On today’s episode, executive producers Erin Potts and Deyden Tethong talk to Bay Area writer and cultural historian Jeff Chang, and share the story of how Freedom Needs a Soundtrack came to be and some of the stories that didn’t make it into the podcast. It was recorded live at KALW’s community events space in downtown San Francisco.
Freedom Needs a Soundtrack is a six-part documentary series marking the 30th anniversary of the Tibetan Freedom Concerts.
Through first-person stories and archival audio, the series follows how Erin Potts, — who co-founded the concerts with Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys — and a small team of twenty-somethings turned an improbable idea into one of the defining music and activism stories of the 1990s.
Along the way, listeners travel from a study abroad program in Nepal, to a prison cell and protests in Tibet, to backstage interviews and conversations at sold-out concerts with some of the most influential artists of the era, including U2, Rage Against the Machine, Björk, Radiohead, Pearl Jam, A Tribe Called Quest, R.E.M., Foo Fighters, De La Soul, and more.
Freedom Needs a Soundtrack is a Rangzen production produced by Adonde Media and distributed in partnership with KALW Public Media.
Can't wait for the next episode? Don't want to miss new episodes. Subscribe to the podcast now.