Wok & Roll by Peter Kwong, (Frederic) Inter-County Leader
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Since I was a kid, I have loved listening to music, all kinds of music. Well, whatever they played on the radio — Chinese operas, top hits in Mandarin, Cantonese, English, and just about anything. I would be singing along, even though I didn’t know the lyrics or whatever languages they were singing.
Music brings so much joy to my life, I don’t know what I would do if one day the music would stop playing. Let’s just keep hoping and praying that never happens.
It is amazing that many times, different instruments from different parts of the world can still harmonize together. I guess that’s a hope for humanity, that through music, people can unite and share with each other in peace and harmony. Ah, what a wonderful world it would be. That reminds me of a song sung by Louis Armstrong. A simple tune with unpretentious words, but what a great message:
“The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people passing by
I see friends shaking hands, saying ‘how do you do?’
They’re really saying ‘I love you.’”
My wife and I watched “Schindler’s List” a while back, a haunting movie about the horror of the Holocaust in World War II. I know that most of us don’t want to talk, or even think, about WWII. Heavens, we still have the memories of Vietnam, and the anguish of Afghanistan to contemplate. When will it all end? The answer, my friend, is “blowing in the wind.”
Anyway, I love listening to Minnesota Public Radio, 99.5 FM, which plays classical music all day long. And on Saturday mornings, they will play themes from movies, which is my favorite! I could listen to songs written for movies all morning. What a way to recapture your past.
They would play songs from “Dr. Zhivago,” “West Side Story,” “Lawrence of Arabia,” “My Fair Lady” … I would be in heaven, working on my computer while listening to all that wonderful music. Then one morning, they had a tribute to John Williams, and was that a treat!
John has teamed up with Stephen Spielberg and produced many of the best movie hits. Remember the opening theme of “Jaws?” “Boom bunn, boom bunn, boom bunn …” the movie has such an influence in my life; I was afraid to take a bath for months after watching it.
Then came “Star Wars,” just how can we not remember the tune “Dan dan dan dan dun dang dan”? And with the heavy breathing of Darth Vader in the background? My goodness, Princess Leia is gone now, and so are Han Solo, Chewy and Luke Skywalker. Who will carry the family name? For a few dollars more, I trust that they will find a new storyline on different planets.
Meanwhile, the theme of “Schindler’s List” hit me differently this time. It was in some kind of a concert in memory of the Holocaust, and as the orchestra played the theme from “Schindler’s List” I could almost feel that the violin was crying to me. It was sadness and sorrow; one could actually see tears but not hear any crying. Wow, and that was just a movie.
Then I did a little research afterward, and found out that there was an Oskar Schindler in German-occupied Poland during WWII. With his wife, Emilie, they ran an ammunition factory by hiring Polish Jews from the concentration camp. The story went that Oskar bribed his way to save hundreds and thousands of Jews from being executed. A very touching true story indeed.
When Spielberg approached John Williams with his idea of making the film and asked John to write the score for the movie. John reportedly was overwhelmed. After reading the storyline, he told Spielberg that it was too much to accommodate, then he suggested Spielberg find composers with more talent. And Spielberg simply said, “But they’re all dead.”
As I watched the performance, the camera kept showing an image of a beautiful young girl, and a woman named Davida was trying to hold back her tears while playing her oboe. At the end of the performance, the announcer introduced that the beautiful girl was Davida’s daughter, and it was her birthday that day, the same day that Davida’s parents were rescued from the concentration camp with Schindler’s help. There was thundering applause, followed by scenes of tears from the whole audience. Being a sentimental fool, I joined in.
There’s music everywhere; open your heart, and you can hear it. Come share the joy, and feel how others feel; may it be sadness, hurt, happiness, whatever; let music fill our hearts and help us enjoy life, one day at a time.
