The arts are typically underrepresented in school curricula. Studies show that there is a decline in arts enrolment in Australia and the UK, in the United States there aren’t enough art teachers and despite numerous initiatives to develop the arts on the African continent, most schools and teachers are not sufficiently resourced to develop an arts education to its full potential. And yet, an arts education is arguably more important today than it has ever been: through visual arts, drama and music you harness and develop creativity, self discipline, expression and intrapersonal skills which are central in the type of 21st Century competences needed for individual and collective flourishing. Curriculum reform should put the arts centrefold.
But there’s something else to consider concerning art and education: not so much the learning of an art but what we learn through art, by immersing ourselves in it.
Nietzsche saw the transcendental power of art, particularly music, as a mystical force which could liberale the individual’s inner psychic and emotional awareness to lift them to a higher state. When music grips you, there is a profound learning, an inner metamorphosis, a development and elevation of the self.
As part of the International School of Geneva’s Centenary, we had the immense privilege to host Youssou N’dour, the King of African Pop, a living legend. He addressed our community on the power of music to bring peace to the world and gave an unforgettable performance with his band the Super Etoile de Dakar.
Despite his 64 years, his utterly unique vocal decorations soared into the night air, inhabiting the audience with a dreamy, hypnotic, cathartic vibration. This was the type of transformative powerful sound that Nietzsche wrote about: like all great art, surpassing reality and bringing us into the sacred realm of that higher place, the music of the spheres, the ancient song of the mystery of existence.
Youssou N’dour is a Master of M’balax, a Senegalese music that is part of an entire cosmology: talking drums, signature dance moves, the language of Wolof and unique percussive syncopated phrases of the Sabar. The learning took place at this level too: those not familiar with M’balax received a lesson in culture.
The Wolof lyrics of his music are deeply pedagogical too: the song “Gorgui” off the album The Guide (Wommat), tells the story of a man and his son who travel with their donkey through different villages. At first the boy rides the donkey while the father walks The villagers jeer and criticise the boy for his laziness. They switch places, but in the next village the locals criticise the father for making his son walk. They then both get off the donkey and walk, but of course in the next village people laugh at them for both walking. They both get on the donkey, and the next group of villagers accuses them of cruelty. At the end of the day, we should “wommat,” meaning to take the reins and follow our own path, not relying on the judgement of others at every step. This storytelling is part of the great Griotic tradition of West Africa of which N’dour is part: the Griot passes ancestral knowledge down through song. Many ancient cultures share this great oral tradition: ancient Greeks would learn Homer through song, the early Vedic texts were performed live. Few contemporary song structures share this tradition of transmitting history and wisdom through parables and fables.
Perhaps the most powerful learning experience was for one of our school’s recent graduates, the young artist Eva Liza. N’dour sang his iconic song Seven Seconds with her (which Eva mastered with extraordinary maturity). Seeing one of our alumni on stage with this global star was a phenomenal experience and one can only try to imagine just how profound and pedagogical that must have been for her. Here was the learning in its most archetypal form: master and apprentice engaged together in real life application, the harmony of their voices like a story recited in unison by the soul of experience, marked by wisdom and time, and the soul of youth, full of hope and promise.
Youssou N’Dour is much more than a musician, he was minister of tourism in Senegal, UNICEF and United Nations goodwill ambassador, he organised a concert to free Nelson Mandela in the 1980s and has used his music for social impact and pan-African unity. This deontology runs not only through his lyrics but somehow permeates the spiritually warming cadences of his music too. Like so many great people, who are world experts in their field, the King of African Pop exudes humility and generosity as a person. Here is yet another lesson in life: a true education is above all moral in character, teaching us not only how to know and what to do, but how to be, and one of the most powerful ways of learning that is simply to be in the company of people who carry such values in their lives and actions.
For all of my colleagues around the world who have dedicated their lives to education, continue to embrace the performing arts in all its forms, including, if possible, bringing great artists to perform before and with students, for their learning to take them to a higher place. Musical performances are much more than entertainment, they are moments of deep learning, as Youssou N’Dour reminds us.