After Reaching 50, I Began To Wonder

A Senegalese Poet Said 'in The End We Will Conserve Only What We Love. We Love Only What We Understand, And We Will Understand Only What We Are Taught.' We Must Learn About Other Cultures In Order To Understand, In Order To Love, And In Order To Preserve Our Common World Heritage.

But An Innovation, To Grow Organically From Within, Has To Be Based On An Intact Tradition, So Our Idea Is To Bring Together Musicians Who Represent All These Traditions, In Workshops, Festivals, And Concerts, To See How We Can Connect With Each Other In Music.

Music Has Always Been Transnational; People Pick Up Whatever Interests Them, And Certainly A Lot Of Classical Music Has Absorbed Influences From All Over The World.

I Think That Peace Is, In Many Ways, A Precondition Of Joy.

People Will Ask, 'are You Famous?' And I Always Answer, 'my Mother Thinks So.'