Putting the heart of wishing for democracy and peace in Myanmar into music

The Daegu Symphony Orchestra’s 477th regular season concert, ‘Winter Day’s Fantasy’, was performed on Friday, June 11th at 7:30 pm at the Daegu Concert House Grand Hall. In particular, the encore song of this performance was played with the message of Daegu praying for democracy and peace in Myanmar. This message will be shared with UNESCO Creative Cities around the world in the future.

Daegu was a city where music flowed even in the midst of the Korean war. It was also the music of Daegu, the UNESCO Creative City of Music, that comforted the citizens of Daegu and showed hope for the future even in the prolonged war against COVID-19.

Music has the power to heal people’s hearts and inspire courage, and music is also a language that people all over the world relate to without an interpretation.

Since the military coup d’état in Myanmar on February 1st, there is still a fierce confrontation between the resistance of the people who risked their lives and the oppression of the military. The sacrifice and sorrow of the innocent people are increasing but it does not seemed to be ending.

As a UNESCO Creative City of Music that supports universal values such as human rights, free of violence, and respect for life, Daegu held a concert today with a message to pray for democracy and peace in Myanmar. It conveyed comfort and solidarity to the people of Myanmar.

In that sense, the prepared encore song is part of the finale of Tchaikovsky’s 5th Symphony, the conductor of Daegu Symphony Orchestra, said, “I chose a dynamic and lively song, not a sad and heartbreaking song.” He also added, “I hope that this music will deliver strength and courage to them.

Daegu Mayor Young-jin Kwon, who watched the performance with the citizens, said in a video message, “I would like to send comfort and solidarity support to the people of Myanmar who are going through a time like war.” Then he continued, “I hope that the sound of solidarity and peace from today’s performance can be communicated to Myanmar and around the world, and I hope that the audiences who are with us today will also unite for peace in Myanmar.”

In the hope that Daegu the starting point of the Myanmar freedom and peace support movement on the UNESC-level, the encore song of the performance containing the hearts of Daegu citizens and the video message of Daegu Mayor Young-jin Kwon will be shared with all creative cities including UNESCO Cities of Music around the world.