AMBER MATTICE
Special to The Leader
A screening of the award-winning film “When Voices Meet” occurred on Sept. 28 in Rosch Recital Hall, hosted by the Music Therapy Club. This film was the 2015 World Music and Independent Film Festival winner of Best Documentary, Best Director, Best Original Soundtrack and Humanitarian awards. It documents a movement called “The Peace Train Project,” which was an attempt to end the political violence taking place in Durban, South Africa nearly 23 years ago.
Sharon Katz, founder of the project, and Nonhlanhla Wanda, co-founder, set out to show the world the power of music and its ability to break through the barriers created by apartheid. It began two years after Nelson Mandela was released from prison, when Sharon Katz, a music therapist, decided that someone had to take a stand against violence and end the divide between races in her hometown. Their main goal was to continue Mandela’s vision of a non-racially-biased democracy that would hopefully create a new South Africa no longer plagued by discrimination and hatred.
Katz and Wanda were determined to do this through the power of music. Together, they assembled a choir of 500 children, consisting of students from all South African races and school districts (as they were still segregated), which wrote and composed songs. Once their movement became more well-known, they chose 150 of the 500 children and began to travel around the country, spreading their music and their message.
This movement had an intense impact on the lives of everyone involved. The children who had the chance to travel around the country, and eventually the world, would have never had that opportunity otherwise. They were also able to interact with people of other races, which was a huge step forward, as typically crossing those racial boundaries would result in violence or death.
The film was extremely emotional and focused heavily on music’s ability to transcend everything. It crossed the barriers of race, stereotypes, hatred, fear, violence and even the government’s policies.
After the film had ended, students were given the opportunity to ask questions about the film and about music therapy’s role in the project. One student asked if it was difficult for the children to be around others of different races since they had not previously been exposed to such diversity. Sharon Katz replied with a quick, “absolutely,” but said the fact that they were all playing music together brought them closer.
Perhaps the most emotional part of the entire event was when Wanda added to this, saying, “it was very difficult for me, as a black person, to show them that [we] could do something good.”
Katz and Wanda were then asked how they kept the children motivated to keep playing music despite being so far from home and being in so many foreign places.
“The thing is, we had white people as the superior race, Indians as the second race, colored [people] as the third race, and we were the last race,” said Wanda.
“So in that way, for us to —” Wanda began to get choked up, “ — for us to go to the city, it made us so happy. So, music breaks everything. The kids forgot that they were from the first, second, or last group, and they just sang together.”
The fact that these children were given the opportunity to do something they loved, and didn’t have to worry about their race or societal conventions, was extraordinary.
Everyone in the audience was enamored by the film and clung onto every word that Katz and Wanda said. Both women stressed the widespread South African belief that music therapy and music in general can change the world. As many members of the audience were music majors of some variety, this statement impacted them greatly.
Katz stated that the thing to remember was “you can make change.” She strongly believes that we, as individuals, can make a difference in the world as long as we follow our passions and put ourselves wholeheartedly into a cause.