The Music Project fosters social cohesion

Hans Christian Andersen aptly captured the universality of music when he said "Where words fail, music speaks". With a strong belief in this power of music as a link language, the Music Project aims to foster social cohesion between children of the North and South using music as a medium. The project is inspired by a similar programme called El Sistema operating in Venezuela.

Currently, The Music Project provides bi-weekly classes to 500 poverty- stricken children from five schools in the Kurunegala and Mullaitivu districts. Many of these children belong to low income farming communities and have never seen a musical instrument before. They are each trained by local and international professional musicians to use one out of the four main types of instruments in an orchestra. As the lessons progress, the children become proficient players which boosts their confidence and provides them a therapeutic, holistic chance of a lifetime.

The highlight of the project's calendar is the UNITE programme which is a bi-annual four-day event where the children, including their parents, come together to bond via music. At this workshop, the children from the two districts perform as a single orchestra thereby putting into practice their classroom learning. The overall message of the venture is one of possibility and hope for sustainable reconciliation in post-war Sri Lanka.

The Music Project's most recent undertaking was a two-day workshop with the children of the British School of Colombo. It was held on January 30th and 31st at the school premises with the participation of 100 children from The Music Project and 350 students from the British School of Colombo. The motive of this residential workshop is to connect the rural children with the urban youth.

Groups were formed by mixing the participants from the two backgrounds. This compelled the children to communicate with each other despite linguistic barriers. The first day agenda was filled with educational yet fun activities such as making a Tom Tom drum or collectively learning to play an instrument. After lunch, the youngsters practised for the fundraiser concert that was held at the British School auditorium that evening.

A salient feature of the music concert was the ease with which the children from such underprivileged backgrounds blew their recorders or played their violins to the melodies of Beatle repertoire and other popular Western medleys. The audience was captivated by the percussion performance of the Music Project's young drummers.

The second day of the workshop was an interactive one where the children splashed about in the school pool and formed a friendship simply by playing a game or making a paper animal together.

"It was a huge success. The British School of Colombo initiated this project because they wanted their children to be inspired by our children. At the start though, the Music Project kids were overwhelmed by the school's facilities but that is what we want. We want them to set their standards high because they don't have a vision. Plus most of the children and the parents had not travelled south of Vavuniya or visited Colombo. They were really grateful for the chance." said Founder Trustee of the Music Project, Ms. Shalini Wickramasuriya.

The fellowship residential programme organised by The Music Project together with the British School of Colombo, is an example of how long term reconciliation can be created by using the correct medium for dialogue because most often, the important messages are the ones unspoken.

Those who wish to lend a helping hand, could visit the Music Project's website http://www.musicprojectsl.com/.