Two iconic forces that have impacted the past half century -  Amnesty International and Bob Dylan –  are being saluted by 80 musicians in Chimes of Freedom. 

Order "Chimes of Freedom", a four-CD collection of Bob Dylan songs, recorded by 80 artists in support of Amnesty International.

In January 1961, on a cold snowy evening in Greenwich Village, a twenty-year-old Bob Dylan, fresh out of Minnesota, began his professional career in earnest playing at a hole-in-the-wall coffee house. A few months later, the British lawyer Peter Benenson and some friends in London launched the campaign that became Amnesty International.  

It was a coincidence. Yet from the start, Dylan’s artistic work and Amnesty’s political work drew on a common sensibility that ultimately changed the world. 

For half a century, Amnesty has pressed to secure the fundamental human rights of the persecuted and imprisoned across the globe. Over that same half century, Dylan’s art has explored and expressed the anguish and hope of the modern human condition.  

Read the complete liner notes by Sean Wilentz 

Chimes of Freedom is dedicated to people worldwide who are unjustly imprisoned or threatened for the peaceful expression of their beliefs.  

Amnesty International encourages all those who are inspired by Dylan’s music to take action on behalf of people like: 

• Jabbar Savalan – Youth activist in Azerbaijan who was detained after using Facebook. Savalan was released on December 26th, 2011 after Amnesty International members took action on his case
• Women of Zimbabwe Arise – Human rights defenders who have been repeatedly harassed, intimidated, beaten and jailed by authorities
• Liu Xiaobo – Nobel Peace Prize laureate imprisoned in China for seeking political reforms

Learn more and take action on these individuals and others