“Singing in the Lion’s Mouth”: Music as Resistance to Genocide

“‘Singing in the Lion’s Mouth’: Music as Resistance to Violence” is an event sponsored by USC Visions and Voices, and organized by the USC Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Research in collaboration with the Thornton School of Music. The event included two days of programming that highlighted the use of music as a tool to resist oppression and spread awareness.

The first day of the program featured the screenings of two documentaries: the first, Screamers, observes how the rock band “System of a Down” employed their songs and did advocacy work to raise awareness of the Armenian Genocide, and the second, Following the Ninth, examines how people around the world have used Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” to resist dictatorships.

The second day of the event featured an international academic symposium. Speakers discussed how music has been used as tool of resistance during various genocides in the 20th century, including the Holocaust, the Armenian and Indonesian genocides. The program concluded with a concert featuring students from the USC Thornton School of Music performing music that has been used as a vehicle for resistance.

Download the Singing in the Lion’s Mouth Program here

Conference videos will be posted soon.