In what was billed as a “healing concert,” tens of thousands of Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv on Thursday for a music festival. The purpose was to support the survivors and bereaved families of those lost during the Hamas attack on the Nova music festival in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Yet one former hostage, Omer Wenkert, told the crowd of another purpose:
“I call for unity – that we, as a people, begin to pick up the broken pieces and rise from them. To lift what lies within us,” he said. “As a people, we will heal this wound.”
Another survivor at the concert, Joy Cohen, told The Times of Israel, “Everyone who has gone through the worst of the worst can come together and share light.”
Meanwhile in Gaza, the universal balm of music has lately served a similar aim. Hundreds of young people have been taking music lessons and then offering informal concerts to Palestinians. Taught by teachers from the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, the students scramble to find instruments, such as a hand drum made from a can. They speak of how music expresses their feelings and eases their fears.
One teacher, Ahmed Abu Amsha, said the music has soothed some young listeners deeply affected by the violence. “Several of them, who hadn’t been able to speak for weeks because of fear, started to speak again,” he told Le Monde.
The war between Hamas and Israel is not the only current conflict in which music has helped bring life into an arena of death.
In late July, thousands of people attended a music festival in Ukraine’s capital despite the threat of Russian attacks. One person told The Kyiv Independent that the festival was an “island of freedom.” Another said it shows “We are one nation and we will be here forever.”
In a civil conflict in Sudan – which has the largest number of people displaced by war – musicians have released recordings to inspire people with chords of national unity and love. One rapper, Sharara, penned these lyrics in a 2023 song: “Victorious, God willing, there will be no militia ruling the country. Whether life is long or short, truth will triumph over falsehood.”
By its nature, music compels a connection with others and can break mental boundaries. Or, as former hostage Mr. Wenkert said, it lifts “what lies within us.”
