U of T’s three campuses were in tune yesterday, as the university marked the UN International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination with its second annual Sounds of Change festival. From busking and poetry and film to visual art, the festival presented a variety of performances each hour, on the hour, to celebrate music’s creative power in combating intolerance.

Sonnet L’Abbé performed sound poetry for an audience at Reznikoff’s Café at UC. She said that she tries through her art to use language positively, to combat the way it is used against people considered different.

“Such a huge part of my experience was being named ‘paki’ or ‘nigger,’ at such a young age, when I was still acquiring language,” she said. But using language in art can “open up a moment of consciousness.”

At another a event in the Arbor Room at Hart House, students watched a film tracing the history of civil rights anthem “We Shall Overcome,” a song that helped inspire thousands of black Americans and other anti-racism protestors to fight against segregation in the U.S., and that has since been adopted by peace and anti-oppression movements in South Africa and India.

The Sounds of Change festival may not match up to some of these movements, and even though to many students the music merely formed the background for a hectic day of studying and classes, U of T ‘s anti-racism and cultural diversity officer Nouman Ashraf believes Sounds of Change is an essential reminder of the day dedicated to eliminating racism.

The event “is about the way in which music, poetry, and art have played a role in societal change,” said Ashraf, whose office helped coordinate the event. “The injection of musical performance and poetry into the daily lives of faculty and students has been great.”

“We know that so many students, staff, and faculty at U of T are committed to the idea of equity,” said the festival’s producer Connie Guberman. “But people are tired of hearing about [it]. We thought…let’s have the music speak about change. Let’s not use the words.”

“It’s to give you a bit of a shake-up and say, ‘Hey! It’s March 21!” he said.

When L’Abbé was asked if she thought the event could effectively fight the racism she and so many others have been subjected to, she took a very long pause.

“I hope so,” she said.