Chinese, U.S. military bands join forces to play at UN
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Military bands of China and the United States joined force to perform at the great hall of the UN General Assembly Friday, in a bid to enhance friendship between the two nations.
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Military bands of China and the United States joined force to perform at the great hall of the UN General Assembly Friday, in a bid to enhance friendship between the two nations. |
Members of the Military Band of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China and the U.S. Army Band "Pershing's Own" stood beneath and around the hall's green marble podium, where numerous diplomats have given speeches over the decades.
Playing as one unit, the joint band, made up of more than 150 men and women from both militaries, filled the huge facility with melodies and marches to demonstrate China-U.S. cooperation as part of a first-ever joint concert tour.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon attended the event, which was co-hosted by Li Baodong, the Chinese permanent representative to the United Nations, and Rosemary DiCarlo, the U.S. deputy permanent representative to the United Nations and charge d'affaires of the U.S. Mission to the UN.
The tour began Monday with a concert at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., followed by another, Thursday, at The Academy of Music in Philadelphia. The tour will be concluded Saturday at Avery Fisher Hall of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York.
PLA Senior Col. Zhang Zhirong opened the concert conducting China's national anthem, followed by various Chinese and U.S. music pieces performed by Chinese and U.S. military musicians, including Chao Tian Que, a lyric song inspired by a famous poem from China's Song Dynasty.
It was sung by renowned Chinese tenor Dai Yuqiang, wearing a PLA uniform, and Sgt. 1st Class Leigh Ann Hinton, soprano, a ten-year veteran of the U.S. Army from Troy in upstate New York.
Senior Col. Yu Hai, head of the PLA band, said that it was the first time for either band to perform at the UN headquarters.
"During our performance, we are not only in harmony in music, but also sending out a strong signal to strengthen the friendship between the military forces of the two countries," he told Xinhua.
"The military bands from China and the United States, two great countries in the world, offer harmonious music to signal peace and friendship at the United Nations, a very important international organization, where all countries can discuss major world issues," he said.
"So, the performance today gives me a different feeling from the ones we did in other places," he added.
After the duet, Col. Thomas Rotondi, Jr., leader of the U.S. band, took over the baton to conduct the U.S. national anthem followed by the George Washington Bicentennial March by famous U.S. "March King" John Philip Sousa.
There was a large selection of music at the concert, everything from traditional Chinese folk music to operas and classics by popular composers and patriotic music from both countries.
"The mission is a military-to-military partnership between the two militaries," Rotondi told Xinhua. "The whole theme of this is friendship through cooperation through music."
"What better way to do it than have musicians from both countries get together just to make great music and love sharing that with the public here at the United Nations, but also with the American public here in the United States," he said.
"All of these concerts have been so electric -- just to be able to perform with these great Chinese musicians and of course our great musicians from the United States," he added.
Hinton, the soprano, shared Rotondi's enthusiasm and special feeling for this performance, even though she had performed with the U.S. band in concerts across the United States and in Europe.
However, the veteran admitted she had been a bit nervous. "I got goose bumps on entering the General Assembly for the first time," Hinton said.
"The first rehearsal, Friday (May 13), kind of took me aback," the singer said, referring to the first time the two bands got together.
"But we soon warmed up to each other," Hinton said. "As one of the trumpet players said, 'Trumpet players are trumpet players everywhere and talk about the same things, such as mouth pieces.'"
Major Gen. Li Shengquan, head of the Military Music Delegation of the PLA, said this was the first joint tour since the establishment of Sino-U.S. dilomatic relations in 1979.
"The significance of today's performance is that the military forces of China and the United States, the two influential countries in the world, jointly give a concert in order to use music to praise world peace and the friendship between the two military forces," he told Xinhua.
"This is our common purpose of today's performance," Li said.
A love of music, however, has not just brought together the two military bands -- friendships have also been forged between individual members of the two bands. For example, Rotondi said he and his counterpart, Yu, have been friends since they met in Germany, about 10 years ago.
"We seemed to have similar interests in music, and then he invited me to come over and guest conduct his band in Beijing in 2004," Rotondi said.
Surprisingly, differences in culture and language seem to pose few problems. When asked what he believed was the biggest challenge during the tour, Rotondi replied, "The biggest is just moving them (the band members) around, the logistics part."
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