It is exceedingly rare that a work of art ostensibly for peace is actually peaceful. Think about MC5 albums or U2 songs. Now imagine weaving voices in languages you mainly don’t understand, often playing out complex grammatical back-and-forth poetic dialogues. It’s uncanny to see the idea of peace carried out materially –to see a work about peace making peace with itself, rather than causing a big fuss about peace. Not that I have ever complained about the fuss; it’s just that the opportunity to be genuinely pacified doesn’t tend to involve this much variety. (MC)
CD, www.pennkemp.ca