KATHMANDU, Dec 27: Internationally celebrated violinist and United Nations (UN) messenger for peace Midori played a number of music pieces to an audience of conflict victims on Friday at the UN house in Pulchowk.
“Negative emotions need to be expressed too,” she said to the closed group of conflict victims before she started playing, encouraging the conflict victims to share their experience and urging them to take to various art forms to express their pain and suffering.
Along with Midori, her travelling group of musician which included violinist Ellinor from Jamaica, Violist player Charlotte from Germany and Cellist Annette from the US, played four different tunes including the Turkish March by Mozart.
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The conflict victims were indeed moved by the music that Midori shared with them. As a result, some of the conflict victims in attendance at the program shared their own pain and suffering caused by conflicts in Nepal.
Psychologist Khima Rijal from Ruapndehi whose husband was killed during the Maoist conflict just 10 months into their marriage, emphasized the need of music therapy for conflict victims. “Music therapy is necessary for many conflict victims,” she said, “This type of program needs to be carried out on a larger scale so that more conflict victims can find relief.”
Bimala Dhakal from Gorkha whose husband was detained and forcefully disappeared in 2055 BS told the closed group that the music played by Midori made her recall the sad music that she heard while going through the suffering of having lost her husband. “This music transported me back to my days of wailing at the loss of my husband,” she said, “The medium of music is a relief for all of us conflict victims.”
Similarly, Swostika, whose father was forcefully disappeared by the state security agencies after detention, emphasized the mental wellbeing of the conflict victims. “There is no authority that seeks to understand our mental suffering,” she said, “Music helps under this circumstance, poetry does too.” She added that she has started learning how to play the sitar in order to cope up with her pain.
