Salt Lake Interfaith Roundtable

I thought it would be good to add not only experiences with each country, but other cultural events we go to.  Recently we went to the Salt Lake Interfaith Roundtable performance.  It was a concert that celebrates the coming together of all religions and cultures.  We were not allowed to take pictures during the performance so I had to snag these from online, but the kids were with us.  They were a bit restless I will admit, but they also love music and would jump around in time to the songs and clap along when they weren't being jumpy kids.

The Salt Lake Interfaith Roundtable is an organization that started over 10 years ago as a result of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.  A performance was held before the opening ceremonies to display musical pieces from different religious groups.  The round table has continued ever since.  The theme of the round table is: Many faiths-one family.  I attended the March 10^th performance which was held at the Tabernacle on Temple Square.  I didn't know what to expect but have to say I was pleasantly surprised.  The performance started with a welcome by Nineveh Dinha, the masters of ceremonies, an invocation by a Baha’I representative and then musical devotionals by three different religions: Jewish, Muslim and Christian.  After that the evening consisted of several musical tributes from different religions.  It lasted about an hour and a half and ended with the whole congregation singing “Let There Be Peace on Earth”.

There were a few performances that stuck out to me.  The first was the first performance of the musical tribute section by the Salt Lake Scots.  The Salt Lake Scots is a bagpipe and drum ensemble.  They played three songs; “Highland Cathedral,” “Amazing Grace” and “Scotland the Brave.”  I am always impressed with the volume and energy that comes from bag pipes and this was no exception. 

The second song that really stuck out to me was by the Sri Ganesha Hindu Temple and India Cultural Center of Utah Children’s choir directed by Swathy Mahasenan.  They sang two songs, “Achyutham Kesavam” and “Om Sakthi Om”.  The children came out onto the stage in their traditional Hindu costumes. They looked beautiful and very colorful.  They came to the middle of the stage arranged in two rows by height.  They sang acapella under the watchful eye of their director who was sitting in the front row and singing along with them the whole time. 

Another performance that I liked was by the Salt Lake Children’s Choir, directed by Ralph Woodward.  The choir sang two songs: “Dostoyno yest” and “The Lord is my Shepherd”.    “Dostoyno yest” was the first song they did and it was beautiful.  I have never really heard a children’s choir before and the pitch of their high voices was very pretty.  I counted about 12 boys in the choir and the rest were girls.  They sang in harmony for most of the song, it was similar to a chant.  

The last performance that really stood out was by the Gamelan Bigntang Wahyu an ensemble representing the Balinese Hindu culture.  This ensemble is organized by Jeremy Grimshaw and is made up of students and faculty of BYU.  I felt everyone was excited to hear this ensemble because they had their instruments set up on stage before the concert started and a person dressed in a very traditional folk lore costume was posing for pictures.  It was very different and unique and I was excited to see what it would sound like.  The music did not disappoint.  The second song the ensemble performed, “Topeng Jauk Manis”, consisted of big xylophone like instruments that players sat behind and played with mallets.  There were also big gongs and little flutes that carried the melody of the piece.  The music had an oriental fell to it which made me think they were using the 5 note pentatonic scale.  There were dynamic differences throughout the piece that were reflective of the folk dancer.  This dancer wore a mask and traditional Balinese clothes and shoes.  He had long hair and long finger nails.  When he danced slowly the music slowed down and got softer.  When he danced fast he would fly around the stage doing silly things and the music would crescendo and accelerate.  The song lasted a long time and I wondered if it was improved according to what the dancer did or if it was choreographed.  Overall it was very enjoyable.

The concert was very educational and entertaining.  The highlight of the night is when everyone stood up and sang “Let There be Peace on Earth”.  The spirit in the room was tender and it was the perfect way to end the evening.