</a>Organizational implementation

A Singable Earth Charter, EU Constitution or Global Ethic? (Part #8)

There is clearly a need to clarify the many dimensions and options of such a possibility, preferably in an appropriately documented conference. This might be done through an electronic forum. Some of the issues relating to such a preparatory event have been explored with respect to a conference on poetry-making and policy-making (Poetry-making and Policy-making: Proposal for an exploratory international conference, 1993).

A challenging question is why there is such a difference in content and form between an anthem that is designed for widespread popular use in celebration of the essential values of a country (or a region) and a constitution -- the latter being designed to detail the rights, responsibilities and processes of a country in terms of those values. An anthem is typically inadequate to the extent that it needs a constitution to ground the sentiments it expresses in legally binding text. A constitution is typically inadequate to the extent that its content has to be made palatable and comprehensible through communication tools that do not distort the checks and balances of its structure -- or severely diminish its credibility as an integrative device. The fact that the two are elaborated through quite distinct institutional agendas is a mark of institutional schizophrenia with highly unhealthy implications for the culture in question. Both are presented as symbolically important to the culture, but the investment in the intelligent "design" of each is totally different -- with the anthem readily evaluated as a cynical token to gull the masses. Ironically the constitution may also be judged in this way.

There has been very little effort to explore the representation of complex systems through music and song. However, ironically, there have been many studies using systems methodology to explore and represent the often problematic dynamics of the music industry. An early inspiration was the work of Jacques Attali (Noise: the political economy of music, 1977/1985). Such studies include: Patrik Wikstrom (The Enemy of Music: Modeling the Behavior of a Cultural Industry in Crisis, International Journal on Media Management, Vol. 7, 2005, 1&2, pp 65-74: Dominc Power (ed), Behind The Music Profiting from Sound: a systems approach to the dynamics of the Nordic music industry, 2003; The Cultural Dynamics Map: exploring the arts ecosystem in the United States, 2005).

Such studies point to the need to position any initiative within a complex socio-political context. Various approaches might be considered to elicite and disseminate an appropriate song:

