United Nations Radio

It's January 1st and this is United Nations Radio. I'm Bissera Kostova.

Today, instead of our usual news programme, we'll hear an excerpt of the Human Rights Day concert held at the United Nations, and we'll visit a musical exhibit featuring the anthems of all UN member states. And finally we'll hear how the Maori language has gained ground in New Zealand.

MUSIC: UP, HOLD UNDER

PRES: December 2008 marked the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. At the United Nations, the celebration included a concert by Daniel Barenboim, the world renowned Israeli pianist and conductor. He was introduced by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and shared his thoughts on his mission as a UN Messenger of Peace.

MUSIC

SG: Maestro Barenboim is not only a great musician, but also a great advocate for peace. That is why, last year, I named him a United Nations Messenger of Peace. I am grateful to him and to all the members of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra for tonight's concert. This is a unique ensemble that brings together young musicians from Israel and Arab countries. In addition to creating beautiful music, the Orchestra has created opportunities for dialogue about human rights and other issues. It has served as a valuable bridge between societies, nurturing people-to-people diplomacy.

Maestro Daniel Barenboim

Barenboim: Our project, our orchestra has been very often very flatteringly described as an orchestra for peace. But of course, it isn't that - it cannot bring peace. But what it does bring is a model, a pioneering way of thinking of what the Middle East could and should become, if we are to survive in this. And that means not necessarily agreeing with the other, but at least having the intelligence to see the logic and the legitimacy of the opinion of the other. This is what our project is about. This is why we came here today: Syrian, Israeli, Egyptian and Iranian to play for you.

Barenboim: In front of a Beethoven symphony, nobody asks - do you have a Palestinian passport, or do you have an Israeli passport, what nationality are you, what religion are you - none of these questions. We are all equal. Therefore, the first rule is the equality, which does not exist in the Middle East. And that's what has to happen.

Barenboim: First, we have to admit - Israelis and Palestinians alike have to admit the necessity to accept the fact that there is no solution without the others, whether they like it or not, this is what we are blessed or cursed to live with. And I think it's better if we are blessed to live with the other than cursed with the other.

Barenboim: And when you see the world today and the difficulties that are in there, and to see that it is possible in the United Nations to have the combinations of these nationalities performing together, when the governments of those people are not willing to enter into dialogue with each other, where Syria and Israel are still in a state of war, where the world is petrified daily about the development of the nuclear arms in Iran, and yet it is possible for a Syrian, for an Israeli and for an Iranian to share the stage at the United Nations. That for me is the very essence of the United Nations.

PRES: Daniel Barenboim and members of the West Eastern Divan orchestra performing "Fantasy Pieces" by Robert Schumann.

PRES: And now we'll hear an audio sculpture that was displayed at the United Nations. Its author, composer David Barratt told UN Radio's Diane Bailey all about his work, Karito, which in Esperanto means "love of one's neighbour."

Barratt: Karito is all of the national anthems of the UN, it's actually 192 of them, recorded on 8 different instruments and that is 1,500 odd pieces of music, at anyone time 11 of them are playing at the same time, so it may be Ethiopia on violin, France on flutes, Thailand on harp and they just keep repeating infinitely, they come from 11 different sound sources which are a series of I iPods and it never ever repeats, it is impossible that it repeats. What it represents is the way I see the world depending on where and when you were born the world looks very different. If you happen to be standing in that corner there, the lead instrument happens to be Tanzania, if you are over in that corner there the lead instrument happens to be Poland and Tanzania just becomes part of a moving cord behind you and that's kind of the way people see the world in a their own particular way depending on when and where they were born.

DB: So if I stand here, can you recognize what we are hearing?

Barratt: I don't recognize this one, it is probably out of the 189 I will probably recognize about 20 or 30 off hand, Russia I know, United Kingdom of course, America, France, which is sort of how my own personal history has evolved and someone else would recognize other things.  That is another thing, it's funny, if I am standing here and the Star Spangled Banner is playing on the other side the room, I can hear it loud and clear because that is my own personal history, whereas someone else from Lesotho will probably hear the Lesotho anthem a lot louder than anything else.

DB: Tell me about some of the words, how did you choose these particular words?

