‘It gave me a superpower – question everything’: ​as punk turns 50, bands from China to Greenland explain how it fires up their lives

Key points

• Punk marks its 50th anniversary with bands from Ukraine, Morocco, South Africa, India, Brazil, Latvia, China and Greenland sharing how it shapes their lives.
• Ukrainian band Beton's Andriy Zholob served as a frontline surgeon and recorded 'Kyiv Calling' to raise money for the resistance.
• Musicians describe punk as a way to question everything, express anger and build community despite oppression and threats.

As punk turns 50, The Guardian Culture spoke to bands from China to Greenland about how the genre continues to shape their lives. The article features musicians from Ukraine, Morocco, South Africa, India, Brazil, Latvia and Greenland, who describe punk as a vital outlet for disaffected people.

Whether on the frontline in Ukraine or in skate parks in Soweto, the bands explain how punk fires up their lives and allows them to rage against the machine.

Punk on the frontline

Andriy Zholob, vocalist and guitarist of the Ukrainian band Beton, said he started the group in 2017 after earlier playing in a ska-punk band. When Russia invaded in 2022, he began military service as a surgeon on the frontline, where he was attacked many times and at least four times was lucky not to die.

Zholob kept guitars with him and played every evening to relax. His commander gave him eight days off to record a battle song for their brigade, and Beton recorded a cover of the Clash's London Calling as Kyiv Calling to raise money for the Ukrainian resistance. He finished his service two years ago, quit medicine and now works with veterans, many of whom attend the band's gigs.

It gave me a superpower – question everything

— Aditya Naik

Defiance and community

Nao, vocalist of the Moroccan band Taqbir, said the punk look is not accepted in her Muslim community and that she long had to perform anonymously for fear of being hurt. She discovered Crass at 13 and later led a double life in Madrid, taking off her hijab and wearing makeup at shows. She said being in Taqbir helped cure her rage, and that punk showed her people can be punk and Muslim and gay.

Abdula Skink of Johannesburg's Twenty One Children said many kids there got into punk because there were no jobs or infrastructure. He grew up in a hip-hop house but found bands like Suicidal Tendencies and Black Flag through video games and older friends who skated. He said being from Soweto automatically makes you political, and the band's song Scab is about being stopped by police while skating through a historically Afrikaans/white area.