It’s hard not to timestamp the iconic ’60s with the sound of Bob Dylan’s ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ as the Vietnam War raged and the whole world lived on tenterhooks for fear of a Cold War spilling into more of a nuclear war.
The decades have passed, and we had John Lennon in the ’70s asking us to ‘Give Peace A Chance’ after his heyday with The Beatles. He was shot in the street in broad daylight, unable to fulfill a greater destiny involving using his music to speak truth to power.
As we recover from the global pandemic and understand more than ever what it means to be part of an interconnected community, what is the anthem of peace from our era that we sing to ourselves and our children, in the hope that one day everything will be okay?
The Delia Arts Foundation hopes that by providing an opportunity for musicians to express themselves in the war-torn areas of Palestine and Congo, that anthem might come from there.
Having established the Delia Arts Center in Palestine, the Delia Arts Foundation took their first bold steps of going straight to the source of the pain and attempting to alleviate the ‘PTSD’ of living in a conflict zone by working with the local community and creating a safe space where musicians can come and play music, express themselves, and in turn provide hope to others.
For, after all, isn’t that what the best music does – provide hope? A noble form of escapism, a daring to dream of a better life beyond the current reality. Coldplay visited the Middle East, hoping to learn from the area as musicians championing world peace themselves.
With songs like ‘Arabesque’ and ‘Children of Adam’, they’ve infused a Middle Eastern sound into their global pop symphony, but they’ve fallen short of inspiring peace as the global movement we so very much need.
Currently, Russia is on the doorstep of Ukraine and while North Korea is testing ever-larger missiles, Coldplay is testing an eco-friendly stage that will be powered by the kinetic energy of their fans’ dancing. They’ve caught heat for the large carbon footprint of their world tours and so, to give credit where it’s due, are doing the best they can. But where is 2022’s pop songs about peace?
Perhaps we are all still too caught up in the trappings of material wealth to truly care. Yet, time is ticking for our time on earth as we deplete our oceans of fish and pollute our shores. And still, the only ticking we seem to care about is TikToK’s 15 seconds of fame that ‘going viral’ can do for our careers and bank balances.
Billie Eilish singing a duet with Greta Thunberg to raise further awareness about climate change? Drake rapping with Joe Biden in a bid to end racism? Unlikely. Musicians are not politicians – perhaps that’s the issue here. So while they’ll play their part and write melodies that describe a better world, it’s not incumbent upon them to go out and ‘make that change’ – as Michael Jackson in ‘Man in the Mirror’ would suggest.
Not happy to rest on their laurels in Palestine, the Delia Arts Foundation took their philanthropic ambitions to the heart of Africa. Specifically, a small lakeside town called Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In conjunction with The Music Fund, AfriSCENE, Kidogos, and NDARO Culture, the ‘Delia-Ndaro Art Culture’ was created in the latter part of 2021 – a safe haven for Congolese artists to share their creativity and recover from what has been a tumultuous few decades for the local Congolese.
As if the Rwandan genocide and war in the Congo between the Hutu and Tutsi people wasn’t enough, the area has been plagued by the Ebola Virus – devastating populations, stunting economic growth, and killing any ambitions of creative freedom. Over time, however, we can see positive examples. For example, opening the doors of the ‘Delia-Ndaro Art Culture’ in Bukavu is about recognizing and endorsing local talent’s growth.
The Congo is the birthplace of Rumba music, a sound that has influenced Cuban music and Latin dance in ways that the Congo has only recently been given credit for.
‘Delia-Ndaro Art Culture’ is all about celebrating musical history through storytelling; mapping out a way forward, into the future and out of the painful past, by teaching musical appreciation, providing workshops on sound engineering, and engaging with the local community on many creative levels to explore new ways of creating art, and finding peace.
And perhaps this is the way to do it. To find peace. Instead of waiting for The Weeknd or any other artist from the Billboard Top 100 to develop a conscience and come up with a song of peace that we can bob our heads to as we scroll through our social media feed, perhaps peace is to be found by rolling up our sleeves and effecting change in our immediate community.
Peace needn’t be a catchphrase or a nice idea from hippies in the ’70s. Change with a top-down approach won’t work – the wealthy elite isn’t inspired to stop world wars so long as their Spotify checks are clearing.
As each generation gets some distance from the world wars, the cold wars, and the regional wars that have caused pain and trauma, the responsibility is on them to shoulder the mantle of responsibility that comes with understanding the needs of their community, and having the tools at their disposal to connect with a global audience – and then be heard.
Delia Arts Foundation, with its plans to establish Delia Arts Centers in conflict zones all over the world, is owning that responsibility. There’s a chance that the next Papa Wemba will come from Bukavu, having enrolled in a music program at the Delia-Ndaro Art Culture’.
There’s hope that the next Joubran Brothers could be women from the Middle East, attending one of the woman-focused musical courses on offer at the Delia Arts Center in Gaza.
And if not – if it’s nothing quite so iconic as a long-haired John Lennon imploring us to give peace a chance – that’s okay. The hard work will have already been done because that is what matters. As we make music, we make light of our surroundings. And as we do that, we remind ourselves and others that we are beings of the light. And as we carry that light in us, we increase our frequency and create pathways for peace. And who knows, maybe that way we’ll timestamp this decade as a decade of peace.
Feel free to contact us at: hello@delia-arts.org if you would like to hear more about our plans to provide musicians in conflict zones with access to recording equipment, space for rehearsal, and the opportunity to work with other artists.
