[2026] Anti-war songs in Western music. Songs that wish for peace.

Funeral for JusticeMdou Moctar

Mdou Moctar- “Funeral for Justice” (Official Music Video)

Mdou Moctar, a guitarist from Niger known as the “Hendrix of the Sahara.” The title track from his band’s May 2024 album, Funeral for Justice, is a scathing indictment of a world where injustice prevails.

Confronting the exploitation and inequality facing his homeland, he describes his guitar as a “cry for help.” His playing slices through our indifference like a siren.

Although the song was created before the 2023 coup, the hardships the band endured afterward lend it an even greater sense of urgency.

Listening to this work, you realize you can’t look away and dismiss it as a distant country’s tragedy.

Will you lend an ear to the sound of his soul—fiery music that pleads for peace?

War is a GodJesse Welles

War is a God

Jesse Wells, a singer-songwriter from Arkansas who is often called the conscience of modern America.

In 2024, he was chosen as Saving Country Music’s inaugural Songwriter of the Year, a testament to his widely acclaimed talent.

Woven into this work is a searing question: Why must those who believe in the same God kill one another over a single interpretation of scripture? The words, carried by a quiet guitar, come across as a stern indictment of people who persist in conflict.

This piece is a track from the album “Middle,” set for release in February 2025.

When you feel the emptiness of consuming distant wars as mere information, why not listen to his voice and consider what we can do?

Noam’s Song 2Maor Ashkenazi & Noam Cohen

מאור אשכנזי & נעם כהן – השיר של נעם 2 / Maor Ashkenazi & Noam Cohen – Noam’s Song 2

Israeli rapper Maor Ashkenazi and Noam Cohen, who survived the October 2023 music festival attack despite losing a friend, co-wrote this work—a track that plays like a documentary of a searingly painful experience.

The extreme circumstances of gunfire and explosions, and the survivor’s personal memories, are vividly rendered over a heavy, icy drill beat.

This is not merely an indictment; it is the very cry of a human soul struggling to rise from the brink of death.

Upon its release in November 2023, it reached No.

10 on the charts in Israel.

Rather than seeing it as a distant country’s event, why not reflect on the value of peace as one person’s story?

RajieenMultiple artists

Rajieen | راجعين (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)

This track brings together 25 artist groups from 11 countries across the Middle East and North Africa, singing—over a grand sound that weaves hip-hop and soul—of the suffering of people driven from their homelands and their unyielding will to return.

With searing words that indict historical tragedies and the world’s injustices, the powerful declaration, “We will return,” resounds like a cry straight from their souls.

Created in October 2023, the song was produced to support people in Gaza facing a humanitarian crisis, especially children.

Rather than thinking it has nothing to do with you, why not spend eight-plus minutes listening to the urgent hopes poured into this work?

Gaza Is CallingMustafa

Mustafa – Gaza is Calling (Official Video)

A memory of childhood friendship torn apart by violence.

That searing sentiment is captured in a song by Mustafa, a Sudanese-Canadian artist.

A poet as well, he sings here about parting from his Palestinian best friend, an experience he had at the age of eleven.

The plaintive tones of acoustic guitar and the traditional oud seem to voice a deep lament for the violence that even love could not overcome.

Released in June 2024 from the album “Dunya,” the track’s proceeds are being donated in full to the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund.

It reframes events in a distant land as the story of a single human being, prompting us to consider what we can do for peace.