From what I have seen and read so far in this course, music appears to be one of the only tools that has the ability to heal the wounds of this conflict without forcing anyone to compromise who they are or what they believe.
I think that the reason music has this incredible power is because it literally cannot be owned. Music is something interpretive and personal, yet much of it has communal meaning. Music can mean different things to different individuals but the point is that it means "something" at all. Experiencing a sort of transcendence through the experience of playing music with a group of people who are completely different than you are, offers a bridge for both of you to cross. Although music cannot necessarily resolve political conflicts, I think that the enduring theme that has run through these articles, music, and films in the idea that there is hope that this younger generations of Palestinians and Israelis, having been raised in an environment where understanding and acceptance of one another was encouraged, will break down the old barriers and come to a peace agreement.
It may sound idealistic, but I think its possible. Using music as a tool has clearly been effective. Its broken down barriers between people who found that once they opened their hearts, they were both just people underneath. There are so many preconceived notions about this conflict and the people involved, and not just by Israelis and Palestinians, but the rest of the world. I have appreciated learning about real life feelings, hopes, and thoughts of the people that live in these places because I must admit, I had plenty of my own preconceptions to contend with. And maybe if I hadn't been exposed to these musical movements and projects, I wouldn't have gained a new understanding at all.
I wouldn't go as far to say that music is the only that has the power to heal the wound caused by this conflict, but I do agree with you that music can be a very meaningful source of appreciation and understanding of the "other." I talked about music too as a way to get to know the "other" and then better understand different people. I like how you pointed out how music is interpretive and personal but has communal meaning as well. I didn't really think about how it is both personal and communal, and I think that's really interesting and valuable. that's just another way people with deep differences and divides can come to know one another. I too enjoyed hearing the personal narratives of people who actually experience the conflict daily. I think it helps us better understand the conflict, especially when we meet people our own age.
ReplyDelete"[Music] literally cannot be owned." Amen! Yes, I see music as having a peaceful gravity for a bunch of reasons, most of them rhetorical and simple. 1. Playing music requires playing, and when people play together they're not warring together. 2. Learning music means learning how to listen. Hopefully people can listen closely to each other and engage in conversations that aren't filled with interruptions and impatiently waiting for one's own turn to talk. 3. Learning how to improvise and compose music gives people creative skills that can help them creatively pursue peace and social justice...
ReplyDeletetwo things, using music to heal historical and modern wounds does not set a precedence for solving a solution as big as this one. IT simply creates a veil that sounds satisfying for the time being because people aren't fighting with each other during a performance. They are simply listening to the music because it sounds beautiful to them perhaps. Second, the most general of things such as much can be owned by a group of people or peoples. It can be claimed culturally and ethnically. An example of this is music in Serbia, Croatia that has been disputed as to who owns the original pieces of classical work from the 70's and 80's due to the conflict that unraveled the region. Multiple classic masterpieces have been disputed in this sense due to this.
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