The Healing Power of Music and Our Elders © Kavisha Mazzella Feb 2011
When our elders became immigrants and no longer heard the music and poetry of thier native language sung there was born a silent sadness.But they bore it as they were here now in Australia to make a new life and to get away from poverty and war of the old world. This Nostalgia was buried.
But as they got older the nostalgia seemed to reappear as a call The Call to return to the old country .My Nonna always wanted to die and be buried on her beloved island of Ischia(near Naples) even though she had had a good life in Australia and loved it here.She never got her wish but is buried in Karrakata Cemetry in Perth.
The ways of the old country run deep in our elders veins and is expressed profoundly in their rich traditions of language, folk music, dialects,food preserving and gardening .They are the true masters of The Slow Food Movement that is only lately being rediscovered.
Traditional Manual skills like carpentry,tiling,building,embroidery, weaving,fishing net making make us wonder with their patience..Folk medicine together with some traditional attitudes and philosophy sometimes make us younger ones cringe .All these things are their unwanted gifts to us! Yet if we bothered to ask them to tell us their stories and sing us their songs, how much richer would we also become?
This curiosity about the old songs led me to form Italian Womens Choirs 20 years ago .I noticed that when the old songs are sung and embodied in a choir, it has a great healing effect.Any immigrant shame and memory of being” on the outer or being “the other “disappears.This sorrow turns to Joy. Our Elders step outside the ravages of Time and become young again…
I have seen it time and time again.When our choir " La Voce Della Luna" (the Voice Of The Moon) comes to sing in old peoples homes, Particularly where there are Italian immigrants,or europeans who have lived in Italy in their youth after the war, the effect is enlivening and even startling .
People who have not talked for months start singing again. Long after the choir has left,the very same folk who were silent can’t stop talking about the day the choir came.People who languish in a chair staring into space, start tapping their feet and their eyes smile once again. It's as if the music is like water to a dry garden and brings everyone including the carers back to life!
Everyone’s problems dissolve for a while and stress is alleviated.Memories are tapped, culture,heritage and identity is celebrated,valued and shared.Enlivened in body and minds, life returns and with it Joy.
As they say at Community Music Victoria”When people lose their music ,they lose their voice and a sense of connection to the world around them. Through making music we transcend our differences and feel once again the essential foundation of social connection.Making music and singing also fulfills the basic human need for free and creative expression.” I couldn’t put any better!
I don't know which part of the brain that music effects as I'm no scientist ,but i do know that it opens our hearts.
Bringing music and group singing into the elder communities with La Voce Della Luna Melbourne’s own Italian Women’s Choir connects us all .I feel very priveledged to witness the awakening of the special and sometimes unexpected Joy and tears that erupt.Most importantly perhaps than the therapeutic effect ,is that we go beyond therapy.We are no longer clients and carers, but members of the human race sharing and enjoying our birthright MUSIC!
USEFUL RESOURCES
La Voce Della Luna Choir
For Concerts and cds
PO box 49 Northcote VIC 3070
Boite World Music Café…
Concert venues and booking agents for musicians and choirs of many cultures ph (03)94173550 www.boite.org.au
Community Music Victoria
Which helps facilitates Music making in the community.
ph(03) 9662 1162 Website ; http://cmv.customer.netspace.net.au/
RADIO & TELEVISION STATIONS
SBS Radio 93.1Radio 3ZZZ 92.3 FM, RETE ITALIA, SBS Television
