Analysis: Music can draw people together in ways that can increase feelings of connection, solidarity, and shared purpose
Louder Than War is a concert film of the Welsh band Manic Street Preachers recorded at the band's 2001 in Havana. The story goes that Fidel Castro met the band before the show and they warned him that the concert would be very loud. Castro responded "It cannot be louder than war, can it?"
Social injustice, war and intercultural tensions are often bound up with conflicts that create intolerance from all sides: conflicts of identity, conflicting memories, conflicts of values, and conflicts of stereotyping, They serve to divide and restrict groups from the alien 'others'.
The idea that music can draw people together in ways that can increase feelings of intimate connection, solidarity and shared purpose towards social development goals is not a new concept. It is one which has created a collective consciousress and everything inbetween from punk and folk protest songs to r'n’b and orchestras over the generations.
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From RTÉ 2FM's Dave Fanning Show, a history of protest songs
Music’s impact on the human rights movements and its role as an agent for change is clear in the history books. One example is the impact of the freedom songs of the US civil rights movement such as We Shall Overcome and Strange Fruit. These songs broke down barriers, educated people, built empathy across the divide and had a hand in mobilising marches against segregation and creating shared communities, a shared sensed of purpose and meaning.
The civil rights movement in the US was influential on John Hume and others during the civil rights movement in 1969 in Northern Ireland. Anyone who grew up in Ireland in the 1970s and 1980s witnessed deep sectarian divisions and how these same divisions were overcome, over time, through cultural dialogue, peace and reconciliation. Even in the dark days of the worst Belfast bombings, you could hear the sounds of punk blaring out from Terri Hooley's Good Vibrations record shop on Great Victoria Street, and bands like the 'Stiff little Fingers’ sang of a better future on their 1979 Alternative Ulster.
Stiff Little Fingers perform Alternative Ulster on German music TV show Rockpalast in 1980
'Universal language'
Music as a 'universal language' may be seen as a simplistic and naïve approach by some but the evidence of music for the purpose of regeneration and reconciliation in post conflict societies around the worlds would suggest otherwise. The evidence of this is clear in music education interventions; found in post conflict and trauma affected settings around the world, everywhere from South Africa and the Republic of Congo to Afghanistan and Palestine.
The National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras and Choirs of Venezuela, commonly known as El Sistema, was a state-funded social and cultural program created in 1975 by the Venezuelan musician Jose Antonio Abreu. The programme inspired over 50 countries worldwide to establish similar initiatives, providing a real and sustainable education model of achieving progress and peace.
Structured education programmes for rock music and hip-hop were started as initiatives in the 1990s such as the Mitrovica Rock School in Kosovo. The Pavarotti Centre was another project aimed to bring relief to the young people of Bosnia and Herzegovina who were suffering hardship and distress after the war with music education, therapy, and recreational and cultural activities.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's This Week, how Ukraine's children's hospitals are using music to tackle trauma
One of the first to reach the besieged East Mostar enclave in Bosnia was the UK humanitarian organisation War Child, an NGO that enjoyed a high public profile in United Kingdom and Europe thanks to the support of musicians such as Brian Eno and members of U2. War Child initially delivered food and medical aid, and then began to support a range of psychosocial programmes for children in the months following the ceasefire.
Social development
In Ireland, the Ballymun Music Programme grew out of a ‘Breaking the cycle' Initiative at TU Dublin which was funded by the Department of Education and Science. The project was set up to help combat socio-economic disadvantage and intergenerational poverty by providing an opportunity for children to learn through the arts. The TU Dublin Ballymun Music Programme was set up by Ron Cooney and has been the subject of a 2011 film Ballymun Lullaby by Frank Berry.
Studies have shown the efficacy of music and its multitude of benefits for children especially those in post trauma conflicts and areas of socio-economic disadvantage. It can lead to an improvement in communication skills, numeracy, vocabulary, memory, listening and thinking skills.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Oliver Callan, empowering young people through music
These social initiatives reminds us that the future is still unwritten and that we all have a role to play in shaping a future built on peace and justice. Through music, art, and community action, we can empower young voices and foster change in communities wherever we live.
Musicians, artists and educators have a vital role to play more than ever in these social contexts. It has become increasingly necessary in our turbulent, divided and troubled world to continue to forge connections between diverse communities and an increasingly multi-ethnic society.
Music may not be louder than war, but has the potential to transcend borders and remind us the belief in the old maxim; even in the darkest of times, there is more that unites us than divides us.
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The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
