A Voice to the Voiceless

A Voice to the Voiceless
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A Voice to the Voiceless
Many things have been said about music. Therapists speak of its therapeutic power and even recommend it as a remedy for people with depressive disorders and anxiety issues. There are those who consider music as their way of speaking truth to power. These individuals call out the evils in society, in the political scenery, and use it to champion certain issues in society. Some artists have used music to speak on the environment to enhance awareness of the climate change problem. Others, however, find refuge in music because it is the only avenue that their cries and issues end up getting to the mainstream arena. These people are mainly dejected, that society considers the lowly, and those that the mainstream media does not find to be newsworthy. Such people never get airtime on the mainstream media and thus are forced to find other ways to air their views, cries, and complaints. They use these channels to speak on the evils and the dehumanization of humanity with ideals that only seek to cater to the needs of the elite few while neglecting the needs of the majority. One particular channel that these people use is music. Through their lyrics, they get to pour out their anger and frustrations at the systems that continually seek to divide, further the interests of the few, and refuse to give them space and time to share their concerns. Provided herein is an analysis of how music has for a long time been the voice of the voiceless, and through its appeal and reach, has helped people from all walks of life bring the world to a standstill.
First of all, the world has always been separated or organized into classes. The highest class mainly included people from the effluent faction, while the lowest included individuals from the poorest and dejected faction. While these are obvious ways to showcase societal stratification, there are many ways through which the society is stratified, and the cries of the voiceless go unheard. For example, Marsh brings to mind the disabled in society, who, for the most part, are considered voiceless. She continues to indicate that everyone in society deserves the chance to tell their story. No one deserves the cold shoulder that is often directed towards the disabled in society. Often, children end up bottling up many issues when they are not given the chance to speak out and express themselves. However, Marsh speaks of how music has been used to give voice to the disabled and help this particular lot have experiences that mirror others. "Giving voice to the voiceless, or empowerment of children through music, has most obviously been the province of music educators working with children in special education environments." Using music to facilitate learning and expression of disabled children, educators working in special education environments have indeed managed to voice the voiceless voice. These children can communicate their feelings, fears and simply express themselves to their teachers.[Marsh Kathryn. 2009 Giving Voice to the Voiceless: Empowerment Through Music – A Commentary. In: Barrett M.S., Stauffer S.L. (eds) Narrative Inquiry in Music Education. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9862-8_14] [Ibid.]
Aside from the above, there are other music genres that have been used to voice the frustrations, disappointments, and utter disgust of particular groups of people against certain injustices. For example, since its inception, Hip Hop music has been used by artists to speak to the ills in society. African American men and women have used this music to speak to what they believe are evils that are solely directed at an innocent lot whose only crime is to have a different color than their perpetrator. In his article, Abdul-Adil speaks of how 'Gangsta Rap' "represents a rebellious and anti-establishment ethos that often resonates with the life experiences of historically oppressed urban ethnic minority masses." He continues to say that 'Gangsta Rap' has also been serving as a voice to the voiceless while also touching on the issues or problems that often plague young men and women of color on a daily basis. Having been neglected by their government, these young men and women are left to languish in drugs, gang activities, among others. Their plight is only captured in these songs as the musicians seek to showcase the irony of living such lives while a section of the populace claims to be living in the richest and most powerful country on earth. Like Abdul-Adil says, Gangsta Rap seeks to depict "raw yet realistic "street stories"." These are stories that could not have been the light of day if they had been left at the hands of the mainstream media.[Abdul-Adil Jaleel. 2014. From Voiceless to Victorious. In: Porfilio B., Roychoudhury D., Gardner L.M. (eds) See You at the Crossroads: Hip Hop Scholarship at the Intersections. Constructing Knowledge: Curriculum Studies in Action. SensePublishers, Rotterdam. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6209-674-5_9] [Abdul-Adil Jaleel. 2014. From Voiceless to Victorious. In: Porfilio B., Roychoudhury D., Gardner L.M. (eds) See You at the Crossroads: Hip Hop Scholarship at the Intersections. Constructing Knowledge: Curriculum Studies in Action. SensePublishers, Rotterdam. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6209-674-5_9]
Music has also been used to protest wrongs in society. In the United States, for example, music has been used to fight racial injustice. For the most part, the U.S. continues to deny that it is full of racist individuals and brags about its diversi...