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Forbidden Music: Russian bootleg recordings in the Cold War

In the Cold War, the Soviet Union closely controlled the kind of music that people were allowed to listen to. But an underground movement of bootleggers found an extraordinary way of copying forbidden music by making their own records on X-ray film. Some of those recordings and the equipment used are on display at the British Library, as part of the X-ray Audio Project. Its creator is Stephen Coates and he spoke to the Newsroom's reporter, Richard Hamilton.

(Photo: Soviet bootleg recordings pressed onto X-rays. Credit: Adam Berry/Getty Images)

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2 minutes