Australian diplomat Fred Smith has spent the last 15 years of his life working on peace-keeping missions in Afghanistan and the South Pacific. On his recent visit to Delhi, he spoke to Divya Kaushik about his compositions that mostly narrate human stories
He spent his first three years in Delhi and claims that during those days he understood Hindi well. But then he moved away with his parents from the country and the link was broken. After a long gap, Fred Smith returned to India to perform at the Australian High Commission.
Apart from being a singer-songwriter he is also a diplomat who has spent last 15 years working on peace missions in Afghanistan and the South Pacific, touring in America and travelling the Australian festival circuit. He has released about eight CDs, mostly solo. Two of his CDs have won National Film and Sound Archives Awards.
After many overseas postings at places like New York, Vienna, Washington and Rangoon, he was sent to Uruzgan province in Afghanistan in 2009. He was the first Australian diplomat to be posted to Uruzgan province. “My main job was to build relationships with tribal leaders in order to improve cooperation and understanding between the local community and the Coalition Forces and to act as a bridge between these two vastly different cultures. This put me in a unique position to understand both. I served most of my 18-month tour of Uruzgan province on the Multinational Base in Tarin Kowt and at a Forward Operating Base in the Chora Valley,” informed Fred and added that surviving and getting adapted to the culture of this province in Afghanistan was a challenging task. “Afghanistan is a complex place with deep layers of tribes and castes, especially southern Afghanistan. There is a lot of competition among the tribes and each tells you a different story. So after one has shared their side of the story you have to turn to the other for clarity, their version might be totally different too. language too was a barrier,” said the singer, who wrote a collection of powerful songs about his experiences and the realities of life for soldiers during war time. The collection was compiled in the album that’s called Dust of Uruzgan. The cover of the record has interesting photos which were taken by Fred during his stay. Talking about the songs, he said, “They are about the stories I came across in the region. The songs present the perspectives of the soldiers, they talk about the acronym they use and the language they speak. For example, the title track is inspired by a memorial service for a young Victorian soldier killed by an improvised explosive device and seen through the eyes of a survivor. It is a record of two armymen who were on patrolling. One thing about Taliban is that while they plant explosives they link the bombs. So, one of the soldiers stepped on one bomb which caused a bigger blast. The song explains about the incident and the feelings of guilty and loss.” The singer believes that music unquestionably plays a significant role in spreading the message of peace and feels that his stories will bring out the real picture to the rest of the world. “I not only work on peace processes but I also assist government to build community confidence after a conflict. I try break down barriers and open more ways for harmony. The reason I share stories is because then the songs create the feeling of empathy, which is very important to make people sensitive about other people’s condition. Music is one thing which makes people forget one’s world and enter into another man’s space. I play a lot of Australian folk music in festival circuits and my music is what it is. It does not keeps in mind the so-called commercial traits, like it has to be fantasy, pop, it is only about stories,” shared the singer who plans to return to India and work with folk artists here.
photo Pankaj Kumar