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by Rick Scott
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Harry Wong and Rick Scott
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Safe children, happy planet.
For the past year I have been steeping in the ancient wacky wisdom
of China. My friend Harry Wong wrote a show called The 5 Elements
based on my songs and the timeless Oriental philosophy of balance
in nature.
Harry Wong is known to multitudes of Chinese children as Harry Goh
Goh - big brother, teacher and friend. We premiered The 5 Elements
in Hong Kong last summer and for the next two months we will perform
it together at children’s festivals across Canada.
It sounds so simple. You take your five basic elements: earth, fire,
metal, wood and water, and mix them together in a million different
ways. The trick is to keep them in balance. Too much of any one of
them can spoil things for all the others. You can apply this recipe
to your emotions, the food you eat, the place you live, the music
you play.
Harry is a trickster, a renowned magician and astonishing musician.
He can make the utensils disappear at dinner then pull out a recorder
and make birds sing at your table. His Cantonese interpretations of
my lyrics are wondrous little windows into Oriental family life.
It seems a lot of things we take for granted were invented in China.
Harry and I are constantly discovering bridges between our cultures.
We play game making up proverbs, trying to cram pearls of wisdom into
the fewest possible words.
World crazy, need music.
I’m angry about what our world is doing to children. Our job
as big people is to provide a safe, happy environment for little ones
to live and learn. Now more than ever we need harmony in every sense
of the word.
In our show, the world is upside down and Harry has a guardian angel
sent to help him with this dilemma. The angel turns out to be a middle
aged white guy with tiny wings, good intentions and a funny four stringed
instrument (guess who?) Together we go on a journey to restore the
world’s harmony through music, magic and humour. But first we
have to learn to trust each other.
Which is exactly what children’s festivals do. They celebrate
differences. They create a dream of a place where it’s safe,
fun and exciting for thousands of children to experience other cultures,
languages and philosophies. They create the possibility of peace.
Vancouver pioneered the concept of staging an annual creative celebration
of culture for kids. In 1978 a visionary band of tricksters, Ernie
Fladell and Colin and Elizabeth Gorrie, had the audacity to convince
politicians, educators and parents that such a dream could and should
be prepared for the children. Twenty-five years and one and a half
million children later the festival has grown into an institution
that’s honoured and much emulated around the globe.
I perform at children’s festivals all over the world and Canada
still sets the standard for music and theatre for young people. Dignitaries
come from far and wide to study our festival as the model for setting
up their own. Without the Vancouver Children’s Festival, I would
not have the chance to introduce Harry Wong and The 5 Elements to
Canada.
A children’s festival is a kids’ nation, an “imagine-nation.”
It attracts a symphony of excellence from all traditions from all
around the world. Children’s festivals bring creativity, awareness,
understanding, compassion and crazy wisdom, the five elements that
encourage a healthy balance of mind and soul.
In these desperate times, there are too few places where children
are safe to learn and have fun. In our world where children are overwhelmed
by violence, greed and propaganda, where will they learn to speak
out and say how they feel?
With arts in our schools being decimated and deemed increasingly irrelevant,
the children’s festival should be our most prized tradition.
But I wonder if we take our wealth for granted?
Honoured past, hopeful future.
Now when we need them more than ever, festivals are threatened by
increasing costs and shrinking funding. I urge everyone to take a
moment to give thanks to our local visionaries and the thousands of
administrators, crew and volunteers who picked up the beat and jammed
with it over all these years.
The best way to say thanks is to buy a ticket. Bring your kids and
your kids’ kids and the big kid inside you. Like that old proverb
says:
Children’s festival, happy world. www.rickscott.ca
www.harrywong.cc
The 5 Elements Canada tour
Nanaimo May 12-15
Vancouver Island Intl. Children’s Festival
250-754-3378 www.childrenfestival.com
Victoria May 16
McPherson Playhouse - 2 pm
Kaleidoscope Theatre Family Concerts 250-386-6121 www.rmts.bc.ca
Vancouver May 18-24
Vancouver Intl. Children’s Festival
604-280-4444 www.childrensfestival.ca
Calgary May 27-29
Calgary Intl. Children’s Festival
www.calgarychildfest.org
St. Albert June 1-5
Northern Alberta Intl. Children’s Festival
780-459-1542 www.childfest.com
London June 9-13
London Intl. Children’s Festival
519-645-6739 info@londonchildfest.com
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