Untitled 1
From the poetry collection
The Dream of a Butterfly
(Originally in Aulacese)
Lyrics by Supreme Master Ching Hai
Music by Fred Karlin
There were times
tomorrow wouldn't arrive;
I waited all night, feeling very, very tired!
My soul was immersed in an endless nightmare,
Struggling so hard to be free from the sea of misery!
Like a bird in the middle of the stormy sky,
Immense oceans couldn't contain my melancholy.
There were times
the sun would not rise;
I prayed in vain for the future to arrive;
Like in a coma, I lie in the long darkness,
Praying for tomorrow to quickly come by.
There were places
where Spring wouldn't visit
I expected hopelessly for cherry flowers to blossom.
White snow everywhere instead of a pagoda bell's pealing,
To herald the New Year, only the cold wind's whistling...
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.
Winter
Afternoon and Stone Statue
From the poetry collection The Dream
of a Butterfly
(Originaly in Aulacese)
Lyrics by Supreme Master Ching Hai
Music by Fred Karlin
I went to a foreign street on a cold winter afternoon.
The snow threw itself on the dry treetops;
The houses on the roadsides lay silent like graves;
Pale street lamps stood in a stupor, exhausted!
I walked through
a park, the wind in my heart,
A stern statue proudly stood in the winter scene,
As if feeling sorry for those who sought fortune and fame,
As if feeling sorry for those who suffered in this fleeting dream.
That afternoon,
I too wanted to be a statue,
Standing in the open space watching the buzzing scenes
A strange sadness overcame my sorrowful heart:
The compassion I felt, for me or for the multitude?
~ March 4, 1979,
München
This
special symphonic portrait consisted of several poems by Supreme
Master Ching Hai, for example, “Winter Afternoon and Stone
Statue,” “Untitled 1,” and others. Composed
by Fred Karlin and premiered at the benefit concert “One
World… of peace through music” with a performance
by the 25-member Pasadena Boys Choir, this musical piece was later
released in video and CD album.
The
Powerful Verses That
Moved Karlin
Fred Karlin
brings to "One World… of peace through music" 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 Los
Angeles 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 t hat 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.
~By Nicholls Hackman,
Los Angeles Times, U.S.A. December 13, 1998
(Originally in English, excerpted from Supreme Master Ching Hai
News Magazine #102)
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