an international jury-based competition, as with major architectural/design and music competitions. This would be the simplest to organize and the easiest to finance. Insights could be obtained from a range of regular jury-based initiatives (eg the Nobel Prize, etc). A variant might borrow from responses to calls for proposals, as practiced by the European Commission, in which submitted proposals would be evaluated by a jury of experts prior to according funds for execution of the selected work.
elicited as one of the categories of submission to awards, such as the World Peace Film and Music Award on the occasion of the World Peace Film and Music Festival, organized by the World Movement for Global Democracy (Lucknow, 2006)
given the role of the European Union Choir, and its long-term relationship with the European Commission, it might be expected that its concerns would include the challenge of giving a choral rendering of the proposed European Constitution in song form. A similar argument might be made in the case of the European Federation of Youth Choirs (Europa Cantat), the Union of Jeunesses Musicales of Europe, and even the Chorale du Conseil de l'Europe. The European Anthem has been jointly adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and by EU heads of State and government.
as with choirs, there are a number of orchestras associated with the European Community with, in principle, similar roles in promoting a European vision: European Community Chamber Orchestra, European Community Jazz Orchestra, European Community Youth Orchestra, European Community Baroque Orchestra, European Union Youth Wind Orchestra. These too might be expected to address the challenge of a meaningful orchestral rendering of the proposed EU Constitution
some groups have as their specific objective the use of music to promote social harmony, however that is understood, for example: Harping for Harmony Foundation. The Earth and Spirit Songbook is resource for educators and song leaders includes educational songs of ecology, world humanity and peace.
the cultural role over the centuries of the Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru (Eisteddfod of Wales) in gathering together poets and musicians. An International Eisteddfod is held annually in Llangollen (since 1947). Choirs, singing groups, folk dancers and other groups attend from all over the world, sharing their national folk traditions in one of the world's great festivals of the arts. It has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
a variant of the annual Eurovision Song Contest in which a popular vote is organized electronically across Europe in response to a televised performance of competitors pre-selected from each country. Institutionally it is possible that this could be organized as an extension of the existing event, much as the Paralympic Games are organized following the Olympic Games by the International Paralympic Committee
an open source musical equivalent to the Wikipedia process through which the parts of a song are discussed and formulated for further discussion, but without closure. Constraints may be imposed to prevent abuse. Relevant to this approach is the Musipedia: the open music encyclopedia [more]. Here the concept is of an evolving song in which work is constantly being done as a collaborative effort on the parts and their relationship to each other -- allowing the song to be sung at any time as a "work in progress". This approach could suggest a new interpretation of "com-position". It could also be related to the possibility of widespread downloading of current versions or segments as MP3 files. This possibility is explored in more detail in Annex 1 (Participative Development Process for Singable Declarations: Applying the Wikipedia-Wikimedia-WikiMusic concept to constitutions, 2006)
a challenge to the legal community to use their skills to go beyond the initiatives of the many groups of "singing lawyers", such as that of Morrison and Foerster (MoFo), a copyright specialising law firm with over 1,000 attorneys and 18 offices worldwide. Their website offers a song which musically tells the story of the firm's practice areas and approaches to representing clients. An older group is The Courthouse Steps -- singing attorneys who poke fun at national and local events.
the various initiatives in the USA to "sing the constitution", notably that of Sue Dickson (Song of America's Freedoms) including the Preamble Song, and the What is the Constitution? song; there also exists The Constitution Song (distributed by the ACLU) and various sung versions of the Declaration of Independence (Barbara Speicher, We The People) that highlight the articles in the Bill of Rights. Additionally, the National Association for Music Education has a National Anthem Project. In South Africa, Jennifer Jones sang the constitution song One Law for One Nation in a live global telecast from the Houses of Parliament in 1996
the previous initiative forms part of a broader effort to produce "educational songbooks". A range of such politically-relevant songs and related educational materials is provided in the USA on the website of Songs for Teaching: Using Music to Promote Learning (notably on Social Studies and American Government and Presidents of the USA), including In the Constitution and The Gettysburg Address.
in addition to the initiatives associated with the previous possibilities, in the USA there is widespread interest in a range of "Declaration Songs" (possibly with video), whether with a political, social, religious or romantic focus. These include America Awake (The Federal Reserve Bank Song) sung by Declaration2 in support of a book The Second Declaration of Independence
an elaboration of the "complaints choir" format initiated by the artists Telervo-Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen who elicits public complaints about life and then set them to music and song. The most successfully rated is the Complaints Choir of Helsinki [more more]. Many such choirs are linked through the website Complaints Choirs Worldwide. These can be considered a new variant on the long tradition of protest songs highlighting perceived problems in society -- such as injustice, racial discrimination, war, globalization, inflation, and social inequalities. Of particular interest is the approach taken by the Chorus of Women founded in Canberra, initially to sing Lament (specially composed by Glenda Cloughley and Judy Clingan) to express the grief of the women in Australia at the inevitable suffering, destruction and loss of life that had to result from the West's intervention in Iraq in 2003. The song was first sung by 150 women in the foyer of Parliament House, just hours before the Prime Minister announced Australia's participation in the invasion. Lament has since been sung around the world [more], notably in association with the witnessing process of the Women in Black that originated with protest against apartheid. The group has produced a CD [songs and lyrics]; subsequent songs have notably focused on climate change. Protest songs are typically, but not necessarily, associated with folk music.
