Oct 14 (UCAN) A world-champion Thai youth brass band has been touring war-weary Sri Lanka, trying to convey through music a message of peace.
The Sarasit Phithayalai School Marching and Show Band, comprising about 100 young Thais, began a 13-day concert tour at the Don Bosco Technical Centre in Negombo on Oct. 1. A concert to entertain President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the presidential residence was part of the "Marching towards peace with children" tour.
Tamil and Sinhalese children waved Thai and Sri Lankan flags as a 1,700-strong audience watched one of the shows, in the center in Negombo, a coastal Catholic enclave 30 kilometers north of Colombo that is known as "Little Rome."
Father Anthony Humer Pinto, head of the Salesians in Sri Lanka, who organized the tour, said the concerts coincided with International Children's Day on Oct. 4 and were aimed at "spreading peace and harmony the Don Bosco way." Don Bosco, or Saint John Bosco, founded the Salesian society.
The priest said they greatly appreciated the concern and effort by this award-winning band to promote peace in Sri Lanka and share the Thai experience of interreligious harmony "to heal our wounds."
Salesians run Sarasit Phithayalai School in Bangkok. The school band, made up mostly of Buddhist boys aged 9-18, won a gold medal in the youth category at the 2006 World Marching Show Band Championships in South Korea, following a gold-medal win at the same championship in 2003 in Italy. Pope John Paul II attended the earlier competition.
"This is in a way an offering by children pleading for peace," said Father Pinto. "It is an offering of music."
A major government military offensive is underway in the north of the country to crush Tamil rebels who launched an armed struggle in 1983 for a separate state. Over 80,000 people have been killed in the civil war.
Before the visiting Thai youths began the concert on Oct. 1 at the Salesian educational center in Negombo, Archbishop Oswald Gomis of Colombo led a prayer for peace. Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim religious leaders then did the same. More than 20 Buddhist, Catholic, Hindu and Muslim leaders attended. The band then began with the Sri Lankan and Thai national anthems.
Referring to the children's efforts to bring peace, Archbishop Gomis said, "According to God's teaching, heaven belongs to children, for their heart is pure and sinless, and is at peace."
Reggie Fernando, 18, a senior student at the Negombo school, told UCA News: "The tunes and hymns told many stories and it directly influenced people's souls towards peace -- a good Thai therapy."
The band performed both classical and pop music arrangements, as well as hymns. Local bands from Mari Stella College, Ave Maria Convent, Harischandra Vidyalaya, Loyola College and other schools also performed.
"People from different countries speak different languages, yet they can come under one language called music, and that is why we consider it an expression of God's love," affirmed Father Dheparat Pitisant, Salesian provincial in Thailand.
Adool Boona, a Thai Catholic teacher at Sarasit Phithayalai who is traveling with the band, told UCA News the students also "promote peace through music in our country, though we don't have a prolonged war like in Sri Lanka."
The students not only pursue their academic studies but also foster their love of music under the wing of the Salesians in Thailand, the 37-year-old teacher said. He added that they are all Buddhists, testimony to the non-discriminatory policy of the Salesians not only in Thailand but all over the world.
The peace-themed tour is the Salesians' way of helping, Adool said, in addition to the social work they carry out by providing education and vocational training for youth of all races and religions in Thailand.
According to the website of the Salesian congregation in Sri Lanka, they run programs to support 25,000 children on the island.
(Source: http://www.ucanews.com)
