Abu Dhabi: Music and art can foster dialogue and help bridge differences between America and the Muslim world, especially in the wake of the protests against the anti-Islam film,
Elliott Golub, conductor of Trio Chicago and Friends, made these observations following a performance in Abu Dhabi last week.
Golub was concertmaster of Chicago’s music of the Baroque Orchestra for 35 years. As a soloist he has performed in the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra’s first complete performance of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons.
American music bridged difference with the Vietnamese, Golub said. American musicians were surprised to see that their music had an immediate impact on the Vietnamese with whom the US fought a war for many years.
“Our country fought a terrible war with Vietnam, but when we started playing music at Hanoi [Vietnam’s capital], such differences disappeared and we all became friends,” Golub said.
“When you sit together and play music, everything else disappears [even the wounds of a fierce war],” he added.
The Vietnam war ended on April 30, 1975. The US and Vietnam restored normal diplomatic relations in 1995.
The musician said people have different political ideas, but music is the common thread.
All art forms have a common thread in humanity, the musician who has performed in more than 30 countries, said. In 2008, Golub received an award from the US government for excellence in promoting cultural diplomacy and mutual understanding.
Trio Chicago and Friends is a five-person musical group specialising in American folk, classics, jazz and blues. They performed in New York University and Zayed University in Abu Dhabi, as well as three campuses of the Higher Colleges of Technology, in Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah and Madinat Zayed as part of a tour sponsored by the US embassy.
The tour was part of the embassy’s cultural outreach programme. The mission said it promotes mutual understanding through a range of academic, cultural, professional and sports exchange programmes.