in a related artistic tradition Mieskuoro Huutajat (Men's Choir The Shouters) was formed in 1987 in Oulu, Finland, by a group of young men. The idea was to dress some 20 men in black suits, white shirts and black rubber ties, and train them to shout some of the most beloved songs in the Finnish song heritage including basic patriotic songs. The repertoire has been expanded to include worker's songs, national anthems (of a number of countries) and quotes from Finnish laws and international treaties. --including the European Union's Amsterdam Treaty, with shouted texts from that document [video]. The group now tours widely (Norway, Sweden, Estonia, Russia, Denmark, Iceland, England, Wales, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Serbia-Montenegro, Portugal, Russia, USA, Canada and Japan).
a dancehall collective called Fire Base Crew, have set up a breakaway republic, the Ghetto Republic of Uganja, in one of the slums in Uganda's capital, Kampala. The republic has a full cabinet of appointed members: Bobi Wine (who is the leader of the crew) is the president, the vice president is an artist called Buchaman, they also have a prime minister, a defence minister, a minister for disaster preparedness, a minister of agriculture (whose crop of choice, unsurprisingly, is cannabis) and many more. As reported by John McDonnell (Scene and heard: Ugandan dancehall, Guardian Music Blog, 5 January 2009), the whole concept may appear trivial, but these musicians have much more influence on local people than politicians could ever wish for.
political parties and other political movements may adopt a song or anthem to represent their beliefs and principles. Such political party songs may be sung or performed at party conferences, notably in the UK. There is also a long tradition of revolutionary songs. These are political songs that advocate or praise revolutions. They are used to boost morale, as well as for political propaganda or agitation. Examples include La Marseillaise and The Internationale. Many protest songs can be considered revolutionary. Such songs, designed for rapid dissemination, raise the question why "post-revolutionary" and "post-protest" songs are not developed in response to contemporary challenges and the implementation of appropriate strategic responses.
organizations and corporations may also adopt songs to represent their beliefs and principles. As with poltical party songs, these are used to boost morale. Attention was long focused on the use of company songs in Japan (cf Norihiko Suzuki, Workers' perceptions of a Japanese company's song, Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 2, 1985, May). The bonds between firms and their workers were reinforced by rituals that included singing the company song, which was supposed to express shafu (company spirit) [more]. IBM has also been notable for early cultivation of a company song Ever Onward. Greenpeace (Shell: Worst Corporate Song. Ever, 2006 [more]) has reported on the use by energy companies of corporate songs to greenwash their environmental agendas. As promotional and motivational devices, skill in the design of corporate songs is a focus of specialists (cf Another way to drive your employees slowly insane: have a corporate song, adfreak.com. May 2006)
military groups in many countries participate in collective sports events through the International Military Sports Council. Military choirs also meeet collectively and competitively, typically to promote a nation's patriotism, heroism and militarism. Beyond their tradition of regimental songs, such groups could be challenged to articulate songs supportive of peacekeeping operations, notably engaging the hostile parties through song.
battle songs in military conflict to pscyhe up combatants and intimidate the enemy have a long tradition. As a development of this, so-called fight songs, or team songs, have emerged in both professional and amateur sports around the world, notably those of educational instiutions [sample list]. These are a popular way for fans to encourage their team and to discourage their competitors. They are however distinct from stadium anthems, used for similar purposes, in that they are usually written specifically for the purposes of the team, whereas stadium anthems are not.
the organization and constitution of a utopian country (Nutopia), sung by John Lennon (Imagine, 1971) was the focus of one of the most highly rated songs. A science fiction initiative of similar inspiration was undertaken by the poet Robert Graves (Seven Days in New Crete, 1949)
the dissemination of songs by devices such as iPods has now been associated in the USA with their use to disseminate basic constitutional texts [more]
given the various initiatives to group "singing politicians", it is possible that these might adapt their repertoires in response to communicating legislative proposals, especially where the interest of the yougher generation is a key factor. Yelena Demchenko, initiated a project to allow Russian politicians to reveal their human qualities to the Russian population (Club of singing politicians to appear in Russia, Pravda, 12 December 2004); it appears to have developed into a Singing Politicians and Businessmen Club (Singing Deputies and Businessmen Get Party Started, St Petersburg Times, 4 July 2006) [more]. In the USA there has been a group of Singing Senators [more] and a congressional rock and country band called the Second Amendments
given the degree of popular engagement evoked by interactive computer games, and their importance to new approaches to comprehension (cf Playfully Changing the Prevailing Climate of Opinion: Climate change as focal metaphor of effective global governance, 2005; Humour and Play-Fullness: Essential integrative processes in governance, religion and transdisciplinarity, 2005), a variant of the Serious Games Inititative, with its annual summit, could be set up for the exploration of "serious songs". The games initiative is a project of the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars (Washington, D.C.) with the goal of helping usher in a new series of policy education, exploration, and management tools utilizing state of the art computer game designs, technologies, and development skills. It also helps to organize and accelerate the adoption of computer games for a variety of challenges facing the world today (see Ben Sawyer, Serious games: improving policy through game-based learning and simulation -- Executive Summary, 2002 ; Foresight and Governance Project Explores "Serious Games").

In exploring such options consideration could be given to the weight to be attached to the following -- and how they might be combined:

solo singer versus group processes responding to the polyphonic challenge of multiple voices, exemplifying the relationships between competing agendas inherent in sustainable development and the possibilities of their harmonious integration
artistic/free expression, as is typical of international ice-skating competitions. This would emphasize evocative song, for which there are now many examples. Here the challenge is to embody deeper levels of meaning as with an understanding of "deep song"
technical skill, again as is typical of international ice-skating competitions. Here the challenge is to embody complex systemic insights relevant to sustainable development into the structure of the song using the full panoply of resources of the theory of harmony. A further component would be creating a bridge to legally significant texts.
ritual celebration, as characterized by traditional ceremonies for "singing the Earth" -- and competitively evident to some degree on the largest scale in opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games

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</a>Organizational implementation