Sanya N'Kanta - Silence Is Violence
SANYA N’KANTA RELEASES MUSIC VIDEO FOR ‘SILENCE IS VIOLENCE’
In the wake of his previous music video, “Can’t Stop Thinking Bout You,” electro-reggae-rock magician Sanya N’ Kanta recently released still another music video, entitled “Silence Is Violence.” Both songs come from Sanya’s latest album, The Counterfeit Revival.
Sanya N'Kanta | Photo: Breonna Collier
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Sanya’s first taste of reggae came courtesy of his father. Not long after, Sanya began listening to rock, soul, hip-hop, and pop.
In his recent interview with Medium, Sanya talked about how he got started in music, “I've been playing music as long as I can remember. I had an amazing elementary school music teacher named Mary Zinkin, who was instrumental in feeding my thirst for music. Moving from Jamaica in the '80s was a very traumatic experience for me. There was so much that I didn't understand about my new home, but a focus on music helped me adjust, and she gave me a great foundation. I played in every band and choir that was available to me and eventually ended up focusing on Tenor Saxophone in middle school. After I was introduced to rock and roll by a middle school friend, I directed all of my focus to guitar.”
Silhouetted against the backdrop of the death of George Floyd and BLM, the video for “Silence Is Violence,” directed by John Isberg, depicts potent images paralleling the cultural status quo in America, wherein a 12-year-old boy plays with a toy gun in the park. A phone call is made, the police arrive and tragedy ensues. In the end, a child is dead and his sister is taken into custody.
With “Silence Is Violence,” Sanya N’Kanta produces not only affecting music but a message of palpable contemporary consequence.
Starkly powerful, the moral implication is real and urgent.
The lyrics of the song, as well as the video itself, mirror Elie Wiesel’s poignant words, “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.”
As Sanya sings, “Silence is violence.”
Opening on ominous synths riding crunching, resonant percussion, “Silence Is Violence” advances on a measured rhythm highlighted by a subterranean bassline, rife with dark risky tones. Sanya’s velvety voice aches with melancholy and tender agony, delivering no pretense of stoic resignation to the prevailing repressive viewpoint. Instead, he directs his words with plangent severity toward the powers that be, their neglect, their ethical bankruptcy, and their inaction.
With “Silence Is Violence,” Sanya N’Kanta produces not only affecting music but a message of palpable contemporary consequence.
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