{"id":30103,"date":"2016-09-30T16:14:29","date_gmt":"2016-09-30T20:14:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=30103"},"modified":"2016-09-30T16:20:06","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T20:20:06","slug":"musical-mends-musicians-perform-amid-countries-repairing-relations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/musical-mends-musicians-perform-amid-countries-repairing-relations\/","title":{"rendered":"Musical Mends: musicians perform amid countries’ repairing relations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Valley musicians in Musica Harmonica are headed to San Juan, Puerto Rico, in October to further encourage the intersectionality of music in the Americas. The group, composed of a violist from James Madison University, a violinist from Eastern Mennonite University, a cellist from Wyoming and a clarinetist, is performing at the Decolonizing Music Conference at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music.<\/p>\n

The conference is a meeting place for music professionals and organizations from the Americas, where they focus on musical artists making a cultural and social impact in their communities.<\/p>\n

Musica Harmonia’s half-hour performance revolves around three spiritual pieces that continue the group’s mission of promoting peace and cultural awareness through musical collaboration. Two of the pieces are based on poetry [written by Professor Marti Eads<\/a>] inspired by EMU alumna and 2011 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Leymah Gbowee’s memoir about her organizing women to stand up to a dictator in Liberia.<\/p>\n

The third piece, “The Human One,” composed by EMU professor Ryan Keebaugh<\/a>, is a representation of God coming to Earth to live among man within the human experience.<\/p>\n