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At the time of writing this column, with the memory of the marvellous music by Cristóbal de Morales I was able to hear this night in the beautiful Stationer’s Hall in London still fresh in my mind, and while preparing the final details of the master classes and recital of the music of Marin Marais I’ll give tomorrow in the very same hall, the tragic images of so many innocent victims remain in my thoughts. Every day hundreds of people are sacrificed in the name of a great many political, religious, economic, ethical or historical causes. The need for power, whether legal or not, inevitably leads to a relentless struggle in which the weak always pay the highest price. Who now stops to recall that a large number of the Northern Alliance militants who are fighting to free Afghanistan from the terror of the Taliban, are the same ferocious bandits, rapists and brutal reactionaries who dominated the country prior to the Taliban coming to power?
Following the tragic events of 11 September, there has been an increasingly more radical evolution in present zones of conflict, especially in the Near East, with an escalation of extremely violent reactions to punish and take vengeance on the enemy. All this is forging a general climate of growing instability, doubt and insecurity, which can deeply undermine even the most secure bases of justice, tolerance and freedom that characterise the basic ideals of the civilised world. Let’s hope that at the same time all this will come down to a terrible but effective shock, serving to further highlight the serious incoherence of a world adrift because the great majority of its inhabitants are condemned to living in extreme poverty, in ignorance and with fear, hatred towards others and dogmatism as the only alternatives to their needs and hopes. A civilisation that bases its stability exclusively on free trade and on the strength of the most powerful, and that is not able to guarantee basic individual rights in a mutually binding manner for all (food, education, health, justice, equality, housing, etc.) cannot expect to find the peace necessary for any improvements in well-being and progress to take place.
A career as a professional musician, which requires constant travel to distant cities and countries, allows one to observe that even in the most conflictive countries there is a deep thirst for peace and to partake in the beauty and spirituality of art. For this reason, I am convinced that the strength each and every one of us possesses will help to improve our lives within the context of a humanistic ethic in which music and art are an essential part, and which will be decisive in imagining and building a more hopeful future.
Translated by Yolanda Acker
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