The sound of harmony
BY ANTHONY CASTLE
I was listening to music at a rally earlier this year. A group featuring Aboriginal musicians started to perform, the band made up of guitars and drums and Indigenous instruments. I have attended this rally for years, following an invitation from an Aboriginal Christian leader. They are noisy places, with shouting and megaphones, footfalls and laughter; but the music is the thing that stayed with me. Traditionally, these different parts would not have been played together, but as the voices rose, it made something more. It made harmony.
The rally had started late that day, due to another gathering held nearby. The path of the rally I attended had been temporarily blocked by a group of 30 men, uniformed in black, displaying Nazi symbols and chanting racist slogans. Sixteen of the men were arrested, and the rally was able to go ahead later than planned, despite the disruptions.
I have been thinking about that disruption, in the approach to this year’s Harmony Week. So much of our political debate and culture has come to be defined by disagreement, even conflict. Listening to the musicians, I wondered about those men dressed in black and how to make sense of these times. What does harmony even mean when the world seems so noisy?
On that day, listening to the music as it rose into the hot summer sky, it all felt like an attack on who gets to belong.
Harmony Week celebrates Australia’s diversity and brings together Australians from all different backgrounds to celebrate inclusion. Australia has been called the most successful multicultural country in the world, given the diversity of cultures, backgrounds, and beliefs. Australians identify with over 300 different ancestries, and the cultures making up our modern society are both ancient and recent to the land.
The theme for Harmony Week this year is ‘Everyone Belongs’. While we can see that diverse people have found belonging in Australia, not everyone agrees with this. Here and abroad, voices have questioned multicultural values, criticising inclusion and equality. Different people groups have been subject to racist abuse, threats, and even, in recent months, been attacked.
These trends don’t feel like controversies in tough times. They feel bigger than the usual arguing online or bickering over politics. These disruptions to our multicultural values feel like a conflict over who should be here. On that day, listening to the music as it rose into the hot summer sky, it all felt like an attack on who gets to belong.
Harmony Week has its origins in the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The day commemorates a tragedy in South Africa when peaceful anti-apartheid demonstrators were violently attacked. Harmony Week began with people at a rally making noise.
When making harmony in music, it starts with noise. The different parts work together in complementary ways, becoming something larger. These notes are different, some quiet, some loud, but together, they feel as if they belong. They make something more.
We can think of social harmony as something calm, quiet even. In times like these, quiet calm can seem appealing. Like many, I look at the news and social media and feel sick of the noise, but the challenges we face won’t go away if we are quiet. Harmony Week has its origins in standing up for inclusion. It began with those raising their voices for others.
You can’t make music without first making noise, and there won’t be any harmony here if we remain silent.
Australia is home to the world's oldest continuous culture, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples living on this continent for upwards of 60,000 years. One in three current Australians were born overseas. At a time when Australian security authorities have reported that racism is now their highest priority, it has never been more important to stand up for the diversity we share.
The Salvation Army is committed to inclusion, and the work of harmony. It supports intercultural communities and values diverse people. The Salvation Army acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land and is committed to relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. For those who were here first, who arrived last, and everyone in between; the harmony we need starts with noise.
What part do we play?
