Through music, Sarah Eid learns how to make a celebration of peace On 21 September, United Nations Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon rang the Peace Bell -- cast from coins collected by children from all over the world -- at the UN building in New York calling for a 24-hour cessation of hostilities and for a minute's of silence to be observed around the world. World Peace Day, which is observed by UN member states, has been celebrated in September every year since 1981. That year the UN General Assembly passed a resolution declaring the third Tuesday of September to be the International Day of Peace. It was not until 2001, however, that the efforts of one man -- English documentary filmmaker and actor Jeremy Gilley -- and his non-governmental organization, Peace One Day, persuaded the UN to fix the date of the global peace and ceasefire as 21 September. Since that day, thousands of Global Peace Day concerts and other celebrations have taken place every year all around the world in light of promoting a day of peace. This year, Cairo was given the chance to be part of these global festivities thanks to the endeavors of a group of outstanding young students, part of the CISV (formerly Children's International Summer Villages) family. CISV is an international organization that "educates and inspires action for a more just and peaceful world" through its international programs -- camps and family-hosted exchanges -- and community-based work. Its students come from all around the world and their ages range from 11-year-old children to young adults in their twenties. Founded on the aim of achieving world peace through cross-cultural understanding, the Egyptian CISV students, in collaboration with Peace One Day, organized a successful musical event at the Sawi Cultural Wheel in Zamalek on September 19th. The opening act was composed of short skits prepared by the CISV students. The students used the skits to define non-peaceful actions that take place in everyday life, such as teen bullying. Their skits led up to the introduction of the International Day of Peace and of the two Egyptian bands enlisted to give performances that night: Zabaleen and Digla. The choice of bands came from the CISV students' desire to make the event fitting in the global sense, yet still have an Egyptian identity. Zabaleen (Garbage) was the first band to perform. This group of seven young men that create music -- as suggested by the name -- using recycled objects. Naeyr Osama, Youssef Salah, Shaheer Iskander and Nour Ayman are the band's percussionists. To create their innovative sounds they use pipes, steel rods, garbage bins, pieces of wood, empty liquid soap boxes, and objects of the sort. They are accompanied by a guitar played by Ali Mourad, and a saxophone played by Ahmed El-Dahan. With their versatile vocalist Ahmed Safi, this talented group of students, who all study at the American University in Cairo (AU C), creates what they call, "garbage" music. What is attractive about the band, apart from the usage of recycled objects to create music, is their ability to keep the audience entertained and to create music that is diverse: singing in both Arabic and English while incorporating Reggae, Blues, and mawawil[ballades ] into their songs. The idea for such a band came about when the group of AUC students decided to promote recycling during the university's Environment Week earlier this year. At the Sawi Cultural Wheel, the band performed classics such as Don't Stop Believing by Journey, as well as some of their original songs such as Mawwal al Nil [Nile Ballade], Ana Masri [I am Egyptian], and Sax in the Dumpster. The band also performed the song that started it all for them: Throw your Garbage Away American University in Cairo -- which promotes recycling. However, the song that moved the audience most was their newest, written for Peace One Day and entitled El Hilm (The Dream). In this song, Zabaleen explain that the dream of peace and of a world without war can only be achieved through the endeavors of today's youth. Zabaleen was followed by Digla, an Egyptian rock band. Unlike Zabaleen, Digla is a band brought together by its members' passion for music rather than for the environment. They are a conventional rock band in their composition: Tarek Borollossi is the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist, Omar Raafat is the drummer, and Sari the guitarist. However, in one respect they are far from conventional: they started out as a group of young Egyptians jamming to music they enjoyed, only to become an official rock band with a recorded album in English entitled Free Your Mind Put together, the band members offer their audience songs that combine meaningful stories behind the lyrics, excellent instrumental work and soothing vocals. At the Peace One Day concert, Digla played a handful of original songs from their album such as The Pie, Free Your Mind. They also played their hit song Highlights, which was made into a music clip, the band's first. The idea behind a concert dedicated to Global Peace Day is to raise awareness about this one day, this one day free of pressure and tension, one day of global ceasefire, one day of global unity. And "this one day will grow" as Jeremy Gilley once said. Whether we speak of the bands -- Zabaleen and Digla which volunteered their time to perform at the Peace One Day concert; or of the members of CISV which took it upon themselves to spread the meaning of peace, the Peace One Day concert held at the Sawi Cultural Wheel was, what I believe, an 'undersized success'. It was undersized because it reached out to a select group of Egyptian youth, those familiar with the bands that played or with CISV. Also, it was small because it was not publicized on a large scale. However, it was successful because of the method applied by the organizers to grasp the youth's attention. The use of music to lure young adults into attending the event, combined with Jeremy Gilley's documentary about the International Day of Peace, allowed the audience to walk out of the concert not only entertained but also aware that there was a day dedicated to peace and non-violence; aware that to see peace they must become it, even though for a day.
