38 Political music artists

Kingslee James McLean Daley, better known by the stage name Akala, is a British rapper, journalist, author, activist and poet from Kentish Town, London. In 2006, he was voted the Best Hip Hop Act at the MOBO Awards and has been included on the annual Powerlist of the 100 most influential Black British people in the UK.

Frankie Armstrong is a singer and voice teacher. She has worked as a singer in the folk scene and the women's movement and as a trainer in social and youth work. Her repertoire ranges from traditional ballads to music-hall and contemporary songs, often focusing on the lives of women. She is a key mover of the natural voice and community choirs movements and is the president of the natural voice network and has been a voice coach for theatrical groups, including at the National Theatre for 18 years. Involved with folk and political songs from the 1950s, she has performed and/or recorded with Blowzabella, The Orckestra, Ken Hyder's Talisker, John Kirkpatrick, Brian Pearson, Leon Rosselson, Dave Van Ronk and Maddy Prior. She is blind from glaucoma.

John Baine, better known by his stage name Attila the Stockbroker, is a punk poet, multi instrumentalist musician and songwriter. He performs solo and as the leader of the band Barnstormer 1649, who combine early music and punk. He has performed over 3,300 concerts, published eight books of poems and an autobiography and released over forty recordings.

Joan Chandos Baez is an American singer, songwriter, musician and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest or social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing over 30 albums. Fluent in Spanish and English, she has also recorded songs in at least six other languages.

Roy Bailey, was an English socialist folk singer. Colin Irwin from the music magazine Mojo said Bailey represented "the very soul of folk's working class ideals... a triumphal homage to the grass roots folk scene as a radical alternative to the mainstream music industry."

Emmerson Amidu Bockarie is a Sierra Leonean Afropop singer who criticizes corruption in the government of Sierra Leone and has become well known in his country for lyrics that promote social change. He sings in the Krio and English languages.

Stephen William "Billy" Bragg is an English singer-songwriter and left-wing activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, with lyrics that mostly span political or romantic themes. His music is heavily centred on bringing about change and involving the younger generation in activist causes.

Daniel G. L. Bull is an English rapper and songwriter known best for his songs about video games, which he publishes on his YouTube channel.

Joseph Emmanuel "Manno" Charlemagne was a Haitian political folk singer, songwriter and acoustic guitarist, political activist and politician. He recorded his political chansons in both French and in Creole. He lived abroad in exile twice, both during the 1980s and again during the years 1991–1994, when the country was ruled by a military junta led by Raoul Cédras.

Simon Chimbetu was a Zimbabwean guitarist, vocalist and composer. He was the founding member of his band Orchestra Dendera Kings. He was known by many stage names, including "Chopper, "Mr Viscose", "Cellular", "Simomo" and "Mukoma Sam".

Hanns Eisler was an Austrian composer. He is best known for composing the national anthem of East Germany, for his long artistic association with Bertolt Brecht, and for the scores he wrote for films. The Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" is named after him.

Alice Glass is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She is the co-founder and former frontwoman of the electronic band Crystal Castles. In 2014, she embarked on a solo career. She released her eponymous debut EP in 2017.

Arlo Davy Guthrie is a retired American folk singer-songwriter. He is known for singing songs of protest against social injustice, and storytelling while performing songs, following the tradition of his father Woody Guthrie. Guthrie's best-known work is his debut piece, "Alice's Restaurant Massacree", a satirical talking blues song about 18 minutes in length that has since become a Thanksgiving anthem. His only top-40 hit was a cover of Steve Goodman's "City of New Orleans". His song "Massachusetts" was named the official folk song of the state in which he has lived most of his adult life. Guthrie has also made several acting appearances. He is the father of four children, who have also had careers as musicians.

Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie was an American singer-songwriter, who is considered to be one of the most significant figures in American western folk music. His music, including songs such as "This Land Is Your Land", has inspired several generations both politically and musically.

Felipe Andres Coronel, better known by the stage name Immortal Technique, is a Peruvian American hip hop recording artist and activist. Most of his lyrics focus on controversial issues in global politics, from a radical left-wing perspective.

Víctor Lidio Jara Martínez was a Chilean teacher, theater director, poet, singer-songwriter and communist political activist tortured and killed during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. He developed Chilean theater by directing a broad array of works, ranging from locally produced plays to world classics, as well as the experimental work of playwrights such as Ann Jellicoe. He also played a pivotal role among neo-folkloric musicians who established the Nueva Canción Chilena movement. This led to an uprising of new sounds in popular music during the administration of President Salvador Allende.

Robb Jenner Johnson is a British musician and songwriter, who has been called "one of the last genuinely political songwriters", and is known for his mix of political satire and wit. He has his own record label, Irregular Records, and has released more than 40 albums since 1985, either solo or in several collaborations.

Peadar Kearney was an Irish republican and composer of numerous rebel songs. In 1907 he wrote the lyrics to A Soldier's Song, now the Irish national anthem. He was the uncle of Irish writers Brendan Behan, Brian Behan, and Dominic Behan.

Michael Santiago Render, better known by his stage name Killer Mike, is an American rapper, songwriter, actor, and activist. Mike made his debut on Outkast's 2000 LP Stankonia, and later appeared on the Grammy-winning song "The Whole World" from their greatest hits album Big Boi and Dre Present... Outkast. He has since released five full-length albums as a solo artist. He is the founder of Grind Time Official Records, which he launched through SMC and Fontana Distribution.

