By: Hassan Osman Kargbo
Music is not only meant for entertainment, but it’s also a tool that brings people together to form a peaceful atmosphere. Music is a language of communication which can remove hostility. It could also be a potential tool for constructing unity and harmony. According to J.J. Keki, music and peace are interrelated. We should use whatever we have to create peace. If you think you have the body, use the body to bring peace; if you have music, use your music to bring peace in your Society. Music contains huge potential of contribution to peace building, such as removal of direct and indirect violence, igniting hope and the will of the people; it also help integrating peacefully among communities.
It’s vividly clear that music has been instrumental in not only building or bringing peace, but also it has been a way of life of people. Recently, we saw a peace song that was done by Kaoderio and LAJ which was sponsored by the Ministry of Information and Civic Education.
The song raised a lot of eyebrows from the public; which shows that music is playing a key role in any nation building.
These two superstars have been bitter rivals in the musical arena in the country and the collaboration song had sent a signal that they are no longer enemies but rather they are brother in the same struggle. We saw similar things happen during the days of Former President Koroma where he called Kaodenario and LAJ to State House and inform them that they’re ambassadors and they need to settle their difference so that the youths may learn from them.
Because of the beauty of music or entrainment in general, we also saw President Bio and his entourage during the 2023 election campaign used music in almost all of their campaign trips ranging from the capital City to the interior village. To show the important of music that it brings peace, even the President used to dance on stage to captivate the minds of his audience to vote for him. That shows how important is music or entertainment in the country.
To show how music or entertainment is important in our peace building, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) report recommended that, music or entertainment will be a pivotal in maintaining peace in our nation. It stated ‘The Commission found that the central cause of the war was endemic greed, corruption and nepotism that deprived the nation of its dignity and reduced most people into a state of poverty,’’ TRC No. 34.
After the aforementioned the Commission made recommendations for the former war nation to having a lasting peace, and from having a new constitution, respect of its citizens fundamental human rights and freedoms, respect for freedom of expression to name a few. To enhance this, the Commission further encourages citizens to create more entertainment policies, as well as other members of the community can express themselves through drama, music, song, and storytelling, and art, poetry in order to promote tolerance, respect, and non-violent means of conflict resolution in country.
Moreover, music is not only a medicine, it’s also a means of happens in any nation. But, let’s seat and asked ourselves: have you ever listened to a song and instantly remembered a moment from your past? I’m sure the answer could be yes, because music is in our minds and it also part of our lives. Have you ever seated with an elderly man, upon listening to older day’s songs and you saw the elder shaking his head and started saying all sorts of positive things during his younger days, and that could perhaps also be yes, because of the impact of music in our society.
Also, Studies show that music may improve someone’s memory, as well! Some Musicians tend to have higher grounds and they prefer to do more of it on a daily basis.
In all of this, music is part of our life and it has created a lot of positive impact in bringing and promoting peace in not only Sierra Leone but the world at large.
