Music brings faiths together
So how did the first Inter Faith week fare? Anne van Staveren tells Eye how it went in her Meeting
The sound of music echoed around the Watermans Art Centre in Brentford, West London. Nothing unusual in that, except this struck a different chord. One after another, a Jewish cantor sang psalms, Hindus and then Sikhs sang the words of an ancient Indian poet, Christian choirs sang in Latin, English and Russian, an imam gently intoned the Muslim call to prayer and Quakers kept a short silence. Not many of the audience understood all the words but it didn’t matter. They listened with their hearts as each faith shared something of their worship. Some said they could feel the Quakers listening for the word of God.
‘Music from the Faiths’ was Hounslow Friends of Faith’s contribution to the first national Inter Faith Week, an initiative of the Inter Faith Network and the Department of Communities and Local Government.
Brentford and Isleworth Quaker Bessie White said that organising the event had changed her. ‘There is something about music which reaches people in a unique way’, she said. ‘This felt quite different to the experience of visiting each other’s places of worship for open events or meetings, which we regularly do. We were not visitors here but drawn together by the music into a shared space. It was good to hear the imam and the cantor warmly planning exchange visits.’
Planning the event had involved visiting a number of places of worship during services to hear what the music would be, observing appropriate codes of dress and behaviour: a skirt and hat and shot of whisky in place of tea de rigeur at synagogue; a headscarf and up to two hours standing at the Russian Orthodox Church, warm from the smell of candles each worshipper lights; cross legged on the floor at the Sikh gurdwara. Some groups sent in the texts of their contributions promptly and needed no more equipment than a music stand. Others chopped and changed and asked for microphones and a backing track. The Hindu ladies had no tabla player. No problem, the Sikh player stepped in. On the day the commitment of each group to their own contribution and the shared event shone through.
What has been learnt? People are pleased to be asked to contribute. Music can say more than words: a concert will appeal to a wider audience than a talk on ‘Custom and practice in x faith’. Planning takes time, personal involvement and persistence. You need a team of helpers for front of house and back stage. Sound checking takes longer than you think. And despite glossy fliers the best form of publicity is personal contact.
To be part of the Quaker silence alongside the music was profoundly moving. Next day, ministry during Meeting for Worship reflected on the evening. Giving thanks for the Quaker witness and the role of Quakers in bringing the faiths together, one Friend said he would keep in mind, from the evening, the words of the Indian poet, Kabir, revered by both Hindus and Muslims, and whose poetry was incorporated into the Sikh holy book. His poem said: ‘When I was born, the world laughed, I cried. When I died, the world cried and I laughed – because I was going to be with God.’
See www.hounslowfriendsoffaith.org for more information.
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