How Music brings People Together
Music does brings People together.
This is a picture of my friend Dimitry Strovsky and me playing piano on a memorable evening in 1995 during our Masters programme at Gregynog, the Welsh manor belonging to Cardiff University of Wales. It was taken by our friend Robert Fu Kit Cheung from Hong Kong. Our class was made up of 56 media professionals from over 25 countries from the UK, Europe, Canada, South America Africa, and Asia.
As chill winds blew though the Welsh countryside that night, we listened with appreciation to an instant celebration of world music rooted in the lands of our birth. The retreat manor we lived in offered wood panelled stateroom offered a grand piano that we gathered around.
You can visit Gregynog here right now:
The evening began with Russian classics belted out by our friend Dimitry, Taking the spotlight next were Jamaican folk songs by our friend Zadie, Our friends from South America launched into a spirited version of the Spanish ‘Guantanamera’. Those songs were the first to get started.
Soon there were East African folk songs from Tania, a very cute Malay folk song from Noorma and two impromptu Indian cinema songs (QSQT’s Papa Kehte Hai in Hindi and A. R. Rahman’s Nettru Illatha Mattram in Tamil for my friends from India who are curious!)
The music went on and on. The whole performance wound up in the early hours of morning with a rousing finale of ‘Hey Jude’ by The Beatles. Everyone knew the words to that one. Music has created the best days of my life.
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