There is a Polish phrase muzyka łagodzi obyczaje, which literally means “music softens people’s mores”. It is certainly true that music has the ability to bring together people from different backgrounds. I believe it can also play a role in promoting a culture of peace. After all, real peace is not just absence of conflict but a whole way of life that is based on the realization of the shared humanity of all people.

In this post I would therefore like to introduce you to one of my favorite pieces of music, The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace by the Welsh composer Karl Jenkins.

The Armed Man premiered on 25 April 2000 in London and was dedicated to the victims of the war in Kosovo. It is based on a 15th-century French folk song L’homme armé (“the armed man”). In addition to incorporating set pieces of Christian liturgy, The Armed Man uses sources drawn from different religious traditions, such as the Bible, the Islamic call for prayer and the ancient Indian epic poem Mahābhārata. The composition also includes music set to the lyrics of the Japanese poet Sankichi Tōge (1917-1951) who was a survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Various sacred and secular texts are woven into a musical narrative that depicts the horrors of war in the 20th century and calls for a more peaceful future in the new millennium.

With more than 3,000 concerts worldwide, The Armed Man has become the most performed work of any living composer. Recordings of many of these performances are available online. One of my favorites is a 2018 adaptation by the Jerusalem Oratorio Choir and the Jerusalem Street Orchestra. What makes this one unique is that the soloists, coming from Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities, enriched the original composition with pieces from their own traditions, including an authentic Adhan (Islamic call to prayer) chanted by the muezzin Mohammad Abu Sneineh. In the aftermath of the October 7 attack and the subsequent war in Gaza, this inter-religious call for peace is more relevant than ever.

To mark the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War in November 2018, The Armed Man was performed in Berlin by 2,000 choir members from 27 nations, accompanied by the World Orchestra for Peace and directed by Sir Karl Jenkins himself. The anti-war message of the work was powerfully reinforced by archival footage of different armed conflicts projected on 5 giant screens throughout the whole spectacular performance. It’s a must-see!

It’s probably not very original for me to say that my favorite part of The Armed Man is the wonderful “Benedictus”. In the UK this piece is often played on Classic FM radio, but the best version I have ever heard is the arrangement for 2 cellos by Luka Šulić and Stjepan Hauser from a 2012 concert in Zagreb. You need to listen to this!

What is your favorite piece of peace-making music?