Punks from Myanmar and across the world have released a pro-democracy anthem to raise awareness for the ongoing military crackdown in which soldiers and police have shot dead children among other atrocities.
Myanmar bands The Rebel Riot, Kultureshock, The Outcast and The Slingshot, as well as several international bands, have formed a collective called Cacerolazo – the Spanish word for “casserole” and a form of protest popularized in 1971 when women banged empty pots on the streets to demonstrate against food shortages in Chile.
As most readers know by now, the practice of clattering pots and pans is associated with exorcising evil in Myanmar and it has been deployed nightly to show disgust at the junta, which seized power from an elected government on February 1.
Cacerolazo’s “The Night Will Not Be Silenced” pays homage to the noisy protest along with the people who have been killed by security forces since the coup – 320 as of Thursday, according to activist group the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners – and those who have fallen in Myanmar’s past pro-democracy struggles against the military.
“The voracity with which people crash their wooden spoons against their dented and deformed pots and pans is a daily reminder of the solidarity of the people against this regime," said a member of the band who asked for anonymity. “We wanted to share in this unity by bringing people together from across the Yangon punk community to write and record our own raucous din.”
Listen out at the end of the song for “Kabar Ma Kyay Bu” or “We Won’t Forget Until the End of the World” – a revolutionary song adapted from Kansas’ 1977 classic “Dust in the Wind” that became emblematic of the 1988 uprising and has also been widely sung since the coup.
Download the track here, donate to the cause here and watch the video below.
