The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #93452 Message #1798653
Posted By: Lizzie Cornish
01-Aug-06 - 09:03 AM
Thread Name: Songs of War and Peace
Subject: War and Peace
Today I woke up.
Two more soldiers in Afghanistan did not.
Their parents woke up to a new hell in their lives.
In Israel and Lebanon insanity is taking over. So much sadness, so much hurt, so much hatred. So many people left without the ones they love. Never to hold them again and or to be held by them.
As The Candles For Peace are being lit all over Myspace, amongst nearly 100,000,000 people, as messages fly around the world of love and support, of sorrow and grief...I'm starting to realise that music is starting to raise it's head again....at LONG LAST!
The songs are starting to pour out of people, and they are starting to pour out of the young people too, as is a huge anger!
Is it the answer, finally to the questions,the disillusionment and the sadness that George speaks of in 'Flowers And The Guns'? Where he sings about all those precious hopes of the 60's generation, which seemed to have disappeared.
Are the 'flowers' at last starting to bloom amongst the blood and chaos? I think they are.
Listen to this song 'Peace In The Middle East' from Sabliminal, but, a warning, it's rap/hip hop music, but...simply get your head around that and realise that THIS is the folk music of a whole new generation. Try leaving any musical prejudices behind and simply hear the profoundly strong message coming from these young people:
Then, you might like to read the Blogs of these young people, two Jewish, one Palestinian, and one group of many youngsters who just want to make a difference in their world:
And here's another new song, to me at least, from Eli, a friend from Myspace, a very gentle, sweet soul......He's a songwriter and I found 'The Innocents' only the other day, which, just like George's songs, speaks nothing but the truth.
Only last week on our local West Country breakfast news, I sat there watching, as the presenter merrily told us of yet another soldier being 'brought home' for his funeral and how he was being buried that day with 'full military honours'. She said it with a smile on her face and in a chirpy voice, as if being given 'full military honours' made his death somehow acceptable. It sent shivers through me.
And back to today, I watched our 'prime' minister joking around with Arnold Schwarzenegger in California, just after the news about the two soldiers' deaths and yet more innocent people being killed in the Middle East had been on. Arnie offered him a part in the next Terminator film, if ever there was one, said that he thought our leader was a man of inspiration. The man in charge of our country, who is sending out mother's sons to be killed in the name of ????????....chuckled gaily and said it was the best offer he'd had in a long time. Obviously the irony was completely lost on him. But his insensitivity shone out.
If only the leaders of this world would sit down and listen to this man, perhaps things might start to improve.......