Can Music Bridge Culture Promote Peace Analysis

Omar Akram in his essay, “Can Music Bridge Cultures and Promote Peace” clearly accomplishes his goal of persuading the audience through persuasive techniques such as logos, pathos, and ethos with pathos being the dominant. Throughout the essay Akram keeps on mentioning that the world we live in can be a peaceful place and people can live united even if there are many distinctive cultures in the world. Feeling a need to bring these cultures together instead of creating a sense of superiority in one particular group, he believes music is the key ingredient in achieving peace. He has been living in various cultures and places throughout his life and has connected the people of these cultures together with his music. He was pianist and a recording artist who after winning the Grammy realized the true …show more content…
One of the most logical reason he gives in the essay as to why his music is popular in various cultures is that the music produced by him has no language. He says, “One reason I believe my music in particular has been able to easily flow between international borders is because there is no singing or language” (215). This quote demonstrates that his instrumental music would give the listeners abstract images rather than specific ideas that are generally given by lyrical songs. These images created by the listener in their own mind are not confined to any culture or country. The author also gives an example of how his music united his country Afghanistan by mentioning, “The people there can hardly even unite behind anything, and after I won the Grammy award there was a shared sense of accomplishment”(216). These lines makes the reader ponder that if people of different ethnicities who are always fighting with each other can unite as one because of music, then why not spread peace in the same way by connecting people from different locations through