Reading ‘the Observer’ this weekend - particularly the long article in the Review on the ‘War Child’ project. It was heartening that so many musicians gave their time and support to help the project. However, before ‘War Child’ came a project called ‘The Serious Road Trip’ in which a group of people from the UK, Ireland and New Zealand went to Sarajevo to help. They wanted to work to make a positive difference using cultural events, even in the midst of the war - evidently they arrived in Sarajevo in trucks painted in bright colours with cartoon characters on the side ‘to tease the snipers’!! One of their wartime concerts involved smuggling Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden into the war torn city to perform.
Concerts such as this one were achieved through the commitment of a number of locals including Bekim Medunjanin who found the equipment to stage the concerts. What he said about his work bears testimant to the power of arts and culture even in the midst of the mayhem that was the Bosnian War:
“I was young, caught up in a siege, a war. I ate little and weighed only 45 kilos. But I wasn’t hungry for food. I was hungrier for something to counter the shelling, the sniper fire, news everyday that this or that friend was dead, wounded or in a concentration camp. I was hungry for music, artistic events, rock and roll, things that would keep me alive, keep me going.”
This also tied in with a comment a friend of mine, a writer, made to me a couple of weeks ago; talking about when he was a lot younger and had little money - he said he would spend his money on books rather than food to eat.
Both comments reveal the deep-seated drive we have to connect and communicate to explore our experience through cultural activity whether on our own or in groups - and create entertainment, enjoyment and inspiration in the process.
A few years ago I was part of the team that rewrote the Cultural Strategy for an MDC in the North of England. One major part of the strategy was driven by the large number of local groups involved in arts and cultural activity in a variety of forms: theatre, music, visual arts, as well as making gardens, running activities in community centres, walking, weaving and writing books and poetry. An immensely rich tapestry of activity invloving large numbers of the community in that region. It was embedded as an essential part of their lives.
Many of us have the hunger that Bekim, my friend and that Northern community had - to take part in creative activity, to have fun, create entertainment, learn about ourselves and the people we share (or don’t share) our lives with. I hope in the current economic crunch we remember the power of shared creativity to create a sense of life even when surrounded by all the challenges and hurt, even death. I hope the politicians making the decisions remember that as well as they begin to reduce the debt we have created around us!