Blog: Daniel Pearl World Music Days honor a journalist’s love of music

I’ve recently become aware of a most worthy endeavor: Daniel Pearl World Music Days.

Most will remember that Daniel Pearl was the Wall Street Journal reporter who, in 2002, was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered in Karachi, Pakistan. Until something came into my inbox about World Music Days, that was all that I knew about Daniel Pearl.

As it turns out, Pearl was an avid musician. He joined with musical groups wherever he lived. As an international journalist, he lived in a lot of places. He made musical friends all over the world. Those friends, with the help of his family, created the Daniel Pearl Foundation’s Daniel Pearl World Music Days. The mission of the foundation is to “promote cross-cultural understanding through journalism, music, and innovative communications.” The motto of World Music Days is “Harmony for Humanity.”

I was struck by this mission statement. I’ve been a professional musician for nearly 20 years, and a professional journalist for almost as long. I’ve thought about the bravery and the compassion that Daniel Pearl exemplified in his work (and his play), and I’ve realized that the most danger I’ve faced as a musician came from flying beer bottles or a hypoglycemic tow truck driver. The most dangerous place I’ve been as a journalist was between Mufi Hannemann and a live microphone. So, while I’m proud of my work in both fields, I’m keenly and sheepishly aware that I’ve never had to risk my life as part of my job. Unless my insomnia turns out to be fatal, that is.

That being said, I plan to contribute to Daniel Pearl World Music Days. Any musician can participate for free simply by signing up and dedicating an October performance with some words about Daniel Pearl, and about the sacrifice he made as a journalist, as a musician, and as a single human being. I’m going to join the vast number of musicians worldwide that participate and contribute to the cause. I’m going to urge my musician friends in Honolulu to learn about the project and to get involved. I’m going to urge my colleagues in journalism to get the story of Daniel Pearl World Music Days out to their readers. I suppose I’m doing that now.

And while my friends and colleagues may not have heard of Daniel Pearl Music Days, once they learn that international musical luminaries like Itzhak Perlman, Ravi Shankar, Playing for Change, Elton John, and REM have gotten involved, it shouldn’t be hard to convince anyone to become a part of something that salvages humanity out of one of the most barbaric and brutal acts ever witnessed by the world media: the murder of a compassionate crusader for truth.

For more information on Daniel Pearl World Music Days, visit danielpearlmusicdays.org.