Listening to The Who in Khartoum

by Michael Bear · 2009-08-30 18:03:00 UTC
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I heard about it through the grapevine - a friend mentioned another friend who, she said, was doing something interesting.  A magazine focused on crisis journalism, with stories by aid workers and others.  In my own semi-complacent way, I figured it was just another good idea that would invariably disappoint in the execution.

I was wrong.

I've just started reading through the first issue of HELO: The Crisis Story Magazine, and it's excellent.  Anyone interested in the gritty side of how life - aid life - happens overseas should definitely take a look.  It includes everything from a first-hand glimpse of last year's rebel attack on Khartoum to a description of what it's like to be in a plane crash.

My favorite story, tho, is Crisis Zone Soundtrack by Daniel J. Gerstle, about the songs we listen to in order to make sense of what we've seen:

Late at night this spring in Khartoum, Sudan, I blasted The Who through earphones into my head. Pete Townsend’s thundering guitar story, A Quick One While He’s Away (Live at Leeds), with its crashing chords and bleeding vocals powered me through the stress of working half way around the world from my girl. Like rolling down a mountainside in a barrel I could think of nothing but rock. Then came something even louder: Mppp…mppp…

I tore my headphones off and looked out the window at the oddly vacant airport road. Mppp… There it was again. The Darfur rebels had finally launched their attack.

We have to look back, sometimes. See what we did right, why we almost got killed. And the music, the music, is Gericault’s Raft of Medusa. Sometimes the music is what we did right, why we survived. After growing up ‘none-of-the-above’ raised on classic rock, heavy metal, and grunge in Cincinnati, Ohio, I climbed into a career of humanitarian aid work in war zones overseas. I journeyed across the Balkans, Eurasia, and Africa packing one of those $15 drug store CD player headsets. And music saved my life.

Now I'm biased, as Daniel is something of a friend, but it's a great read nonetheless.

[Image from HELO by Hilaire Avril]

Michael Bear
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