Media Reports
Excerpted
from Los Angeles Times, U.S.A.
December13.1998 (Originally in English)
The Peace Seeker
By
Nicholls Hackman
Fred
Karlin brings to " One World" an extensive and multi-faceted
musical expertise. Considering his background in jazz as a trumpet
player, his years of experience composing musical scores or film
and television, his credentials as author of two highly-respected
texts on film music, and adding to these both an Oscar and an Emmy
award it becomes clear that Karlin has traversed the scale of musical
experience and expression.
It is this
range of expression that Karlin has harnessed to create his symphonic
portrait entitled The Peace Seeker. This work is a forty-minute
journey weaving music, drama and prose, and featuring a 60-piece
orchestra, three actors, a folk-rock band, vocalists, and the 25-member
Pasadena Boys Choir. A grand and profound composition, Karlin describes
The Peace Seeker in his interview with Liz Pennington of La Kezy
radio:
"This
work is a series of lyrics and poems by Supreme Master Ching Hai
describing various ways in which we come face to face with the problems
of life because of not having that connection within".
This theme
is clearly evident in the following lyrics:
And so it went-the rain came,
followed by falling leaves,
Day and night, time flowed indifferently,
My heart still felt there was
something incomplete.
Perhaps it was a love I'd never discovered before."
Karlin
used these poetic images to weave a musical journey through
lyrics that describe a search for inner peace and harmony with
the outside world. The questions and conflicts encountered throughout
the journey of The Peace Seeker represent a natural extension
of Karlin's history of exploring and expressing , through his
music, many powerful and provocative thoughts and ideologies
that are meant to inspire the listener. For The Peace Seeker,
Karlin has used his musical talent to give a voice to the inspirational
poetry of Supreme Master Ching Hai:
I walked through an empty park,
the wind in my breaking heart,
A cold stone statue proudly stood
in the winter scene,
As if feeling sorry for those who sought fame and fortune...
The lyrics
are replete with powerful images and Karlin has built around them
a majestic piece that inspires quite a bit of soul-searching.
Ultimately,
however, the poems communicate an uplifting message which Karlin
himself describes as "... the realization that happiness and
peace are inside us and not found in the outside world."
It is such
powerful verses and their ability to evoke these profound thoughts
that move Karlin to undertake the project of adapting poet Supreme
Master Ching Hai's words to music. He relates, " I feel very
privileged myself to be able to have worked on this piece and written
it. [Supreme Master Ching Hai] feels that we all have the power
to be very artistic within us and creative and lives that message
by example." As a renowned artist, poet and designer, Her works
invite people to look within themselves to achieve their own individual
greatness. Her poetry and designs leave us with a sense of depth
to the understanding of our own purpose in life, without stepping
over the boundaries of personal freedom. Evidence of this insight
is found clearly in the admiration and respect of such high caliber
performers who have prepared their inspirations from Her works.
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