North and South Korea have clashed for seven decades, but now a group of musicians are building peace, one note at a time.
The Lindenbaum Festival Orchestra recently performed a concert on the border of North and South Korea in the dangerous Demilitarized Zone. The 100 musicians moved outside for the final song so people across the border could hear the music.
“The DMZ – the demilitarized zone – in the Korean peninsula is one place on earth that desperately needs music,” said the orchestra founder Hyung Joon Won.
Joon Won founded the orchestra in 2009 to promote reconciliation. He dreams of organizing a performance with musicians and singers from both sides of the border.
“I believe in the power of music, which can definitely help and promote reconciliation and peace between two countries,” Joon Won told PeacePrints.
“Conflict happens, in my mind, in my opinion, when there’s no communication, for groups, or for people. For example, North and South Korea – we do not have communications at all,” he said, “but music, for example, when we are gathered through music, we learn instantly how to communicate.”
“I really wish North and South Korea will talk and meet through music, so the world will see the hope of our reconciliation and peace, and the value of music – to contribute to building bridges as to the division of our nation, conflict, and a lack of communication. Peace is Harmony.”
Footage courtesy of PeacePrints, an independently funded blog for peace projects around the world. Learn more about PeacePrints here.
Lea Suter is the founder and peace reporter of PeacePrints and has worked for the think tank foraus (Swiss Forum on Foreign Policy) and for the UN. She holds a Master’s degree in Intercultural Transfer Studies between Russia and Europe.
