The Role of Music, Art, & Journalism in Political Dissent

Mai Khôi is a musician from Vietnam and a former resident of City of Asylum Pittsburgh. Her avant-garde trio, Mai Khôi Chém Gió, released their debut album “Dissent” in 2018, working at the interface of art and activism. Yasmine El Baramawy is an Egyptian musician and women’s rights activist currently in residence in Sweden. Nazeeha Saeed is a Bahraini journalist, human rights defender, women’s rights advocate, and a former ICORN resident in Paris, currently based in Berlin. Khaled Harara is a Palestinian hip-hop artist and activist currently living in Sweden. Together, they’ll discuss how they use their creative practices to advocate for human rights and creative freedom of expression.

About the Panelists:

Mai Khôi is an award-winning singer, composer, and activist. She rose to stardom in 2010 after winning the Vietnam Television Song and Album of the Year awards as one of the first female songwriters in Vietnam. As a pop star, Khôi released seven albums in genres such as Vietnamese pop and dance, and made regular appearances on nationally televised performances. Several years later, she became increasingly uncomfortable submitting her work to government censors. Thinking she could reform the system from within, she nominated herself to run in the National Assembly elections on a pro-democracy platform. Her campaign sparked a nationwide debate about political participation and culminated in a meeting with Barack Obama in May 2016. Her activism came at a high price. Her concerts were raided, she was evicted from multiple residences, and was detained and interrogated by the police. Khôi’s artistic transformation is evident in Mai Khôi Chém Gió, a genre-splicing dissident trio she founded in 2016, which combines protest music with free jazz and the lost musical traditions of Vietnam’s hill tribes. Her current project, Mai Khôi and the Dissidents, is an eclectic and experimental jazz-ish quintet that’s as likely to launch into a noisy protest song or collective improvisation as a lullaby or love ballad. Since 2019, Mai Khôi has lived in exile in the US. She was awarded an Artist Protection Fund Fellowship in cooperation with the University of Pittsburgh, City of Asylum, and the International Free Expression Project in 2020, and was an Artist-in-Residence at City of Asylum in Pittsburgh from 2020–2023. 

Khaled Harara is a Palestinian rapper and cultural producer from Gaza, now residing in Sweden. In Gaza, Khaled was the first artist to organize hip-hop workshops for young people, focusing on lyric writing and alternative forms of self-expression. Due to his artistic expression and outspoken criticism, Khaled was labeled an “enemy of the state” by Hamas. Between 2013 and 2015, he was the ICORN resident in Gothenburg, Sweden. Having lived most of his life in a conflict zone, Harara pursued studies in cultural project management and leadership in Sweden to continue leveraging the transformative power of culture and music. Through cross-sectoral projects for artists and young people, he engages deeply with diverse communities across Europe and the Middle East, particularly in regions affected by conflict. Committed to empowering youth and communities, Khaled utilizes these tools to help amplify their voices and narratives through cultural engagement. 

Nazeeha Saeed is a Bahraini Journalist based in Germany, with over 25 years of experience in journalism and human rights issues in the Gulf region and the SWANA region. Nazeeha’s work focuses on human rights, politics, and gender. Nazeeha has won several awards, including the Johann-Philipp-Palm-Award for Freedom of Speech and Press in 2014 and the Heikal Award for Arab journalism in 2021. She is also a Journalist’s Security & Safety, Gender Journalism Trainer.  Nazeeha’s work can be found in the New York Times, Raseef22, Amwaj.media, Muwatin.net,  and other independent platforms. She co-wrote We Shall Bear Witness, Arab Berlin, and Kein Land, nirgends. 

Yasmine El Baramawy is an Egyptian composer, oud player, and electronic musician, currently based in Sweden. She is renowned for her distinctive style, which merges the virtuosity of the traditional oud with the boldness of electronic experimentation. Through her work, she creates a unique cosmic sonic experience, synchronizing vocals and oud with audiovisual messages gathered from her surroundings. Yasmine has performed on international stages and has been actively involved in cross-disciplinary projects. Beyond her musical accomplishments, she is a vocal advocate for human rights, particularly in the area of sexual violence. By publicly sharing her experiences as a survivor of sexual violence, she played a crucial role in mobilizing public support for the enactment of a law against sexual harassment in Egypt following the 2011 revolution. Recently, she commenced her work as an Antitheist. In December 2024, she launched an awareness campaign collaborating with numerous free thinkers and activists worldwide to raise awareness about Apostophobia. This campaign aims to shed light on religion-based discrimination from a different perspective. Through her music and activism, Yasmine continues to break boundaries and inspire change. Her diverse career reflects her dedication to both artistic innovation and social activism.

About the Moderator:

Cathrine Helland is the Communication Manager at ICORN, the International Cities of Refuge Network (icorn.org). She holds an MSc in Communication and Arts History from the University of Copenhagen and Roskilde University. She has previously worked in the arts and educational sector, in institutions such as the National Gallery of Denmark and the IT University of Copenhagen. Cathrine is responsible for the overall communication of the organization as well as managing the annual international ICORN gatherings (General Assembly and Network Meetings) and various cooperation projects for promotion and strategic development.