Music in conflict: 26 iconic images
Simply the most stunning, moving images of how music can change the world – this is the power of music. In the face of adversity and in the toughest of circumstances, music can lift the human spirit and bring people together like no other force on the planet.
-
1. From the Second World War to the migrant crisis
Soviet tank crew in 1945, a soldier in Chechnya in 1994, and a Syrian migrant in 2015: all caught up in conflicts - and all moved, no matter how briefly, by music. Explore our gallery of similar moments from the last 100 years.
-
2. Iraq: cellist plays at the scene of a bombing
Karim Wasfi, former director for the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra, plays his cello next to debris from a bomb in Baghdad's Adhamiya district in May 2015, in a symbolic act of protest against violence.
-
3. Musicians perform tribute to victims of the Nice terror attack
Musicians perform La Marseillaise, the national anthem of France, in Times Square, New York on 21 July 2016 in tribute to victims of the Nice Bastille Day tragedy.
-
4. War in Chechnya: Russian soldier plays a deserted piano
A deserted piano in war-torn Chechnya gets a little attention from a Russian soldier. Picture: Reuters
-
5. The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra play through riots
The Baltimore Symphony stage an impromptu concert outside their home venue in an effort to promote peace and ease tension after rioting in April 2015.
-
-
6. Syrian violinist performs to fellow refugees fleeing to Europe
Syrian refugee Rami Basisah plays his violin on the Greece-Macedonia border. The 24-year-old, who fled the devastated city of Homs, performed Beethoven's Ode to Joy and Vivaldi's For Seasons, among other pieces. Picture: Jure Erzen
-
7. Occupy Hong Kong with music
As protests rage on in Hong Kong, young musicians bring music to the heart of the city with their non-violent message for the authorities. Picture: @MarkTjhung
-
8. Music in the streets of Damascus
Ayham al-Ahmed, a Palestinian resident of Damascus' Yarmuk refugee camp, plays the piano in the middle of the war-torn streets in 2014. Picture: Getty
-
9. Music in war-torn Damascus
An accordionist sits on a pile of rubble in the Yarmuk refugee camp in Damascus. Photo: Getty
-
10. A Chopin concert like no other
The pianist, photographed by Facebook user Anastasiia Bereza, reportedly set up his piano in front of the armed police the day after protesters in Kiev brought down a statue of Lenin.
-
-
11. Musicians at the end of the Second World War
Thought to be taken in Berlin, here a member of a Soviet tank crew plays piano at the end of the Second World War in 1945. Photo: Getty
-
12. The lone cellist at the Istanbul protests
Musicians offer a moment of calm in the Istanbul park at the centre of nationwide anti-government demonstrations. Photo Credit: MARCO LONGARI/AFP/Getty Images)
-
13. Music in an Afghan refugee camp
Afghan girls look on as musicians play folk music during a wedding party in a refugee camp on the outskirts of Islamabad Pakistan, Thursday, April 3, 2008. Pakistan plans to repatriate by 2009 all 2 million Afghan refugees who have fled violence in their homeland, even though most say they do not want to return. Photo: PA
-
14. Soldiers play piano on the streets of Grozny
A Chechen volunteer checks a piano on 27 December 1994 in one of the main streets of Grozny, where Russian jets had conducted bomb attacks over several days. Photo: Getty
-
15. Acapulco's music plays on
Here, a couple of musicians look for clients willing to pay for a song at an empty Papagayo beach in Acapulco, Mexico. Once a glamorous beach mecca for international tourism, Acapulco's image has steadily deteriorated as a fierce turf war continues between rival drug gangs. Photo: PA
-
-
16. Zubin Mehta and José Carreras head to Bosnia
Gunfire makes way for the sound of music on Wednesday, June 15, 1994 as musicians from abroad start arriving for a special weekend concert. Zubin Mehta conducted the orchestra in a special charity program also starring tenor Jose Carrerras. Photo: PA
-
17. Musicians of The Great War
Here, in a picture taken in 1914, a musician soldier raises spirits in a French trench during the first world war. Photo: Getty
-
18. Rostropovich plays Bach for a united Berlin
On November 11, 1989, two days after the official fall of the Berlin Wall, Mstislav Rostropovich staged an impromptu performance of Bach's cello suites at the frontier. Photo: PA
-
19. The inspiring story of Landfill Harmonic
"The world sends us garbage... we send back music" say the young people in the poverty-stricken landfill town of Cateura, Paraguay. Forging musical instruments from rubbish, many children forced to work in the landfills have been brought together by classical music in an ensemble known as the Recycled Orchestra.
-
20. Young World War 2 refugees turn to music
11th August 1939, a young girl plays her violin to a friend. She is one of 150 Jewish refugee children to arrive as part of the 'Kindertransport' at Liverpool Street station from Berlin. Photo: Getty
-
-
21. Music in the favelas of Brazil
A twelve year old violinist plays at the funeral of Evandro João da Silva, coordinator of Afroreggae, one of Rio de Janeiro’s largest non-profit organizations. Afroreggae invited youths from the Vigário Geral favela to get involved in activities such as music to prevent them from falling into the world of drug trafficking. Photo: Marcos Tristao
-
22. The death camp musicians
This undated file photo, taken by an SS guard, shows women prisoners lined up for a hard labour assignment at Auschwitz. Unlike most who perished in the Nazi death camp, any woman who stepped off the train with a musical instrument had a chance to live by playing in a woman's orchestra that performed for the entertainment of SS officers. Photo: PA
-
23. The war in Sarajevo takes its toll
Cellist Vedran Smalovic breaks down in tears after playing a requiem to a dead friend at Hero's Cemetery, where Bosnian fighters were buried during the siege of Sarajevo, 1992. Picture: Getty
-
24. Music lessons continue after the Iraq War
Sulaimaniya Music Institute has not been restored since the war, but teacher Azad Maaruf continues to teach young children music for a nominal fee. He now teaches music to about 100 children. Picture: Reuters
-
25. The German army turns to music
During World War I, a band of the German army playing near a destroyed bridge on a frozen river on the Russian front. Picture: Getty
-
-
26. Second World War musicians in the UK
2nd September 1941: the Dagenham girl pipers practise their gas mask drill. Photo: Getty
-
27. The musicians of Sarajevo play on
Cellist Vedran Smailovic playing Strauss in the bombed National Library in Sarajevo. Photo: Getty
