A peace song for Osnabrück
A city of peace without a peace song? - students of music teaching at the University of Osnabrück no longer wanted to accept that. Therefore, they wrote, composed and arranged a peace song for the city of Osnabrück. The premiere of this song took place on December 15 and 16, 2018, in the Winter Village in the courtyard of Osnabrück Castle. As part of a music didactics seminar, the students swarmed into the city and practiced the song with various musical groups. Each group was also allowed to write its own verse. The result was a performance in which about 160 young and old citizens of Osnabrück gave voice to their specific views on peace. While it is important for the students not to rest on the merits of the past, but to actively shape peace again and again, students wish, for example, that parents should no longer argue or that bullying or slandering during the big break should stop. Members of the Bajazzos choir even recall their childhood during the war with "foreign soldiers in the homeland" and a "city that lay under rubble." "I am very impressed by how many different people with very different perspectives on peace finally come together in a common song, radiating so much joy in the joint project," said Dr. Dorothee Barth, professor of music didactics and organizational and artistic director of the project. "It was the right mix of chaos and boundaries that ultimately allowed creativity to emerge," adds student Feelia Küster, who composed the music together with fellow student Nhan Gia Vo. "I hope the city of Osnabrück appreciates what a gift this is to them."
Participating are:
- A group of children from the Rosenplatz elementary school and after-school program.
- A seventh grade class from the Graf Stauffenberg Gymnasium in Osnabrück
- A sixth grade class from Möser-Realschule Osnabrück
- A language learning class with refugee youths at the Hauptschule Innenstadt (secondary school in the city center)
- Choir project KEHS Gospel (students)
- The Bajazzos (a male choir at the Bahnsozialwerk Foundation)
- An instrumental ensemble of student teachers at the University of Osnabrück
More info as well as a film and sound recordings can be found here.
Peace needs an update!
Introduction
You are vulnerable, a precious guest. The pulse of all life - often weak. You know this city, have been here many times. When has it ever given you a home?
Oh oho, o ho, ho...
Chorus
Peace needs an update, not just an empty compliment. Give it meaning and share what makes you peaceful. Peace needs an update, not just what was yesterday. Take these old stones and build from them what makes you tooPeace!
Verse 1
Where we feel safe, there is no strife. Sometimes you have to be brave for love and friendship. No distance and no obstacle can divide us. And when we laugh, no one is alone.
Verse 2
Give me your hand, I want to walk with you. Crossing borders, sowing diversity in Europe. You speak all languages, and even I won't stay still, because your magic wants to bind us again. You take my pain from me, sing me to sleep. With you I feel safe, because I am allowed to be me. In search of you I came lonely to the city; Here I found refuge, in your arm.
Verse 3
Do you know the feeling when everything is right and nothing is bothering you? When you spend time with the people who matter to you? Peace, that's 'baris', is 'pace' and 'salam', we wish for peace in every land.
Rap part 1
We want peace and we want it today - for me and you and all people. Parents should not fight anymore, dad, mom both stay. Christians and Muslims shall join hands. Violence, hatred, displacement shall all give way. Be grateful for good life and strive for happiness and friendship. Children should not exclude each other, but always shed love. No room for envy and dissent, because we know better.
Verse 4
How often must we still call for you: Peace come! Childhood under war and foreign soldiers in the homeland. War captives cry, the city lies under rubble. Never let us forget How precious peace is.
Rap part 2
Terror in the streets, violence in your home, bullying or slander in the big break. Is not all war, but certainly not peace. Say: where's the love gone? There is still much that is not right. But we accept it - do nothing and write peace in the wind. But who says peace needs losers and we can't change anything? We want to sow peace in all countries from today. Give me your hand when you are down. It will be me who pulls you up. We have already achieved so much. Take care of yourself and build a house for yourself. Mainly love, not much more is needed. But the way, it will not be easy.