Music Saved Them, They Say

Music Saved Them, They Say: Social Impacts of Music-Making and Learning in Kinshasa (DR Congo) explores the role music-making has played in community projects run for young people in the poverty-stricken and often violent surroundings of Kinshasa, the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The musicians described here - former gang members and so-called "e;witch children"e; living on the streets - believe music was vital in (re)constructing their lives. Based on fieldwork carried out over the course of three-and-a-half years of research, the study synthesizes interviews, focus group sessions, and participant observation to contextualize this complicated cultural and social environment. Inspired by those who have been "e;saved by music"e;, Music Saved Them, They Say seeks to understand how structured musical practice and education can influence the lives of young people in such difficult living conditions, in Kinshasa and beyond."e;... a tribute to the persistence, engagement and courage of the people in these projects, who can be proud that their work is now exposed to a global audience, not just of researchers but also to practitioners around the world who could learn from and be inspired by these hitherto unknown projects."e;-John Sloboda, Research Professor, Guildhall School of Music & Drama"e;This book is very moving but never sentimental, one of the best accounts of music's real transformative capacities that I have come across."e;-Lucy Green, Emerita Professor of Music Education, University College London Institute of Education