NI Passion
Bursting with energy and passion for life

Passion defies easy definition. It is ethereal, emotional and elusive - something experienced with intensity, yet difficult to describe accurately. These days it is often seen as synonymous with romantic love, but it is also possible to hate with a passion, to believe with passion, to be passionately angry, passionately hopeful, and passionately in love with life.

Where words struggle to convey the intensity of these emotions adequately, music has always proved more successful - so successful, in fact, that those in power have sometimes attempted to ban it altogether, as in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. In some ways this fear is understandable, because music can be used as a highly effective weapon of anger, hatred and retaliation. The protest songs of the 1960s politicized music for a popular audience, but music has long been used throughout the world to highlight individual concerns, tell stories and convey important messages.

While some institutions have tried to repress the power of sound, others have sought to harness its strength. Music has always played an important part in religious devotion - for the Islamic mystics, the Sufis, it has the ability to bring people closer to God, while in Catholic traditions the beautiful harmonies of Gregorian chant have been used to express religious passion since medieval times. Other more recent religions, such as the cult of football, have also used music to express allegiances, immortalize heroes, and convey all the passion of the 'beautiful game'.

What they say about NI..