John Lennon once sang “Imagine there’s no country”. One way to do this is by listening to music. It takes us beyond borders. Listening to music is a common point between people all around the world. Music is a form of art that expresses and shares ideas and emotions between people from different countries, languages and cultures. In our daily lives, we tend to listen to it without realizing how this art is an essential pillar for peace.
Music is not only about entertainment, it can also be a real diplomatic tool for breaking down polarization and division between countries. Music has the power to stop war, as it did on 24 December 1914. The First World War began in July 1914, opposing the Allied Powers (France, the UK, Russia, the USA…) and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary…). According to the Library of Congress, this war commissioned more than 60 million soldiers who fought in trenches. On the Western Front, where French, British and Belgian soldiers were fighting against the Germans, most of the interactions were insults. As Christmas approached, grief prevailed since many soldiers thought the war would be over at some point, amplified by unbearable living conditions. On the night before Christmas, the Germans started singing Christmas carols, followed by the British and French soldiers, until a German soldier eventually shouted “Tomorrow, you no shoot, we no shoot”. Mr Rickner, a German artillery officer who was present at this unexpected ceasefire described this moment in a documentary from the Imperial War Museums:
“I remember the Christmas Day, when the German and the French soldiers left their trenches, went to the barbed wire between them with champagne and cigarettes in their hands and had feelings of fraternization and shouted they wanted to finish the war.”
Eventually, according to several testimonies, the soldiers started to play football until strict orders were communicated that no fraternization was allowed.
In essence, this historical event puts music at the heart of an unexpectedly peaceful act right in the middle of a brutal total war. By singing carols, the German soldiers reminded themselves and the soldiers on the opposite side that they were all the same and knew the same songs. Music made them forget about their countries and borders and focus on their humanity.
The battlefield was not the only place where conflicts arose between people from different nations. Just last summer, during the Olympic games, a supposedly peaceful event that gathers all nations around passion and sport, tensions grew between volleyball players. According to the newspaper Ouest France, on 9 August 2024 in Paris, a dispute erupted between the two finalist teams of the feminine volleyball competition, Canada and Brazil. The two Brazilian players Ana Patricia Silva Ramos and Eduarda Santos Lisboa almost came to blows with the Canadians Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson. The DJ suddenly played the song Imagine by John Lennon, which brought the smile back on the players’ faces. The whole audience started to sing this worldwide-known song. This proves again the ability of music to gather people around the same values and appease tensions.
Moreover, music unites people around the ambition of a world without war. Besides enabling us to open ourselves to new cultures, music helps us to get to know each other during musical events such as festivals. All kinds of people, locals, foreigners and travelers gather and enjoy a moment together regardless of their languages, nationalities or social backgrounds. Festivals are proof that music creates a sense of unity and peace among us. People have the opportunity to discover new artists, new languages and new people from different cultures. One example is the Europavox festival, which takes place every year in seven different European countries: France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Italy, Lithuania and Romania. The edition in Clermont-Ferrand in June 2024 welcomed artists from 18 different countries with very different cultures. It mixed rock with the groups Shaka Ponk or The Libertines, with pop with L’Imperatrice, Phoenix or Isaac Delusion and with French rap with La Fève, Luther or Doums and other artists.
“The Last Rose of Summer” festival, which takes place in Berlin in August, also shares the values of discovery, tolerance and peace. It celebrates the rich folk traditions of Ireland. The artistic directors of this festival, Judith Ingolfsson and Vladimir Stoupel, were interviewed by Berlin Global, an online cultural diplomacy news platform, in September 2024:
“Our appeal is to remind people of tolerance when we bring musicians from different countries together […] The idea is to create a platform that showcases different worldviews.”
Music is a universal language. It transcends any barrier between us. Even the language barrier is not an obstacle, as a song can be appreciated and can raise emotions within us just due to its harmony and tone. The two mentioned festivals highlight the European motto that we are “United in diversity”. When we listen to a song from another country and culture, it can lead us to a deep insight into the way of living and traditions in that country. Being open-minded and understanding other cultures can be the key to a peaceful world, and music can help us achieve this goal.
Artists have the opportunity to exercise their influence over their audience in concerts and festivals. They have some responsibility for the values they want to convey and can have a powerful say over political and social topics they want to denounce or promote. The famous British singer Harry Styles transmitted a powerful message of peace when he unfurled the Ukrainian flag at some concerts like in New York in May 2022 or in Warsaw in July 2023. Others like the band Coldplay defend LGBTQIA+ rights in songs and messages of peace, saying we should accept others for who they are. With those demonstrations of peace and inclusion, musicians and singers have the power to change the worldview. Those artists really can make a difference.
Some musicians are also committed in politics, such as the singer of L’Impératrice at the 2024 session of Europavox in Clermont-Ferrand, who encouraged people to vote in the French snap legislative elections that took place in the beginning of July, hoping for a result that would enable inclusion, peace and equality. The more artists become famous, the more influence they will have over social and political issues. Taylor Swift proved it, as 35,000 people subscribed on the American electoral lists right after the recommendation she published on Instagram, according to CBS news.
Another way music eliminates borders is by artist collaborations. Some artists play an important role in mixing musical cultures. With the rising influence of K-Pop in the world, the famous US-American singer Bruno Mars decided to work together with the K-Pop artist Rosé to release the song APT in October 2024. This song provides a mixture of western and Korean musical cultures which targets a large audience and turned out to be a major success. On YouTube, the music video has been watched 1.3 million times. This new trend might expand even further and foster a beautiful mixture of cultures, languages and musical styles.
Artists are real game-changers. Besides conveying explicit messages when they are on stage and promoting cultural mixing, musicians and singers deliver powerful messages through their songs and lyrics.
Il n’y a, vu du ciel, aucune ligne sur la Terre
(There are no lines on the earth when seen from the sky)
Yanick Noah – Frontières
The ex-French tennis-player who became a singer has released committed songs about how much better the world could be without borders, without racism, without sexism and without inequalities.
Ma verrà un giorno che tutte quante lavoreremo in libertà.
(The day will come when all of us will work in freedom.)
Bella Ciao
This Italian song is commonly used as a hymn of resistance against injustice and oppression, dedicated to the partisans of the Italian resistance who fought against the occupying troops of Germany and the collaborationist Fascist forces during WWII.
And how many years can some people exist
Before they’re allowed to be free?
Bob Dylan – Blowin’ in the Wind
This pacifist song encourages people to ask themselves deep questions about society and the human condition, while also emphasizing the need to seek answers and create a fairer world.
Music makes us travel without moving our feet. It doesn’t have any borders. Thanks to the progress of technology, we can now listen to music from all around the world and we should embrace this opportunity. Music has the power to stop conflicts and to share strong values and messages. It enables us to meet with each other from around the world thanks to festivals and concerts, and to have access to thousands of languages and cultures. It is a powerful tool for artists to make political and social commentaries on society and to raise awareness among their audience. Therefore, we need to be tolerant and embrace the cultures we discover through music.
Photo credits: Marine Leroux
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