Canadian Musician - November-December 2022 | Page 31

COLUMNS Music as a Motivational Catalyst

By Darcy Ataman
Content Warning : references to sexual violence , rape .

It has been said “ music is what feelings sound like ,” but can it also be what incentive looks like ? Can it be a motivational catalyst into seemingly impossible deeds ? I would like to share three tales to support this theory , which I have personally witnessed in some of the toughest areas and contexts in the world .

In 2009 I found myself in Juba , South Sudan , just before the vote to secede took place . I then traveled to Jonglei state near Darfur , which broke out into heavy conflict shortly after I departed . I was befriended by a general in the South Sudanese Army as he was enamoured by the fact that I was a music producer . To him , this carried cache that came in handy when I was later accused of being a spy as I was trying to depart the country . Two locals who I had employed to assist me in my travels had agreed to do so as this would provide them with the ability to search for materials needed to build a church . They spent a week with me , traversing tribal lines at great personal risk , in order to build a sanctuary where they could “ sing their glory to God .” While the mechanism of religion can surely be criticized in the context of the conflict between North and South Sudan , the power in which physically framing an appropriate spot to sing offerings up to the metaphysical heavens comes without debate .
Later , in 2019 , I visited a small coastal town in Peru , where migrants from Venezuela organically and illegally established new communities . These communities were a combination of low-income homes built by the Peruvian government , which were rejected by the locals and blueberry farmers who preferred to hire under the table for slave wages . I spent days talking to the local youth , some who had walked for weeks , at great risk , to flee an emerging military dictatorship for the potential of a conflict-free life . What struck me the most was how every young person I interacted with wanted me to listen to the music they were listening to , which served as motivation while walking across sovereign country lines in hopes for a future worth living for . I was fascinated as throngs of teenagers handed me their headphones because they wanted me to absorb every beat and rap that inspired and sustained them to flee their home country in an attempt to start anew somewhere else .
Present day , Katana , Democratic Republic of the Congo ( DRC ). The NGO I founded , Make Music Matter , has recently employed a new innovation . We created a mobile version of our Healing in Harmony music therapy model that uses a mobile recording studio in a land cruiser to reach remote and dangerous areas . One of our recent artists is a young lady who was forced to marry her rapist . In her words , she feels like she is “ raped everyday .” After completing our program and healing her trauma , she took it upon herself to physically start walking to nearby villages to educate her neighbours , encouraging others to engage in this program in order to heal and regain their agency .
Music , as we know , holds our feelings , it protects them in the folds hidden in melody and metaphor and exposes them in every backbeat emitting from our headphones and speakers . My examples above demonstrate that it goes beyond the butterflies in our stomachs and propels us to physically take leaps we tend to avoid .
I hope we can continue to use music as a catalyst to propel us to what we once thought was unimaginable .
Darcy Ataman , M . S . C ., is the founder and CEO of Make Music Matter Canada and Make Music Matter USA . MMM uses music therapy and the creative process , plus an emphasis on local leader ship , to empower marginalized individuals and communities . Darcy is also a music producer and the co-founder of A4A Records & Publishing alongside producer David Bottrill .
CANADIAN MUSICIAN 31