Interfaith Concert Offers Music for Peace

February 12, 2007

Author: Joe Bauman

Source: Deseret Morning News

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660194807,00.html

From a feathered headdress to a yarmulke, from prayers and booming drums to soaring voices and shimmering bells, Utahns celebrated peace and fellowship Sunday night.

Gayatri Jayaraman performs a Hindu Temple Dance Sunday during Salt Lake Interfaith concert at the Assembly Hall on Temple Square.

The concert in the Assembly Hall at Temple Square was a musical tribute to the human spirit, and had as its theme "A Call to Prayer - A Call to Peace." It was the culmination of Utah's 2007 Interfaith Week.

"This is a great event," said James Pingree, a member of the Salt Lake Public Affairs Council of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, welcoming the throng of several hundred to the historic Assembly Hall. He noted that in order for the program to carry the words "Let There be Peace on Earth," permission had to be obtained from the copyright holder.

As the program noted, he said, the daughter of the song's authors, Jill Jackson and Sy Miller, wrote to the concert organizers, "This is exactly the kind of an event for which the song was written. Your use of it would please them very much."

Gov. Jon M. Huntsman Jr. said "Love and hope ... need to penetrate every corner of our society." Interfaith cooperation helps to spread those essentials, he said. He added that when he and First Lady Mary Kaye Huntsman recently adopted a child from India, they found the orphanage was drawing help from Hindu, Islamic and Christian believers.