(un)Common Sounds

In troubled times of heightened global tensions and conflict, (un)Common Sounds: Songs of Peace and Reconciliation among Muslims and Christians explores the contribution of music and the performing arts to peacebuilding and interfaith dialogue in interreligious settings. It asks the simple but endlessly complex question: How is music and song used in our faiths and daily lives to foster peace and reconciliation? Focusing on the two largest world religions that together comprise more than 55% of the world's population, the essays address the complexities of embodied, lived religious traditions by moving across and linking a range of disciplines: ethnomusicology (the intersection of music and culture), peacemaking, Islamic studies, and Christian theology. Based on research in the Middle East, North Africa, and Indonesia, context-specific case studies serve to identify and reflect on the significant roles of music and the performing arts in fostering sustainable peace. (un)Common Sounds investigates the dynamics of peacebuilding and interfaith dialogue as they relate to music's transformative roles in conflict and post-conflict settings. Classroom tested, (un)Common Sounds also provides discussion questions and projects for each chapter, a companion Web site (www.songsforpeaceproject.org), and an available documentary film to enhance learning in the academy, nongovernmental organizations, and religious groups.

""(un)Common Sounds shows how the common sounds between Muslims and Christians have intensified from the clanging of swords to the thunder of bombs. By holding consultations and concerts in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, the authors have shown that when swords are beaten into flutes on their way to becoming plowshares, people's feelings, thinking, and behavior are changed so that they can hear the still small voice of the God of Abraham and Jesus whom their Scriptures proclaim. Then as friends they can better deal with their differences and the (un) can be removed from 'Common Sounds.'""
--J. Dudley Woodberry, Dean emeritus, School of Intercultural Studies, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA


Roberta R. King, PhD, is Associate Professor of Communication and Ethnomusicology, Fuller Theological Seminary, School of Intercultural Studies, California, USA. Her publications include Pathways in Christian Music Communication: The Case of the Senufo of Cote d'Ivoire and Music in the Life of the African Church.

Sooi Ling Tan, PhD, is an Adjunct Assistant Professor, Fuller Theological Seminary and Adjunct Lecturer, Malaysia Baptist Theological Seminary, Malaysia. Her publications include Transformative Among the Salakos of Sarawak, Malaysia and ""Transformative Worship in the Malaysian Context.""