Classical pianist and Associate Professor of Music at COB Dr. Paul Shaw.
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When classical pianist and Associate
Professor of Music at The College of The Bahamas Dr. Paul Shaw brought
the awe-inspiring work of Claude Debussy and Sergei Rachmaninoff to life
in Kioi Hall in Tokyo,
Japan, it was more than a display of remarkable skill.
Dr. Shaw and the other acclaimed
musicians who performed at the Harmony for Peace Foundation’s Peace
Concert in March, held to commemorate the 70th anniversary since the end
of the Second World War, were
using music to promote peace, friendship and understanding among
cultures, nations and generations.
The concert also featured the founder
of the Harmony for Peace Foundation, harpsichordist Yasuko Mitsui, a
native of Hiroshima, Japan, and artists representing China, France,
Great Britain, Kazakhstan,
Russia, and South Korea.
The Peace Concert in Tokyo was the
third event of its kind in which Professor Shaw has participated over
the years. His first was at Carnegie Hall and that concert was organised
to coincide with the United
Nations Conference on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
“Musicians are getting together from
various countries to show that we can collaborate, we can work together
and if we are friends we are less likely to point weapons at each
other,” explained Dr. Shaw.
“The person who founded Harmony for
Peace - Yasuko Mitsui - said that we are actually creating a better
world for our children so she insists in all of these peace concerts
that the established artists
perform along with young people at the concert.”
The performances drew unrelenting applause from the more than 600-strong audience in the prestigious Kioi Hall.
Dr. Shaw acknowledged the significance
of efforts to end global violence such as the Peace Concerts held by
the Harmony for Peace Foundation.
“The more peaceful we are, the happier
we are. I think a lot of time, energy, and resources are wasted on
fighting, whether it’s producing weapons or dissipating our energy in
anger. I think we should turn
our resources towards positive things and the world would be much less
bankrupt,” he said.
He reasoned that “music is a natural bridge”.
“Everybody loves music. We might have
different tastes in music, but music is a universal language, not only
in that it speaks to our emotions and shows our humanity, but everybody
has some branch of it
that he or she loves. So, it’s something that we all have in common.
That in itself helps to bring us together,” Dr. Shaw said.
Professor Shaw explained, with much
enthusiasm, that he has already begun preparations for a Bahamian
version of the Peace Concerts under the auspices of the Harmony for
Peace and Hope Foundation. That
concert would also prominently feature the talents of young performers.
According to Dr. Shaw, young people
play a significant role at these Peace Concerts as they represent the
future and hold the potential of realising a world in which violence and
war no longer have a place.