Musicians have set up many different type of initiatives in places affected by conflict. These include projects that have no wider objective that to provide opportunities to create music and enjoy playing and hearing music. But many projects also have additional aims including to:

• Help people cope with the crisis they are experiencing e.g. by providing instruments for refugees to play in refugee camps.
• Build relationships and ultimately peace between people from communities that have been in conflict

• Promote awareness of a conflict and a community’s existence, plight and identity
• Promote support for peace building from the wider public
• Communicate people’s experiences and potentially our understanding of a particular conflict
• Promote other agendas such as awareness of health issues, address stigma and discrimination or promote particular ideologies.

Contrapuntal Music & Conflict explores some of the different aims of musical initiatives in places and with people affected by conflict. It shares some of the experiences and approaches taken from around the world.