Famed guitarist once said ?Music doesn't lie. If there is something to be changed in this world, then it can only happen through music.? And some say that music also played a role in this year?s so-called Arab Spring.
A group of educators and musicians gathered recently at the in Washington, D.C., for a seminar showing how music can help promote understanding between people of differing political views. The gathering, which focused on music in the Middle East, featured the Chicago-based group .
Lamajamal - a contemporary group that performs Balkan, Arabic, North African and Gypsy music and whose name is a palindrome of the Arabic word for peace ? features Palestinian-American Ronnie Malley on , guitar, accordion and vocals. Percussionist George Lawlor plays a modified trap set made up of hand drums, and was a student of Tunisian master Najib Bahri. Gary Kalar plays guitar, - a Turkish mandolin - and percussion. Bassist Joey Spilberg and wind instrument specialist Eve Monzingo are the remaining members.
During the seminar, Malley explained that music has always been part of revolutions in the Middle East. He says famed Egyptian singer , composer and used music to promote political change in their times.
?People use it as a tool of expression to state that they are upset,? he said.
?But it can also easily be used as a bridge, because it has in the past, to bring people together. Particularly in the case of Umm Kulthum when she went to establish better relations between Tunisia and Egypt at a time of a ? she needed to create some reconciliation basically,? Malley said.
?And because of the power of her music and the influence she had over the entire Middle East,? he said, ?people just had to listen, they had to hear her out.?
Musical activism was also prevalent in this year?s Arab Spring, where singers like and played pivotal roles in giving voice to the protests.
Essam, who put the chants of Egyptians in Tahrir square to music, paid a price for his art. He was arrested and beaten within hours of performing. But he continued to sing.
During the Georgetown seminar, Malley and Lamajamal use three types of music ? Arabic and North African, Klezmer music and Turkish music ? to illustrate the similarities of the differing traditions. Ronnie Malley says music offers people who are politically at odds the opportunity to find something that brings them together.
?Because it?s not quite often that if I am holding the arm of an instrument as an arm, basically, it?s not often that I am going to be at odds with the person across from them because we are going to try to find a way to play music together,? he said.
?If I was holding a gun, the only way to operate that gun is to shoot the other person. If I am holding an instrument, I strum a chord and I expect a reaction in the same way back from that. It?s the world of music. That?s how it goes, music is the universal language.?
Guitarist Gary Kalar led the discussion on Turkish music. He said his music has opened many doors, and he has found many receptive audiences regardless of where the band is touring.
?I have never run into anybody from another culture who found anything I played insulting,? he said.
?And they have never shown any sort of reaction that made me feel like ?that was the wrong thing to do,? or something like that which sometimes you worry about especially with civil wars or ethnic wars, things like that. It can get really personal really fast,? Kalar said.
Malley and Kalar agree that music has the power to unify people, to bring about change, and to transform thinking. But traditions are also jealously guarded. Kalar told VOA that when he runs into someone who says he can?t play their music because he is an American, he respects their passion even if he disagrees with their premise.
?So whenever I run into this type of attitude I usually just respectfully say ?yeah, you?re right? or something like that. And that?s it. I don?t try to ? I don?t try to change their mind.?
With cuts slated for several federal arts programs in the United States ? including the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities ? school systems and arts organizations have to reorganize their priorities.