Music, Meditation, and Misery: A Portrait of the Revolution
My conversation with Darko from the indie band Side Effect spanned so many topics. From meditation to the Rohingya crisis, from music to culture, the discussion meandered in the most natural and pleasant of ways. Just take a look at the following excerpt to see the way the conversation flows from one topic to the next (and often enough, back again). During this difficult time in Myanmar, it is so important to listen to those voices on the ground and understand how they are responding the regime of terror that the military instituting in the country.
“I try to bring motivation to the protesters, and also to the resistance movement, to keep the revolution going.”
Q: How are you been supporting the people since the February 1 coup?
Darko: I'm a musician, and I believe in creative intervention. Through this creative activism, I try to bring motivation to the protesters, and also to the resistance movement, to keep the revolution going. Right now, the current vibe, our current state of mind among the youth, is gloomy. It's very gloomy right now, because it's been longer than they thought, and things are getting worse . Many young people are depressed. They’ve lost hope. What I've been doing is to bring some motivation to them, and bring some positivity. So I've been secretly doing that, and I can’t share that information with you, because of my team’s safety. I closed my organization Turning Tables Myanmar to keep this staff safe, and we stopped working. We're just laying low right now and thinking what to do next, next. But I've been doing some other things with my fellow musicians and other artists, like with poets and others.
Q: Have you made new music for the protests? What have you been doing exactly, creatively speaking?
Darko: Creatively, I cannot write any music. Frankly speaking, it was not long ago that I could not even listen to music. Since February, it has been a really terrible experience for musicians. When I would listen to a song, the song would play for a minute, and then I would feel weird, or I would be guilty listening to music and trying to enjoy it. And then I would stop and I would do something else. Now there are people needing this and that, so I will try to make money, or provide facilities for their protests. But now, it's more complicated. I don’t believe in this armed conflict. So it's very hard for me to help people to fight back with these weapons, which I do not disagree with. But still, for me it's really hard to get involved in this.
Q: So what do you believe in? If you don't think that that is the route for victory, then what do you think needs to happen for the people to win?
Darko: I don't believe in anything right now! To be honest, I don't know what we can do. I have no idea. So that's why I don't disagree with them. Because they are at least doing what they believe in. Let's see where it leads to.
Q: So it sounds like you're a little stuck with not exactly knowing what the direct route is, while trying to meditate and also helping people on an individual level, and getting a sense for what exactly would be most useful at this time.
Darko: Yes, and what I would like to focus on is to bring people together, because now people are drifting away from each other , because the situation is getting worse. It is human nature, and we are stressed and and we are devastated. Whenever human beings cannot fight back against the dictators, we might tend to fight each other, and is likely to happen sooner or later. I would try to protect it from happening, so it is less likely to be successful.”