Fela Anikulapo Kuti was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist, bandleader, composer, political activist, and Pan-Africanist. He is best known as a pioneer of the Afrobeat genre, a blend of traditional yoruba and Afro-Cuban music with funk and jazz. At the height of his popularity, he was referred to as one of Africa's most "challenging and charismatic music performers". AllMusic described him as "a musical and sociopolitical voice" of international significance.

Jonathan Denis Langford is a musician and artist based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. He is one of the founders of punk band The Mekons, post-punk group The Three Johns, and alternative country ensembles The Waco Brothers and Pine Valley Cosmonauts. He has worked to campaign against the death penalty in Illinois.

J. B. Lenoir /ləˈnɔːr/ was an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter, active in the Chicago blues scene in the 1950s and 1960s.

Kareem Dennis, better known by his stage name Lowkey, is a British rapper and activist from in London, England. He first became known through a series of mixtapes he released before he was 18, before taking a hiatus from the music business. He would return in 2008 with wider music coverage, featured on BBC Radio and appearing at various festivals and concerts including the BBC Electric Proms, Glastonbury, T In The Park and Oxegen in the buildup to his first solo album Dear Listener, as well as collaborating with other British musicians to form the supergroup Mongrel. He released his second solo album, Soundtrack to the Struggle, independently on 16 October 2011.

Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam, known by her stage name M.I.A., is a British rapper, singer, record producer, and activist. M.I.A.'s songs are marked with evocative political and philosophical commentary. Her music combines elements of alternative, dance, electronic, hip hop, and world music with eclectic instruments and samples.

Emel Mathlouthi also known as Emel is a Tunisian singer-songwriter best known for her protest song "Kelmti Horra", which became an anthem for the Tunisian revolution and the Arab spring. Her first studio album, also titled Kelmti Horra, was released worldwide by Harmonia Mundi in 2012 to critical acclaim. Her second album, Ensen, was released by Partisan Records in 2017, also to considerable acclaim. In 2015 she performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony. Mathlouthi is often referred to as the "Voice of Tunisian Revolution" due to her song "Kelmti Horra".

Ste McCabe is an English DIY, queercore singer-songwriter, previously based in Manchester, and later Edinburgh, Scotland.

Holly Near is an American singer-songwriter, actress, teacher, and activist.

Philip David Ochs was an American protest singer and songwriter who was known for his sharp wit, sardonic humor, earnest humanism, political activism, insightful and alliterative lyrics, and distinctive voice. He wrote hundreds of songs in the 1960s and 1970s and released eight albums.

Jim Page is an American folk singer-songwriter and social activist.

Jordan Page is an American singer-songwriter and musician. He began writing music with a political bent during the Bush administration, in December 2006. Some of his early music is critical of United States foreign policy, especially the interventionism of the Bush administration. Page's music instead advocates a policy of peace and non-interventionism. His song "War Machine" specifically alludes to the military–industrial complex. Page's music also supports civil liberties, which are viewed in some of his songs as threatened and eroding. Page and his music have been embraced by libertarians, and Page has performed at many libertarian and liberty-oriented events, including some in support of Ron Paul's 2008 presidential campaign and 2012 presidential campaign.

Thomas Richard Paxton is an American folk singer-songwriter who has had a music career spanning more than fifty years. In 2009, Paxton received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. He is noteworthy as a music educator as well as an advocate for folk singers to combine traditional songs with new compositions.

Grace Petrie is an English folk singer-songwriter and guitarist from Leicester, England. She was hailed in The Guardian as "a powerful new songwriting voice" in 2011.

Bruce Duncan "Utah" Phillips was an American labor organizer, folk singer, storyteller and poet. He described the struggles of labor unions and the power of direct action, self-identifying as an anarchist. He often promoted the Industrial Workers of the World in his music, actions, and words.

Valerie Muriel Rodway was a Guyanese composer of cultural and patriotic songs, inspired by the events leading up to Guyana's independence in 1966. She is best known for composing music to accompany Guyana national poetry, like Arise, Guyana, Kanaïma, and the Martin Carter's Guyanese Independence poem Let Freedom Awaken. For the next two decades, school children were taught the songs she and others composed to inspire patriotism and cultural affinity. She selected the poetry for her compositions based upon her principles and values, first developed among her parents and siblings.

David Rovics is an American indie singer/songwriter and anarchist. His music concerns topical subjects such as the 2003 Iraq war, anti-globalization and social justice issues. Rovics has been an outspoken critic of former President George W. Bush, the Republican Party, John Kerry, and the Democratic Party.

Peter Seeger was an American folk singer and social activist.

Terre Thaemlitz is a musician, public speaker, and owner of the record label Comatonse Recordings. Thaemlitz's work critically combines themes of identity politics – including gender, sexuality, class, linguistics, ethnicity and race – with an ongoing critique of the socio-economics of commercial media production. This diversity of themes is matched by Thaemlitz's wide range of production styles, which include electroacoustic computer music, club-oriented deep house, digital jazz, ambient, and computer-composed neo-expressionist piano solos. Graphic design, photography, illustration, text and video also play a part in Thaemlitz's projects.

Hannes Wader is a German singer-songwriter ("Liedermacher"). He has been an important figure in German leftist circles since the 1970s, with his songs covering such themes as socialist and communist resistance to oppression in Europe and other places like Latin America. He both wrote new songs and played versions of older historical works.