Daniel Pearl Concert

The Kadima String Quartet was joined by the Valley College Choir as part of the Daniel Pearl World Music Day Concert that was held Thursday morning in the music hall before an appreciative audience of more than 100 students, senior citizens, and members of the community. Daniel Pearl was the newspaper reporter who was murdered by terrorists in Pakistan in 2002. Daniel's wife and family decided to carry on his work and to use music to help people respect each other and work together to achieve a better world for everyone. The Daniel Pearl Foundation was formed in memory of journalist Daniel Pearl to further the ideals that inspired Daniel's life and work. The foundation's mission is to promote cross-cultural understanding through journalism, music, and innovative communications. Kadima took the time to talk about the music and the connection to the life and memory of Daniel Pearl. "Today is an affirmation of making music instead of hatred. We are here in the spirit of Daniel Pearl. He took his music with him where ever he went. We are very much into outreach and community colleges. Part of our job here is to share!" stated Elliott between songs. "Valley College has been very good to us and we love it here!" The Kadima String Quartet has maintained a lasting relationship with the Music Department and has been performing at Valley on a regular basis. The Kadima Quartet features Beth Elliott, violist, Beth Park-Zhao, cellist, Kevin Kumar, violinist, and Yi-huan Zhao, violinist. There were several wet eyes in the house when the quartet played the Irish song, "Danny Boy." Kadima opened with songs by Haydn followed by contemporary renditions of traditional Chinese ballads by Zhou Long. The sounds of the Chinese ballads were familiar, upbeat, feel good music that had the audience smiling. When "Danny Boy" was played, the room was silent and the mood was bitter sweet. While the song was heartfelt and uplifting it was also sad because of its connection to Pearl. They also played a piece by Shostakovich that had an anti fascist theme. The governmental control of personal freedoms and rights, the suppression of diversity, intolerance, and violence that was expressed by the composer mirrored Pearl's experiences in Pakistan. At the end of the concert a gentleman from the audience stood up and addressed the audience. His name was Felix Grossman. In 1979, Grossman was the Boy Scout leader of Daniel Pearl. The message touched the audience and tied into the themes and music of the day. Here was yet another way that Daniel Pearl was connected to Valley. Here is another example of how we are all connected to each other.