Barratt: The words were taken from various national anthems and translated in to English as a visual interpretation of what is going on musically. The overall concept was to create a meditative space and I think that happens, there is a way the light plays with the shadow. The words themselves is important  the way they look, visually is to give that sense of peacefulness and contemplation.

DB: Let us see what some of the visitors think of it. Have you been to this exhibit before and what is your first impression of it?

Jennifer: When I walked into this corner immediately I feel the peace inside, because of the music and all the white wall and because I am a musician, so what I pay attention right away is the music and this music I feel, like, this is a piece with a lot of different voices by different instruments, they play individually but in a way they are all in one harmony and to me it sort of represents UN, the whole world, we are all human beings but we have different cultures, different nationalities and then when I start to read all the words on the walls that just expresses all the human being like what we really need: joy, love, peace, faith, cherish what we have here, it is really touching. It is very simple, but it is so deep.

PRES: That was Jennifer Koo (sp?), a musician from Taiwan, giving her impressions of the audio sculpture Karito, created by David Barratt, whom you heard earlier.

MUSIC UP

PRES: While music is a truly universal language, our spoken languages both unite and separate us. UNESCO, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, estimates that of the 7,000 languages spoken, about half are headed for extinction. Less than a quarter are currently used in schools or on the Internet. But UNESCO says languages are essential to the identity o fgroups and individuals and to their peaceful coexistence. Under its campaign for 2008, the International Year of Languages, called "Languages matter" the UN agency invited a few countries to share their success stories of preserving languages. One of these is New Zealand, where the Maori language is thriving under a 25-year-old government-sponsored programme.

MUSIC/SFX Maori

PRES: The Kahurangi Maori Dance Theatre helped New Zealand's Maori Language Commissioner to present his case at a global seminar on language initiatives by governments and public authorities sponsored by UNESCO at the United Nations in December.

PRES: Commissioner Erima Henare said the Maori language has been brought back from the brink of extinction

Henare: 25 years ago there were only 70,000 native speaking Maori left - 17% of the Maori population at that time, so the language was definitely dying. It was dying because it came from an era where only English was taught in schools and Maori children were punished if they spoke Maori in the school grounds or in the classroom.

PRES: Thanks to a popular upheaval of the Maoris themselves, this all changed.

Henare: They didn't send one person to Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand, they marched there in their thousands to tell them that the Maori language was in a dire position.

PRES: The government took on the cause, first through bilingual education in school, then when that didn't work, through dedicated schools in the Maori language. They also funded 20 radio stations that broadcast at least half the time in Maori.

Henare: Four years ago, a new string was added to the bow - Maori television. Maori television has two channels.

PRES: Mr. Henare credits the government for sticking with the programme, though its popularity with the public went through ups and downs. It has now borne fruit with 130,000 active Maori speakers.

Henare: A survey was done of the Maori language last year and the interesting thing is that the uptake of the Maori language by mainstream New Zealanders, by white New Zealanders and Asian New Zealanders is growing at a quicker rate than the uptake by Maori. So one can imagine that it won't be long that more whites and Asian New Zealanders will end up speaking Maori than Maori themselves. And at that time we will close down the Commission and end our job.

PRES: The Commission has also produced a monolingual dictionary based on the Maori world view and has translated popular Internet programmes like Google into Maori. Mr. Henare says New Zealand has benefited from the experience of other indigenous groups around the world and believes that all nations can do the same for their endangered languages.

Henare: We have a new world order occurring here in the United States. Recently it's first Afro-American President was elected. And the statement I want to leave with you ... is this: for those countries that are contemplating this process -- how different could the world possibly have been if Martin Luther King turned up at the Lincoln memorial all those years ago and delivered a speech that said "I have a problem" instead of "I have a dream". This is our dream and we've lived it for the past 25 years and the language is back from the brink and growing.

MAORI SONG

PRES: New Zealand's Maori Language Commissioner Erima Henare and the Kahurangi Maori Dance Theatre.

MUSIC UP CROSSFADE CLOSING MUSIC

PRES: And that's all in our special New Year's Day programme. We hope you enjoyed it and please join us again tomorrow for our regular news programme. I'm Bissera Kostova and this is United Nations Radio in New York.

Producer: Bissera Kostova
Duration: 13'51