Three projects where the music was made for something specific, with people who were already doing the work on the ground.
Plant More Trees
United Nations Environment Programme · France · 2008
Four thousand trees, and a song the children already knew by heart.
The song was written with lyrics by Dr. T. Ashok Chakravarthy of India, in direct support of UNEP’s Billion Tree Campaign, and included in the campaign’s audiovisual materials. It appears on Circle of Peace.
It was then chosen for the French compilation Un arbre pour la paix, un arbre pour la terre — A Tree for Peace, A Tree for the Earth — given free, with a classroom kit, to more than a thousand schoolchildren.
On 20 March 2008, the first day of spring, several schools walked out onto a burned-out hillside and planted four thousand saplings. They sang the song while they did it.
4,000
Trees planted
In a burned-out area of France
1,000+
Schoolchildren
Each given the CD and a classroom kit
20 March
First day of spring
The date of the planting ceremony
Song
“Plant More Trees” — words by Dr. T. Ashok Chakravarthy, India
Album
Circle of Peace
Campaign
UNEP Billion Tree Campaign — audiovisual materials
Compilation
Un arbre pour la paix, un arbre pour la terre, France
Ceremony
20 March 2008 — multiple schools participating
Little Boy: The Peace Play
YS Kids Playhouse · Ohio, United States · August 2005
Sixty years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a children’s theatre company asked for music.
I composed the original score for Little Boy: The Peace Play, a theatre-dance production by YS Kids Playhouse, directed by John Fleming — the first artist to receive a grant from the International Peace Research Association.
It was staged in partnership with the Dayton International Peace Museum, the Shirley-Jones Gallery and the Dayton Playhouse, marking the sixtieth anniversary of the atomic bombings.
Every performance ended the same way: candles lit, paper cranes folded, and a wish tree where the audience hung written messages for peace. People did not simply watch it. They left having done something.
Direction
John Fleming, YS Kids Playhouse
Music
Original composition by Muhammad Iqbal Behleem
Partners
Dayton International Peace Museum · Shirley-Jones Gallery · Dayton Playhouse
Performances
Antioch Theater, Yellow Springs — 5–7 August 2005
Dayton Playhouse, Dayton — 8–9 August 2005
Ritual
Candle lighting · origami peace cranes · a wish tree for written messages
Making the Difference
UK Department for Education and Skills · United Kingdom · 2004–2005
A song written in Hawaiʻi, playing in British schools.
I wrote the music for Making the Difference, an anti-bullying resource film commissioned by the United Kingdom Department for Education and Skills, directed by Andy Hickson and produced by Actionwork Films. The song “Peace from East” carries the film.
It launched at the National Film Theatre in London on 23 November 2005, and became a resource used in schools for addressing bullying and teaching children how to settle conflict without it.
“Peace from East” went on to receive a Special Mention at the World Peace Film and Music Festival in Lucknow, India, in 2007.
Commissioned by
UK Department for Education and Skills
Direction
Andy Hickson · Actionwork Films
Song
“Peace from East” — words and music by Behleem
Launch
National Film Theatre, London — 23 November 2005
Later
Special Mention, World Peace Film and Music Festival, Lucknow, 2007
Also
Two more pieces of work that belong here, though they were smaller.
Muppet theatre in Karachi
Fifty schools around Karachi, with a show I wrote, voiced and scored — and puppets I designed myself. There was a nursery rhyme album too, recorded with children aged five to ten, on the themes of peace and love. This is where all of it started.
Marching in the Light of God
A remix made for the Peoples Music Network Winter Gathering in New York, 2005.
Work together
If you are running a campaign, a planting, a school programme or a production and think music would help, write and tell me what you are trying to achieve. I have never charged anything for peace music work, and I never will.
Three projects where the music was made for something specific, with people who were already doing the work on the ground.
Plant More Trees
United Nations Environment Programme · France · 2008
Four thousand trees, and a song the children already knew by heart.
The song was written with lyrics by Dr. T. Ashok Chakravarthy of India, in direct support of UNEP’s Billion Tree Campaign, and included in the campaign’s audiovisual materials. It appears on Circle of Peace.
It was then chosen for the French compilation Un arbre pour la paix, un arbre pour la terre — A Tree for Peace, A Tree for the Earth — given free, with a classroom kit, to more than a thousand schoolchildren.
On 20 March 2008, the first day of spring, several schools walked out onto a burned-out hillside and planted four thousand saplings. They sang the song while they did it.
4,000
Trees planted
In a burned-out area of France
1,000+
Schoolchildren
Each given the CD and a classroom kit
20 March
First day of spring
The date of the planting ceremony
Little Boy: The Peace Play
YS Kids Playhouse · Ohio, United States · August 2005
Sixty years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a children’s theatre company asked for music.
I composed the original score for Little Boy: The Peace Play, a theatre-dance production by YS Kids Playhouse, directed by John Fleming — the first artist to receive a grant from the International Peace Research Association.
It was staged in partnership with the Dayton International Peace Museum, the Shirley-Jones Gallery and the Dayton Playhouse, marking the sixtieth anniversary of the atomic bombings.
Every performance ended the same way: candles lit, paper cranes folded, and a wish tree where the audience hung written messages for peace. People did not simply watch it. They left having done something.
Making the Difference
UK Department for Education and Skills · United Kingdom · 2004–2005
A song written in Hawaiʻi, playing in British schools.
I wrote the music for Making the Difference, an anti-bullying resource film commissioned by the United Kingdom Department for Education and Skills, directed by Andy Hickson and produced by Actionwork Films. The song “Peace from East” carries the film.
It launched at the National Film Theatre in London on 23 November 2005, and became a resource used in schools for addressing bullying and teaching children how to settle conflict without it.
“Peace from East” went on to receive a Special Mention at the World Peace Film and Music Festival in Lucknow, India, in 2007.
Also
Two more pieces of work that belong here, though they were smaller.
Muppet theatre in Karachi
Fifty schools around Karachi, with a show I wrote, voiced and scored — and puppets I designed myself. There was a nursery rhyme album too, recorded with children aged five to ten, on the themes of peace and love. This is where all of it started.
Marching in the Light of God
A remix made for the Peoples Music Network Winter Gathering in New York, 2005.
Work together
If you are running a campaign, a planting, a school programme or a production and think music would help, write and tell me what you are trying to achieve. I have never charged anything for peace music work, and I never will.
