Perfect Harmony
Music has a partnership with revolution. The French Revolution has an avalanche of literature associated with compositions either born out of, or arguably, driven into the arms of this political upheaval, followed closely by the American Revolution. Rebecca Dowd Geoffroy-Schwinden writes extensively about the music of this time period in her article, “A French (R)evolution in Music?” and it is well worth the read. NPR writes about modern protest anthems including culturally inflammatory songs like Mehdi Yarrahi’s “Pareh Sang”, which chronicles some of the devastation of the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980’s, to songs as innocent as “Baby Shark” from South Korean parent company SmartStudy. In her article, “10 Songs That Rallied Resistance Around The World” by Anastasia Tsioulcas, ten popular rallying cries are listed that highlight the music that has inspired and fueled modern protest movement around the globe.
In the United States, music has provided heart-felt solace to the victims of violence in the face of peaceful resistance, to anger-laced war cries to the people who stand and fight against those who would oppress them. The songs of Selma, during the marches to freedom and the Civil Rights Amendment include “We Shall Not Be Moved”, and “Oh, Freedom”, amongst a host of other meaningful statements for the struggles of that chapter in American History. You can listen to them and more here. During the LA Riots of 1992, the emergence of N.W.A. brought forward a new type of popular protest music; one of outspoken anger and frustration at the seemingly endless tale of police brutality and systematic racism existing within the framework of government in the United States. DJ Yella reflects on their music and the Rodney King assault by four police officers that sparked the protests in his interview with Rolling Stones here.
Much of this music creates a chamber through which the human heart can reverberate and create harmony with the troubles of conflict that exist on the exteriors. Countless people have been comforted, consoled, and able to reconcile their feelings with the chaos that surrounds the warfare of the masses. Dr. King relied on spiritual songs. Dr. Dre relied on the voice of the restless. All of this music is valid, and it is critical that we keep ringing it out. Three major record labels, (Sony, Universal and Warner) control 80% of the music distribution of the world. With or without them, the world will continue to shout out its song, to sing about its story, and to create a narrative for our challenges. They lead to the chronicles of our progress.
While the majority of musicians took the day to “pause the show” in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter protest movements of George Floyd yesterday, a handful of artists used it to release music that expressed their experiences. Artists like YG and Terrace Martin sent out messages of opposition while songs from N.W.A. and 2Pac were on the rise on streaming services. I would love to rise to the top of the highest building and blast the emotions of Rage Against the Machine to the heavens to reverberate back down and blast the oppressive forces of fascism and racism into oblivion, but my heart tells me the music that heals is the songs of peace. I wish I could list all of the peaceful choruses of crowds that are singing out songs of hope and unity. I think today is a good day to seek them out, find them where they are not obvious, or better yet add some new ones so we can keep writing the tale of how we persevered in times of troubles.
Here is the singing in Hong Kong. I don’t know the words, but there is something very powerful about all those voices, singing together, for peace. I hope to see more of this kind of singing in America.