Sounds of Somme
To this day, World War I stands for the desolation and absurdity of all war. The belief in mankind or God could easily be lost for good if there hadn't been those slight signs of hope and humanity which kept up a very differen image of Man.
Some of those signs have been preserved in objects like the improvised music instruments which often were made out of unlikely materials that could be gathered at the front and which have become witnesses of their time. Those instruments were not meant to kill and destroy but to uphold the individual soldier's dignity in the face of the chaotic and inhuman sounds of war.
'Sounds of Somme' does not emphasize numbers, testimonials, images, facts which illustrate and document the madness of war. Rather, it focuses on human creativity as the sole way out of the hell people can inflict on each other. The improvised music instruments are the messengers of an individual and indeed vital creative resistance to war and fanatism in general. Given the crisis in contemporary Europe, this message is of great importance.
Both by means of the concert and the film, as well as by the digital portal, 'Sound of Somme' wishes to implement the putting into practice of the values of a peaceful cooperation and living together in modern Europe.
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