2017-2018 edition – what happened?

In January, a few members of our team visited Radio Wroclaw. Our drums and more orchestra will perform acoustically on the radio in April and play live in Radio Culture’s studio. We will also have a chance to talk about our project on the air.

In February, our Orchestra members had created educational interfaith harmony event. This was addressed to the youth and children from the local high school and primary school. We were eager to represent our diverse cultural backgrounds and religons to the youth and children. Our message was to see diversity not as a reason to fear each other, but rather, an opportunity to learn from each other. We showcased the beauty of our traditions, what unites us, as well as what differentiate us. We also wanted to point out that differences are not a reason to build walls, but an opportunity to listen, to learn and to gain a deeper understanding of human nature and Gods plan of love for all Creation.

We engaged the participants of our event and created a unique orchestra together. We captured this experience as a metaphor of a diverse human family which is held together by the rhythm of love. Through our short introductions we also portrayed a sense of interfaith dialogue and harmony. Finally, we led a question and answer session with the youth and children. We hope that our event will put a mark in children’s and youth’s souls so that later on it will transform into greater respect and understanding, especially towards others.

Looking at spring metaphorically, we can say that the first day of human evolution happened in Africa. We all have common roots. Culture, music, history of mankind , was born in Africa.  Spring has a double meaning. The first is the season of the year when everything comes to life, the second is the source of the stream. Bringing back the old tradition, Like in ancient Africa when people wanted to celebrate the first day of the spring, they used to make music together.

We started our performance honoring great composer J.S. Bach and finished with the flamenco dance. This dance is much like our orchestra in the sense that it was created at the crossroads of different cultures.

In April, the members of our International Drums and More Orchestra project had the opportunity to meet with Zofia Dzik. A highly talented and experienced person who was a CEO’s and is currently a member of the supervisory boards of many international companies. We talked about the rhythms in which we can build our happiness and meaningful lives, as women, men, wives, husbands, employees, and members of any community. The conclusion was that this common rhythm is Humility.