CCMusic.com

BAN: Stories of Censorship is Apollo Chamber Players' bold musical response to rising global threats against freedom of expression. Featuring new commissions by composers from politically embattled regions-including Afghanistan, Turkey, and the U.S.-the album amplifies voices often silenced.

Narrated by cultural icon George Takei, The Book of Names recalls the Japanese-American internment through music and memory. DJ Spooky's Quantopia / The Thought Police confronts disinformation and the erosion of truth in the digital age. In Revise? composer Jasmine Barnes and Houston Poet Laureate Emeritus Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton explore the distortion of Black identity in American culture. Arman (Hope) by Afghan composer Homayoun Sakhi is a lyrical reflection on artistic survival under Taliban rule, with the idea of hope at the forefront, while Turkish composer Erberk Eryilmaz's Fog Bell becomes a powerful metaphor for the role of artists as warning beacons-standing like a fog bell boldy cutting through the mist against authoritarianism and censorship. Together, these works form a musical call to conscience, reminding us that in dark times, art is both resistance and refuge.