Bridging culture through song: musical exchange in torture survivor befriending

Torture fundamentally disrupts survivors’ ability to communicate and form trusting relationships, creating challenges for befriending programs. This study examines how song-sharing enhances relationships between torture survivors and volunteers through a collaborative workshop involving befriending pairs from Spirasi, Ireland’s torture rehabilitation service, and Tess Leak and Sharon Whooley who created the‘Museum of Song’ initiative in Ireland. Data from participant observation, song-sharing activities and participant feedback were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Five interconnected themes were constructed: musical homelands as anchors to identity and place; temporal bridges connecting time and loss; gentle vulnerability enabling trust-building; collective witnessing providing shared emotional support, and cultural co-creation fostering mutual enrichment. Findings demonstrate that song sharing addresses the impact of torture through communication facilitation, identity preservation, grief processing, and cross cultural connections. This study contributes to a new understanding of how creative musical practices can enhance psychosocial support frameworks in torture rehabilitation.