Don’t let violent party poopers stop the music
ARE rock bands running scared from Europe? Foo Fighters, Deftones and Prince have cancelled tours in the wake of last week’s Paris attack. Just when you want musicians to stand up and be counted, they seem to be fleeing in the face of terror.
“Do I stay or run away and leave it all behind?” Dave Grohl sings on the Foo Fighters anthem Times Like These before concluding: “It’s times like these you learn to live again.” Imagine what that would have sounded like in the Paris arena where the beloved US rock band were due to play on Monday night.
But the show has not gone on. The band posted a message on Facebook: “In light of this senseless violence, the closing of borders, and international mourning, we can’t continue right now. There is no other way to say it.”
Last Saturday, Madonna performed in Stockholm, beautifully articulating the unease and defiance of an entertainer at a time of tragedy. “I feel torn. Why am I up here dancing and having fun when people are crying over the loss of their loved ones? However, that is exactly what [these terrorists] want to do. They want to silence us, and we won’t let them.”
She then led the crowd in a sing-along of Like a Prayer.
Music is a powerful rallying point, an art form with unity at its core. We share songs, we harmonise melodies, we sing along. A moment like this is precisely when a concert hall should be full rather than empty. The power of music to SHOUT IT LOUD: Eagles of Death Metal at the Bataclan concert hall, moments before terrorists strike unite is exactly what these nihilistic terrorists planned to disrupt.
The slaughter at the Bataclan is unprecedented. There have been violent incidents at concerts before. But this targeted killings of fans is different. The Eagles of Death Metal, who were on stage when the murderers struck a week ago, play raucous, melodic, uplifting music.
Their name is self-mocking. No wonder Islamic State hates such performers — the ability to laugh at oneself is beyond them.
Is this the clash of civilisations reduced to the petty meanness of particularly violent party poopers? Some Muslim fundamentalists seem to loathe culture in general and music in particular. The use of music is a grey area in Koranic law, with reductive interpretations claiming that music should be made only to worship Allah; others forbid music altogether.
Under Taliban rule in Afghanistan it was a crime to possess a radio. When sharia law was imposed on parts of Mali in 2012 during the civil war, musical expression was outlawed, punishable by death. Militants destroyed recording studios, radio stations and amputated the limbs of people caught playing instruments. This is a vision IS would impose on us: a world without melody. It is how a bunch of mad zealots can convince themselves that unarmed kids listening to a band are legitimate military targets.
The Bataclan massacre was, as U2 singer Bono put it, a “direct hit on music”.
It is the nature of terrorism to hit where it hurts. If bands shy away from touring Europe, if audiences grow fearful of gathering to watch them, we will all suffer. We need musicians to sing up and be counted. — © The