Make music, not war

On World Music Day, a call for making music, not war

Photo by Gonzalo Pedroviejo Gómez on Unsplash

Today is not just an international day of yoga but also a world day of music. In some countries, say, Chile and Canada, it is also a day for indigenous people. Paraphrasing a popular slogan of the 60s, let us make music, not war.

Perhaps nothing brings as much joy as someone in public breaking into music when one least expects it. One of my favourites is that of the Italian tenor, Ricardo Marinello, who I keep returning to occasionally. This is what happens when he sees a pizza and digs in to carve out a sector and watch him spread the cheer around:

And here is another one for pasta, the impromptu audience dishing out their mobile phones to keep a piece of the action for posterity as Ricardo raises the pizza and noodles in his hand with the higher notes he is singing.

Yet another pizza, this time at McDonald’s, without a stool, making the restaurant staff take a “freezing” break, spatula in hand, with joyful glee.

And this is what a cup of coffee can do to him:

Ricardo Marinello, in a more formal setting, with no pizza or coffee in hand, but sheer passion for music, sings Nessun Dorma, from Puccini’s famous opera.

My other passion is watching flash mobs singing pieces of Western classical music. In our contemporary world, it would be appropriate to have a Russian flash mob singing Kalinka, a famous Russian folk song from 1860, in a supermarket, ‘faux’ security joining in.

Another supermarket scene:

Yet another super market, this time in London:

At the Gare Saint-Lazare, Paris, a flash mob plays Bolero, made famous by Julie Andrews, the comically funny Dudley Moore, and the sensuous Bo Derek-starring 10, which made Ravel the best-selling composer four decades after his death.

There was a flash mob in Russia singing a piece by the Ukrainian composer Prokofiev, but I couldn’t locate it. Watch this Russian flash mob singing an Ukrainian song and experience the joy in everyone’s face:

There are countless well known songs from one country sung by citizens of other countries. I am posting just two. A Turkish boy singing Awara Hoon:

And Russian officers singing Mera Jhoota Hai Japani:

To conclude, Kishore Kumar acts and sings Aa chalke tujhe in Door Gagan Ki Chhaon Mein.

If you have a favourite cross country favourite, please post in the comments.

Cheers, and have a great musical year ahead