Music as a tool for Change

Being the daughter of a music teacher meant a lot of things growing up.  

First it meant that everyone believed I had some sort of hidden musical talent.  That notion was proved wrong consistently, no matter how hard my parents tried. It also meant that I was constantly exposed to a wide array of music, from our Heavenly Highway Hymnal (alliteration appreciated) to Bob Dylan;  from Hank Williams Jr. to Billy Joel. Music has always been a powerful for myself and my family.  At holiday gatherings, church plays, funerals, and birthdays, our stories have been told through the lyrics of others and the musical tunes of my mom. This storytelling quality is exactly what draws me  to music as a tool for social change.  It's an equalizer, a relator, and a media through which people connect on one of the deepest levels.

This blog will document my reflections as I work my way through a class at Westminster College called Music of Resistance. We are tasked with exploring political and social activism through the lens of music, as a tool for change and solidarity from oppression. I have high expectations for this class and the conviction it will stir for each of us in it.  I'm also looking forward to learning more about the evolution of music within resistance culture, from the English Broadside Ballads we are studying now, to the Facebook and Twitter revolutions happening everyday through shared music/video. 

For me, the basics of musical activism and resistance lie in its ability to create cognitive change within an individual and to build solidarity between those individuals asking for a larger change within society. First, if anything, music is a really handy way to disseminate information.  A clever message set to a clever tune can be extremely consuming for a society. Plus, inspiring another person through music is a fairly cheap transaction, especially under emerging technologies (from radio to Youtube). The music initially creates a dissonance, whether small or large, that spurs reflection and hopefully decisive moments of impact for individuals.  Those people then share these ideas, rippling the intentional awareness through the larger community.  This can happen as a result of one initial voice, willing to share their resistance to the status quo, or through complex networks of people willing to sharing various songs around a common goal. Music scholar, Daniel Fischlin describes the way we define communities based on their musical thought.

…we live in communities, permeated by the sounds they give shape to and that correspondingly give shape to them.  We define communities by the sounds they make- and the sounds they refuse.  We generate sound and ideas about sound as extensions (reflections) of our political cultures, but also as critiques thereof.  And the sounds we call music haunt our daily lives at their seemingly most trivial moments, and also at their moments of apocalypse and cataclysm. (Fischlin, 11)

Our reading for this week's blog briefly analyzed the role of "rebel musicians".  Two artists that I am most interested in studying more are rai musicians, Cheb Hasni and Rachid Baba Ahmed.  Rai music is known in comparison to an electronic, American Blues for its soulfulness.  It's usually sung in Arabic and French and driving the lyrics are sentiments against the historical colonization of native Algerians, systematic poverty, inequality of rights, and fundamental Islamist extremists. Cheb Hasni and Rachid Baba Ahmed became targets when their controversial songs against such groups and ideas l.  Both  activist musicians were murdered by extremist regimes.

To hear these and other Rai artists, follow this link.

As I continue in my studies and reflection, feel free to share your thoughts! Do you have a favorite song of protest?  How has music influenced your perspective on social and political changes?

Until next time!