I seem to be writing about songs lately — but I’m writing about politics, or freedom struggles, not music. In the current NR, I discuss the “Singing Revolution,” the democratic movement by Estonians in the late ’80s and early ’90s. I’ve been writing about Syrians who sing protest songs in public squares, sometimes paying with their lives. And, in today’s Impromptus, I have a note about Belarus, “Europe’s last dictatorship,” as it’s known.

Belarusians keep requesting that the radio play a song whose title is translated “Change,” “Changes,” or “Wind of Change.” It was a hit by Viktor Tsoi, back in the Gorbachev era. Tsoi was a rocker of Russian and Korean parentage who died in 1990, age 28. (Car accident.) The song goes, “Our hearts demand change, our eyes demand change.” That is exactly what Belarusians are demanding, to the extent they can demand anything. The dictatorship is none too pleased. Apparently, they have banned the song.

To see Tsoi sing it, go here. The song is not my cup of tea, musically speaking. But if Lukashenko and his brutes are spooked by it — it’s a beautiful and wonderful song indeed.