With the anniversary of Sept. 11 barely passing and the chaos in the Middle East confronting us, the organizers of the World Festival of Sacred Music hope to offer a solution for peace starting in our local community as well as throughout Los Angeles.
The festival, locally scheduled to take place this Sunday in the Santa Monica Mountains, will feature an array of musicians dedicated to drawing listeners closer to oneness with God, the environment and diametrical cultures. This day is particularly significant because it is the Fall Equinox, the time of year when day and night are of equal length representing equality.
“If we see each other as children of one being, and if music can help us realize that, there would be no discrimination and a chance for peace,” said Omar Faruk Tekbilek, a virtuoso scheduled to perform at Sunday’s festival.
Tekbilek plays all the string, wind and percussion instruments of the Middle East. Sufism, a 1,000-year-old tradition based on divine love and oneness with God, influences his music. Tekbilek sees music and prayer as partners in spirituality and aesthetics.
Using the landscape of the Santa Monica Mountains as their stage, dancers, Aparecida, Anahata and Georgianne Cowan will perform environmental dancing accompanied by Christo Pellani’s band. In their movements, these dancers bring the audience into a deeper sense of attention to their individual bodies and the environment that surrounds them.
Emmy Award-winning composer Charles Bernstein is scheduled to perform compositions from his multicultural mass with singers Linda Jackson, Angie Jarre and Anindo. This performance is said to be potent and “ground shaking.”
A cultural rainbow will be formed as festival participants celebrate the four races at a Native American Medicine Wheel to be located at the site.
There will be spiritual leaders from each race offering blessings from their particular tradition.
“This event aspires to bring a deeper sense of connection to something larger than our individual stories,” said coordinator and dancer Cowan. “A cracking open of the heart with the realization that the language of the soul is universal.”
The World Festival of Sacred Music began in October of 1999 and was first initiated by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Organizers plan to continue on with this festival every couple of years. The local festival will take place at the Wright Land in the Santa Monica Mountains in Malibu.
More information on the World Festival of Sacred Music and reservations and directions can be obtained by calling 323.655.TKTS (Tickets LA).