The notion im going to deal with is seats and forms of power. To begin with, what is power?

The power is the ability to do something or act in a particular way, and also the capacity to direct or influence the behaviour of others or the course of events . I would like to illustrate this notion using the theme of music. Artists used and still use music to voice their opinion against some things happening wether in the world or in their personal life, therefore making it a form of protest. Music could have the power to change the world, or not. We may wonder to what extent can music be considered as a counterpower? In order to illustrate this notion , my presentation will fall into 2 parts : First of all,I will explain why singers voice their opinion, before finally focusing on their impact To start with, we can actually ask ourselves how singers can voice their opinion. To my mind, one of the documents that best illustrate the fact that protest songs have evolved is an audio (that we studied in class as an oral comprehension : The evolution of protest songs) It draws our attention to the fact that in many countries(Germany,US,Egypt,Russia), we attend dissents against political or financial systems and social injustices. The people who demonstrated around the world didnt sing, they yelled, whistled and drummed. Songs played an important part in the various protest movements which spread all over the western world and particularly in the United States in the 1960s and 70s. Many protest singers raised their voices to denounce the established society. folk singers (Bob Dylan, Joan Baez) were involved in the civil rights movement in the mid-60s; as the US increased its military presence in Vietnam in 1965, folk and rock singers appeared at anti-war (Country Joe Mc Donald); Later, with the rise of the counter-culture and the hippie movement, the nature of protest songs changed as rock music replaced folk music (Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Jimi Hendrix) - in the 80s, Public Ennemy shows its opinion against the situation of African Americans and Green Day against George W.Bush in the early 2000s. - Today, to many people like the British music critic Dorian Lynskey, it is too complicated to write a song about economic's crises, or the Arab Spring and these problems cant be summarized in a song. The second document that I have choosen is a video which presents a speach Bono live Chicago. Bono, an Irish singer, is giving a speech addressing to the US people in a solemn atmosphere. He founded, with Bob Geldof the One Campaign to fight against extreme poverty. He uses his influence on his fans to convince people to participate the huge petition in order to influence the worlds leaders. Indeed, Bono is one of the singers who think that the 60s are more dreaming . Lets take the case of Imagine by John Lenon as an example: he exposes his ideal vision of the world whereas Bono is more "acting" Both the documents prove that there are many means and reasons to protest. Concerning the protest songs, they have evolved since the 60s. However, what is the impact of the singers? Is music enough to change the world? As we have already seen,the One Campaign can unite people by raising public awareness about the world and especially the extreme poverty. It is backed by a movement of more than 3 million members around the world. This impact is also explained by the importance and the popularity of the artists who are supporting for example U2, will.I.am, Green Day. These singers assemble to record new versions of famous protest songs. The document that mentions the One Campaign is a video,a report of NDT chain. It deals with musicians who perform for Agit8 anti-poverty campaign. Indeed, the goal is to put a pressure on the members of the Agit8. Music has others influences, for instance in fashion: rock bands generally have a particular style. Nowadays, people listen to music all the time : there are more and more festivals. It focuses on a major stake that singers use music to raise awareness, mobilize or make themselves heard.Indeed, James Brown recorded Say it loud which promoted racial equality.

Nevertheless, music can be a counterpower only in a few situations. Sometimes, people dont understand lyrics or just dont pay attention to lyrics for example rap music. The impact is also low because protest songs are old fashioned, most of them were recorded between 60s and early 2000s. Besides, we cant deny that today music is mainly associated to business and music is only describing problems, it doesnt give solutions.

Last but not least, it may be said that music can be considered as a counterpower. Indeed,it is possible to make a change in the world through music. Some people claim that Music can change the world because it can change people. I believe that the impact of music today has changed. Im convinced that today we listen to music more as a pleasure and its impact decline more and more. However, music is still a good way to express its opinion.So, I side with Bono who advocates acting.