The Power of Music

By Rachna Singh, "Striking a chord for peace" - The Times Of India, India
Friday, January 23, 2009

Jaipur: If the authors at the Jaipur Literature Festival were largely those depicting tales of strife across boundaries, the music concert focussed on the power of music to proactively heal wounds caused by the unrest.

In the light of Mumbai terror attacks and political unrest in Gaza and its impact on interfaith relations, leading musicians from around the world collaborate for the first time this week in a series of Coexist Concerts for Peace.

In a special series of interfaith collaborations Muslim, Jewish, and Hindu musicians collaborate in Diggi Palace for Coexist Concerts for Peace'.

Among the star performers in the five-day concert series is, Pakistani Muslim rocker Salman Ahmad from Junoon, an activist in promoting peace on the planet.

"The first ever rock band to be invited at the UN General Assembly, Ahmad has been touring across the United States to bridge the gap between the Muslim community and the western world," said Simon Cohen, communication director from The Coexist Foundation, London.

The foundation so far had been facilitating pre-existing initiatives in peace between Jews, Christians and Muslims through education, dialogue and research, along with Gallop Organization in the US, Cambridge Interfaith and many others. This is the first time that they have sponsored a musical concert for peace.

"Music is universal and a powerful medium that deeply resonates with the cult of India. In Jaipur we have Rajasthani music sharing the stage with people from across the globe. There would be Hindus drumming the beats in harmony with synchronized beats of the Isreali or the Muslims," said Simon.

Then Baul music represents the long tradition of preaching mysticism through songs in Bengal like Shahebdhooni or Bolahadi sects. Israeli singer Shye Ben-Tzur fuses Rajasthani rhythms and western sounds with Hindu and Muslim musicians. While Kudsi Erguner and Coleman Barks will celebrate the tolerant pluralistic Sufism of Rumi with verse and music.

James Kidner, director of The Coexist Foundation, says, 'The concerts are a timely reminder that faith, like music, can be an instrument of peace. For world class musicians, people of different faiths, to collaborate in such a way, send out a harmonic example of peaceful coexistence between people of faith."

[Visit The Coexist Foundation http://coexistfoundation.net/].