During the next 10 days, musicians from around the world will
dedicate their performances to ideals of cross-cultural
understanding and peace in celebration of the birthday of a slain
Wall Street Journal reporter.
Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and killed while working on a story
in Pakistan in early 2002. Since then, his family and friends have
rallied global support for promoting intercultural dialogue and
fighting the kind of hatred that caused the journalist’s
death, said Judea Pearl, Pearl’s father, president of the
Daniel Pearl Foundation and professor of computer science at
UCLA.
“His family decided that one of the most important things
they could do was to try to get to the root causes of his
death,” said Jordan Fischer, the account coordinator at
Allison & Partners, the public relations firm that works with
the foundation.
The foundation works throughout the year to promote principles
of peace, dialogue and understanding, and one of its largest events
is Daniel Pearl Music Day, which is aimed at uniting people from
around the world through music.
Starting today and lasting through Sunday, Oct. 17, musicians of
all ages from over 30 countries will participate in Daniel Pearl
Music Day by opening their performances with a declaration of
support for peace and understanding among people of different
cultural backgrounds.
In the Los Angeles area many musicians, including some big-name
bands such as R.E.M., will be dedicating their performance to the
Pearls’ ideals.
Now in its third year, Daniel Pearl Music Day began in 2002 as
an opportunity for musicians to dedicate their performances to
Pearl’s memory and to the principles for which he stood,
Fischer said.
“It’s really like a global peace event … to try to
get people to say that we need to understand other cultures,”
Fischer said.
The event brings different people together in unity during the
time of the concert, Judea said, and also continues to affect their
attitudes long after the music ends.
“This is an occasion for people to put concerns of
humanity on the highest priority,” he added. “It
remains for the next day, leaves a residue.”
When people come together to support Pearl at a concert, it
becomes impossible to feel hatred toward that person or the group
of people he represents, Pearl’s father added.
Daniel Pearl Music Day began as a way for the Pearls to deal
with their son’s death while at the same time as a means to
promote his legacy.
“We were wondering how to cope with his birthday,”
Judea said.
A global music event was a perfect way to celebrate his
son’s birthday, Judea said, because that’s how he would
have done it ““ “with a jam session.”
Music was an outlet through which Pearl expressed himself and
communicated with others. Fischer described music as
“something he really, really loved to do.” Daniel Pearl
Music Day is open to all musicians from all cultures who wish to
support dialogue and understanding. In fact, the beauty of Music
Day is that it is a way for people with opposing world views and
opinions to unite, Judea said.
“It is a cause that unites people all over the
place,” Pearl said, explaining that peace and understanding
are ideals all people can support, regardless of their political or
religious views.
Judea added that the message of cross-cultural understanding is
particularly relevant this year, given the current situation in the
world.
“At this time, we see so much hatred and violence on our
TV screen; it’s nice to see something positive for a
change,” he said.
Fischer pointed to conflicts in North Korea, Ireland, Pakistan
and Iraq as examples of places where international understanding is
particularly relevant.
“The ideal of understanding other cultures is so important
to the world and the world being able to grow together as a
community,” Fischer said.
Many people have rallied to the cause of the music day to honor
the person Pearl was.
“They’ve gotten a lot of people who are interested
just because of what Danny did,” Fischer said. “Danny
was so well known; so many people have read his work.”
Pearl has gained so much respect as a journalist because he
presented issues in a different way than what is usually seen,
Fischer said.
“He would cover what was going on in Pakistan and cover it
from a different position,” she said. “He was in
constant search for understanding of other cultures that you
don’t always see in news reporting.”
The fame and respect that Pearl gained throughout the world made
it possible to spread the word about the music day to thousands of
people.
“Gaining widespread support has been easy because the
message is inclusive and unifying ““ and many people welcome
this message,” said Andrea Blackbird, a coordinator for
Daniel Pearl Music Day.
The music community was particularly responsive to the
Pearls’ efforts because Daniel was a musician himself.
“He had musician friends all over the globe,” Judea
said, adding that he had played in bands in Bombay, Paris and
London.
Musicians wishing to participate in the event must open their
performance with a dedication to Pearl and can continue to register
online throughout the week at www.danielpearl.org.