Political Issues and Ideas via Music - Coursework Example

Popular Music Explore the ways in which a particular artist or band has supported a political ideal or discussed political issues via their music Introduction Music has been a very popular art whose following cares about no race, age, religion, culture and gender. Meaning, it is listened to all the people who care about benefiting from its entertaining tunes, information, education, just to mention, but a few. The kind of popularity enjoyed by musicians has been an overwhelming one. Although different artists specialize in different genres, music still remains an influential tool in the society. Musicians have been relying on it to entertain their audience and express their social, political and economic ideologies. This paper focuses on how effectively music was used by Leonard Cohen to advance his political ideologies. Leonard Cohen Leonard Cohen is a Canadian musician who was born in 1934. After establishing himself as a rock, he became a reputable song writer and singer whose influences have been greatly felt not only in Canada, but in many other countries across the world including Israel and USA. Due to his expansive work, he composed and performed some of the greatest albums including Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967); Dear Heather (2004); New Skin for the Old Ceremony (1974); Recent Songs (1979); Old Ideas (2012);Various Positions (1984); The Future (1992); Ten New Songs (2001); Death of a Ladies Man (1977); Im Your Man (1988) and Popular Problems (2014). Here, he used his talent to entertain his fans as well as advance his religious and political ideologies. Since he started singing, he has demonstrated that rock music can be made to be a popular brand that discusses a wide range of topics touching on religion and politics. Given the popularity of rock, he could therefore not just sing to entertain, but had to bean active activist who used his music to condemn all sorts of societal evils and also appreciate the good work done by the administration. At one point, he said, “from the wars against disorder/ from the sirens night and day/ from the fires of the homeless/ Democracy is coming to USA” to express his satisfaction with the changes and optimism for a better future (Studwell & Lonergan, 2010). Political Ideologies Since he joined music, Cohen has been active in advancing his political ideologies. Although himself not a politician, the musician has been using his songs to advance political philosophies that, in his opinion, are fruitful to the Canadian and global community. Having been born of Jewish parents, Cohen knows very well that the society has not been a peaceful one. Since the out break of the Israeli War, tension between his people the Israelites and the Palestinians is far from coming to an end (Adria, 2007). Therefore, as a concerned citizen, he has resorted to music to express his opinion regarding this. His major concern is to see the restoration of peace in this great land/. For this reason, he has been actively involved in using his music not only to condemn, but also to advocate for peace especially in this volatile region. In his opinion, peace is a necessary thing that the whole world should enjoy at all times. As a Jew, Cohen was particularly concerned about the constant Israeli-Palestinian rivalry. One of the ways through which he achieved this was through his personal involvement in 1973 in the military during the Israeli-Arab War. Here, he dedicated his time to perform to the military troops who had been deployed to fight for their nation. Later, in 2009, he continued with his support for the country when he returned back to Israel during the tour dubbed “A Concert for Reconciliation, Tolerance and Peace.” During this time, he preached for peace, understanding and conflict resolution between the wrangling groups. In fact, to prove his full support, he donated the entire proceeds of the concerts to the parties which had been involved in the restoration of peace in the region. Nonetheless, the musician has been demonstrating his support for peace in the region by composing sensational hits such as ‘Lover Lover Lover” and "almost like the blues." Despite taking sides in the war, Cohen has never been happy about the perpetual loss of lives in the region. He is convinced that he should not sit down and watch as things become more volatile. Instead, he should use his music to amass his huge following to join in refuting war in the region. After all, Israel is his ancestral home and should not be left to collapse because of the conflict with Palestine (Simmons, 2012). To effectively address this, the musician has been using his artistic prowess to compose a wide range of songs. First, he wrote a popular song titled ‘Story of Isaac.’ Here, he used his biblical knowledge of the story of Abraham who had voluntarily and whole heartedly accepted to offer his only son Isaac as a sacrifice to Yahweh. Although he was only being tested by Yahweh to do so, he readily accepted to kill his son for the sake of his close relation with and faith in God. However, unknown to him, this would be a very painful experience because he would deliberately contribute to the loss of an innocent life (Kurtzer, Lasensky & Organization, 2008). While composing this song, Cohen was committed to reaching the global community. His main intent was to express his political ideology of condemning wars and preaching peace. Having been written at a time of the Vietnam War, the song was purposely aimed at refuting the US community for engaging in aggressive war in Vietnam. By asserting ‘You who build these altars now/ To sacrifice these children/ You must not do it anymore/ A scheme is not a vision,’ he was exclusively aiming at refuting the American parents for sacrificing their own children and allowing them to join the war in which many lives were lost (Curtis, 2000). So, by writing this song, Cohen was looking for sensitizing the society that they should not engage in war because it is a very bad thing and brings traumatizing experiences to many people. Apart from advocating for world peace, Cohen used his songs to sensitize the society to embrace democracy. In 1992, he released ‘Democracy’ a song in which he sought to address the ugly, unpleasant and chaotic democratic process in the world. As a person, he was concerned that even great nations like USA, Israel and Canada were only pretending to be democratic. However, despite appearing to be neutral in his political alignment, he was not happy about the democratic situation in many countries. This was clearly demonstrated when he said, ‘I’m sentimental, if you know what I mean/And I’m neither left or right/ I’m just staying home tonight,/ getting lost in that hopeless little screen’ (Curtis, 2000). As musician, he always wanted to use his influence to advance his political ideologies. The song ‘Democracy’ would therefore be used as a tool for preaching the important contributions of democracy in the society (Studwell & Lonergan, 2010). As a patriot, he knew that the political leadership was not serious about uniting people. Therefore, once they get into office, their intention was not to serve the electorates, but was to advance their own interests. This, in his opinion, would be the root cause for corruption and general poor governance, what prompted such leaders to undemocratically stick into office (Curtis, 2000). Although the song was set in Canada, it would later have a cross border influence. As an established artist, Cohen enjoyed support beyond Canada. Hence, the ideas expressed in this song would be felt in other countries including the developed and underdevelopment in which democracy was still a thorny issue. Music, just like poem, was to be used as a mirror of the society. Its role was not to be limited to entertainment. Instead, it was to be used as a tool for sensitizing the society of any ills and helping to provide adequate and well-thought information on how such evils might be resolved. Therefore, in his opinion, the society was to be challenged using such compositions. Indeed, this was a brilliant idea because the musician seems to have been sensitive of the challenges facing the society. Being a musician should not be used as a\n excuse for shunning politics (Nadel, 2006). The followings enjoyed by great artists like Cohen should be used to positively contribute towards the development of democracy in the country. If he had played a dominant role by failing to discuss politics, he would be of no good. Indeed, it is quite clear that Cohen really took advantage of his talents to demonstrate to the global community how music can not only be popularized, but can be used as a tool for advancing one’s ideologies. All that he did can be used as a lesson to any musician that of course; such a popular genre should not only be restricted to entertainment or to a specific sub-culture with which it identifies. He should be emulated as an example because he went beyond stage performance to freely, boldly and openly express his political ideologies (Kurtzer, Lasensky & Organization, 2008). This actually gave him a platform through which he would be part of change process in the society. In this regard, any musician should be careful about the job they are doing. As a popular art, music should be made more powerful so as to help in addressing any challenge that is faced by people in any society. After all, Cohen proved that rock music enjoys a lot of following and can be made to be too popular. In conclusion, Cohen has not only limited himself to singing. He has been using his composition, singing and literary prowess to advocate for peace, social justice and understanding in the world. Unlike many musicians, he had boldly come out to use his music to freely express his political ideologies. Music, he believes, is a better tool that can be used to reach a very large number of people (Curtis, 2000). His reputation as a respected veteran musician has helped him to amass a huge following which really benefits from his compositions. Although he is accused of taking sides in the Israeli-Palestinian antagonism, Cohen is a human being. Everyone should seriously take his ideas and apply it because it is full of wisdom and can help to improve the image of the society to be a better place to live in. After all, rock is a very popular genre whose following cuts across the ages. Had he not used it to propagate for change, may be, no much transformations would have been attained in the society. References Adria, M. (2007) "Chapter and Verse: Leonard Cohen," Music of Our Times: Eight Canadian Singer-Songwriters. Toronto: Lorimer. Nadel, I. (2006). Various Position: A Life of Leonard Cohen. New YORK: Pantheon Books. Simmons, S. (2012) Im Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen. NY: HarperCollin. Studwell, W. & Lonergan, F. (2010). The Classic Rock and Roll Reader: Rock Music from its Beginnings to the mid-1970s. Abingdon: Routledge. Curtis, J. (2000). Rock Eras: Interpretations of Music and Society, 1954–1984. Madison, WI: Popular Press. Kurtzer, D., Lasensky, S. & Organization (2008). Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace: American Leadership in the Middle East. New York: United States Institute of Peace Press. Read More