Music to soothe the savage beast of terrorism

The piano plays a tune. Someone hums a melody. The ear responds, and then the heart. You start to tap your feet, your body sways to the rhythm, you hum along. That’s how music works: across time, space and, yes, even prejudices.

That is the underlying principle of the Daniel Pearl Music Days being held all over the world this year from October 1 to 10. October 10 is the birthday of Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter who was kidnapped and murdered by terrorists in Pakistan in early 2002. His family has formed the Daniel Pearl Foundation, whose mission is to "promote cross-cultural understanding through journalism, music and innovative communications". The foundation holds lectures and discussions, sponsors fellowships for journalists, and makes available CDs, books and other materials. Pearl, aside from being a journalist, was a talented musician who played classical, jazz and bluegrass music wherever he traveled.

The Daniel Pearl Music Days, now on its fourth year, is an innovative celebration of peace and unity. Instead of one big event like the recent Live 8 concert in the UK coinciding with the G8 summit, the Music Days calls on artists everywhere to dedicate one concert or a part of a concert held between October 1 and 10 to the cause of "Harmony for Humanity", the theme of the global musical network. The intention is not to raise money, but to increase awareness of the importance of tolerance of cultural differences. Sitting in the honorary committee are such diverse artists as superstars Sir Elton John, Barbra Streisand, Herbie Hancock and REM, classical greats like Yo-Yo Ma, Zubin Mehta and Itzhak Perlman, ethnic music masters like Ravi Shankar, Hamza el Din and Theodore Bikel.

Last year, over 400 musical events were held in 39 countries, from Afghanistan and Argentina to Nepal and Indonesia and Turkey, and all across the United States, involving artists as diverse as big-name pop and classical stars as well as community orchestras. This year, hundreds of performances have registered as Music Days events, including those by Elton John, Los Lobos, Pakistan’s MTV award-winning band Strings, Zubin Mehta and the Israeli Philharmonic, the Whirling Dervishes of Turkey, the International Bach Festival in Toronto, the Los Angeles Master Chorale and the Masango Band in Cameroon. In addition, this year’s Music Days will feature an eStage with an internet radio station that will play original compositions, lyrics and playlists inspired by the Music Days’ theme of Harmony for Humanity.

"The simple yet profound message of Daniel Pearl Music Days continues to empower and unite both performers and audiences in a meaningful celebration of the oneness of humanity," said Ruth Pearl, Daniel’s mother. "We are humbled that Danny’s belief in music as a universal language has proven to be an inspiring legacy of hope in these troubled times."

As the sound of bombs in Bali, Indonesia and across the Middle East echo hatred and death, the sounds from the hundreds of Daniel Pearl Music Days events throughout the world will proclaim life and peace.

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Joining the Music Days celebration, US charge d’affaires a.i. Darryl Johnson and his wife Kathleen hosted last Monday an evening of classical and contemporary music for a handful of friends at the embassy residence in Makati. Performing were musicians from the University of Santo Tomas (a quarter century older than Harvard, the oldest university in the US, Ambassador Johnson pointed out) Conservatory of Music, led by dean and internationally acclaimed pianist Raul Sunico, and included conservatory faculty members soprano Rachelle Gerodias (whom National Artist Arturo Luz called the best singer in the country today) and tenor Lemuel de la Cruz (who will be performing in several operas in Singapore), and the UST Brass Quintet composed of Raymond Agtarap, Mark Francis Almeria, Linwell Lalic, Dennis Quilicot and Ron Jacob Gaan (who is really physically magaan and not much bigger than his tuba!).

The hour-long program put together by Dean Sunico, who has over 30 recordings including 13 wonderful volumes of Filipino folk songs and kundimans that he arranged for classical piano, was diverse, from the Brass Quintet’s Beatles medley (imagine She Loves You, Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! in brass!) to Sunico’s commanding rendition of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, from Rachelle’s captivating Quando Men Vo (from Puccini’s La Boheme) and Lemuel’s full rendition of Lara’s Granada to the mischievous Katakataka (a lilting duet that put a smile on everyone’s face) to Bernstein’s Tonight (West Side Story), the last with piano, brass, tenor and soprano... the living room could hardly contain the soaring, soul stirring music.

The occasion was also the Johnsons’ informal farewell, as they head back home to Seattle this week (Kathleen through Bangkok to continue her textile research, which we hope will bring her back to the Philippines for, indeed, there is much indigenous textile traditions for her to study) since the new embassy chargé, Paul Jones (with wife Catherine), has assumed his post. That being the last reception they would host in the embassy residence, the Johnsons had the kitchen staff comeout to take a much-deserved and much-applauded bow before the guests who certainly appreciated the buffet spread that evening.

In these ten days, millions of notes will be raised and sounded in the name of peace and understanding and to counter the hatred, fanaticism and intolerance that took the life of Daniel Pearl. As we face our own terrorist threats and challenges, we join the world in raising our music in Harmony for Humanity.