Musicians are always producing music that speaks out against war. As conflict escalated in Iraq a few years ago, a whole new line of anti-war songs started showing up from every kind of musician imaginable. Some bands took a very violent stand against the President while others were more interested in finding peace and wanted to inform people about what they can do to help.
Lenny Kravitz produced “We Want Peace” in 2003. Kravitz made his song stand out from everyone else’s in one very important way. Lenny Kravitz didn’t play all the vocals and instruments himself for this track like he usually does. Instead, he gave the song much more meaning and power by recording with Iraqi pop star Kadim Al Sahir, Palestinian strings musician Simon Shaheen, and Lebanese percussionist Jamey Hadded. Kravitz says, “This song for me is about more than Iraq. It is about our role as people in the world and that we all should cherish freedom and peace because of its strong stance with young people as defenders of free expression.” The first video at the bottom of this post is of Lenny Kravitz commenting about the song. In it he says that he is not trying to make an anti-war song but is instead just trying to promote peace and encourage people to work together. He expresses his feelings of disappointment that people are still not able to settle conflict without violence. According to Denisoff this would be a magnetic protest song because Lenny is trying to promote people to join the movement for peace. The song opens with the lines “Come on people, it’s time to get together, it’s time for a revolution,” and the last verse starts off with the line “The solution is simple and plain, there won't be peace if we don't try.” These lines clearly show that the song is magnetic. The latter even gives a “solution” which is necessary for a song to be magnetic.
The greatest thing about this song is definitely the fact that people from several different countries worked together to record and produce it. This song is a prime example of Lenny doing what he preaches. What better way is there to promote peace through music?
Video of Lenny Kravitz commenting on the song.
Here is the whole song!
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