“Here we are, gathered together. Here we are, making music. Here we are, sharing in harmony.” These improvised lyrics, sung earlier in the week by an EMU colloquium group alongside Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP) alums Frances Crowhill Miller (‘11) and Daryl Snider (‘12), encapsulate the efforts made Saturday, Oct. 1: to show how peacebuilding can be powered through music.

That night, members of the EMU community gathered to celebrate Songs for Change, a performance featuring Miller and Snider, current CJP student Tarini Nagasaila Suresh, and EMU’s ensemble group, the Chamber Singers. The performance was sponsored by EMU’s new Music and Peacebuilding major. 

The show featured a variety of original songs, instruments, and themes. 

In “Chicken,” an up-beat retelling of Miller’s real experience with a “liberated chicken,” spoons and chicken calls worked alongside comedic lyrics to explain how “when we laugh, we can survive.” According to Miller, being able to find humor in situations shows resilience and allows for easier connection. 

Suresh played guitar and sang four original songs of grief, solidarity, and resilience. She wrote her piece “Sleep (Lullaby)” for an eight-year-old girl who was murdered by oppresors in India, Suresh’s home country, due to ethnic conflict. “One More Day with You” tells of Suresh’s experience working with the Organization for Eelam Refugees Rehabilitation (OfERR), which is run by and for Sri Lanken refugees. Despite having to flee their home country, these refugees still had hope. They told Suresh that “even when they were literally hiding in the trenches…it was their identity, the very identity that they were being killed for, in which they found their strength.” The song celebrates their resilience.

Following their performance of “#UnitedWeDream” by Claudia Hernández and Melissa Dunphy, which tells the story of American Dreamers on the path towards citizenship, the Chamber Singers were joined by Miller and Snider for “Wayfaring Stranger,” “This is My House,” and, most notably, “Wozo.”

Wozo is a stubborn plant that grows throughout Haiti. During his time in the country, Snider learned of a Haitian proverb, translating to: “We are wozo. We bend but we do not break.” The song, originally a poem by Jimmy San Luis and later put to music by Snider, was inspired by the plant and its resilience.

The night ended with a standing ovation and words of praise from the crowd.