say the world is forming a plot

But time goes by, and it’s not

Speech is freedom itself

Don’t let it be an old book on your shelf

We can’t return to China.

Where people can’t say what they wanna say

I don’t get to see my mother

Or my relatives or talk to my father

Speech is freedom itself

Don’t let it be an old book on your shelf x2

Democracy… the movement and the woman rights campaign, it’s just two sides of one coin. I don’t know if there is right future for the human being, but do I believe we could get more freedom by fighting against the diplomation.

THAILAND:

Prachatai

UNDERGROUND RADIO

Exiles forced to leave their lives

It's just one price they have to pay

Some need to keep them quiet

But times have shown new ways to speak

Internet’s proving to break the distance

Let’s people say what they want to say

Sadly it can't be done in their home, Thailand

What does it really mean to be free?

Article one hundred and twelve

Makes many of us enemies

All it takes is discussing

Other forms of society

Not everyone wants the exact same things

But there's convergence and they all agree

To a Republic where opposing forces and thoughts

Take us closer to democracy

Even you will hear me, King

Hmmm

Let's be honest, let's be honest

This is not stability

On the underground radio

You cannot silence me

All forces of suppression

That make so many people flee

When things you say condemn you

No longer your allowed to be

Some in Europe, most of them in Asia

All abroad, but still not safe and free

Pages attacked on a daily basis

Government now reaches internationally

“Department of Police on the left side of Laos requested that they cease broadcasting via YouTube. If they do not comply, they will be deported for prosecution in Thailand. In addition, there has been intermittent news that a special forces unit has crossed the Mekhong River. Fai Yen was warned to be on alert to move houses at all times.”

What does it really mean to be free?

Even you will hear me, King

Hmmm

Let's be honest, let's be honest

This is not stability

On the underground radio

You cannot silence me

On the underground radio

You cannot silence me

On the underground radio

You cannot silence me

THAILAND:

Prachatai

Authorities Don't Like This Infographic Showing Why Thailand's Royal Insult Law Needs Reform

Watch out for books that you translate

Or you might land in jail

Be careful with plays in which you’re acting

It's 2 years and 6 months in hell

Don't step on a printing of royalty

Don't you dare to rip it apart

Don't go defaming our monarchy

You better keep in your thoughts

Life ain't safe if you're not majesty

Plenty of things you can't do

So don't let the king and his army

Disagree with you (x2)

Don't go printing out articles,

Distributing leaflets, uploading any files,

Sending out SMS that incriminate you,

Even conversations in cabs, writings on bathrooms, selling CDs

Even gestures can get you

Stand up during the anthem

Cause it doesn't take much to be caught under lèse majeste laws

Sometimes not even the truth

Life ain't safe if you're not majesty

Plenty of things you can't do

So don't let the king and his army

Disagree with you (x2)

But you can hold on to your hope

This can't last forever

If we just fight on for our voice

One day it'll get better

Life ain't safe if you're not majesty

Plenty of things you can't do

So don't let the king and his army

Disagree with you (x2)