Twenty-Five Years of Music for Peacebuilding: Musicians Without Borders

 
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Twenty-Five Years of Music for Peacebuilding: Musicians Without Borders

Ed Holland, Content Creator, Musicians Without Borders

07-10-2024

Singing circle from the early days of Rwanda Youth Music. Photo: MWB.

MWB’s first trip to the Balkans, 1999. Laura Hassler and other musicians sang to the guards at the Croatian border, who then allowed them to cross. Photo: MWB.

Musicians Without Borders started in the Netherlands in 1999, when a choir and small orchestra led by musician and activist Laura Hassler performed a war memorial concert during the Kosovo War. Their repertoire: folk songs from the Balkans, spanning different languages and ethnicities. The choice of music was a poignant one; the Yugoslav wars had consumed much of the Balkan region, while the rest of Europe helplessly watched daily news images of mass killings, bombed-out villages, and refugees.

At that concert on May 4, 1999, people understood the message about the arbitrariness of conflict and the shared humanity of all victims of war. Laura remembers the moment: “We were singing songs of different peoples from that region, communicating through these songs that human beings—whatever language they speak and from wherever they come—all sing lullabies to our children. We all sing love songs to each other. We all mourn, we all suffer loss, we all celebrate with music. And that meaning came across. People understood and related to the message. So it was a very emotional concert, both for the audience and for the performers.”

First concert of Mitrovica Rock School in Kosovo, where ethnically mixed bands are created from the local Serb and Albanian populations. Photo: MWB.

After the concert, a chance remark by one of the musicians was the spark that lit the fire that would become Musicians Without Borders: “We should put this concert on a train and send it to Kosovo and stop the war.”

An impossible idea. How could a group of musicians hope to bring a concert to an active war zone and turn the tide of politics? But this impossible idea sparked a series of conversations, contacts, and events. Laura reached out to international peace organizations, while musicians who had been part of the concert volunteered, helped, and organized. Within a week, they had an office; calls were made, volunteers materialized, plans improvised. From somewhere, our first donation was brought into the office in cash: €10,000 from a sympathetic benefactor who saw something promising in our endeavor. In December, 1999, Musicians Without Borders—officially named—made our first journey to the Balkans.

“In the mud, making music with refugee children in tents…that’s how it started.”

The first graduation at Rwanda Youth Music. Photo: MWB.

May 2024 marks exactly 25 years since that first concert, when the impossible was suggested and led to the possible. Today, Musicians Without Borders is an internationally recognized organization, with long-term, sustainable programs in Kosovo, North Macedonia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Rwanda, DR of Congo, Palestine, Jordan, and the Netherlands, and ongoing relationships with musicians in Central America and around the world.

Musicians Without Borders has grown to be a professional organization with the expertise needed to develop and sustain long-term collaborations with musicians and organizations across the globe. But still, we remember that first concert in 1999. Musicians Without Borders is still driven by passionate musicians with a firm belief in the power of music-making to transform society for the better. Many in the team started as enthusiastic volunteers, putting their skills to work and improvising, just as we, the founders, did 25 years ago. We are still building programs with partners in conflict regions. And, at all times, still leading with music. All else follows from music.

Musicians Without Borders is more determined than ever to work with international partners and with the families, refugees, and young people who turn up each week to our music workshops, therapy sessions, and instrument sessions; with the trainers and workshop leaders, who provide a space of sanctuary and peace to vulnerable people; and with musicians around the world, who offer a vision for human connection.

After 25 years, and with rising conflicts in many regions, today more than ever, the world needs music to reconnect.

For more information about Musicians Without Borders’ current programs and activities, visit their website.

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