Music for Iraqi civilians

Kitchener, Ont.


Photo: Carol Ann Weaver

Carol Ann Weaver, associate professor of music at Conrad Grebel University College, premiered her most recent composition, “Piece of a rock—in memoriam,” Saturday, May 10, 2003, on the island of Victoria Park, Kitchener, Ontario. Weaver was inspired to write and perform the composition as her way of working for peace.

The text is based on an African proverb, which says that if you have struck a woman you have struck a rock. The story of Moses who struck a rock where living water was found also influenced Weaver’s text. Obtaining names from several international peace workers, including John Sloboda of www.iraqbodycount.com and Lowell Ewert, a Peace and Conflict Studies professor at Conrad Grebel University College, Weaver includes actual names and ages of Iraqi civilian victims—mothers, fathers, children, young and old—who have lost their lives in the Iraq war.

The text calls leaders, saints, and queens to listen for wisdom and guidance in days of turmoil and war. The profound words vividly express a cry for peace through the various uses of instruments and sound.

The piece began with each drummer, spaced around the stage, beating a different rhythm entering the realm of sound randomly. As they walked toward the stage their rhythm united until each drummer was standing in a line beating the same rhythm. Weaver’s distinctive use of drums, rhythm and space generated parallels to the African talking drum that allowed people to transmit messages from a distance without words. The message of these particular drums was a call for unity.

Vocalist Rebecca Campbell entered with a descending line that pleaded for leaders to listen to the words of the song. Joining her, Weaver provided vocal harmonization intensifying the plea to saints and queens of the past and present to open their ears. The music built to the cadence as the words cried out “show us a way to peace today.”

An overlapping texture began as Weaver continued to sing “show us a way,” while Campbell musically painted word images of striking living water identified as children’s bodies that are being broken in the devastation of war. Bells and triangles invited audience members to participate with percussion instruments in proclaiming children’s need for a voice to sing. An abrupt minor shift emphasized the question, “Did they die in vain?” as bells were again used to represent the children’s lives that are involved in war. In another sudden shift, the gong, bells and keyboard in unison crashed.

In a monotone voice Campbell slowly read the names and ages of the victims. Intermittently, the gong, bells and keyboard sounded. The song ended leaving the listeners to ponder the purpose of war amidst the brutal consequences it brings. Ironically, a plane flew over during the reading of the victims’ names penetrating the intensity and emotional impact of the piece.
— Darlene Hemingway