Youthful Musicians Blend Harmony with Diversity

Music lovers by the hundreds packed a Koreatown church this week to celebrate the efforts of African American and Korean American communities to foster understanding and reconciliation.

The highlight of Wednesday night’s “Music of the Soul” concert was 50 young aspiring violinists playing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”

“It really pulled at our heartstrings to see these children, who historically would not be on the same stage, playing beautiful music together,” said Kika Keith, whose 8-year-old daughter was among the performers. “It’s a monumental time . . . [to] see how, with the work of all the cultures coming together, we can mend and heal.”

The performance at the Oriental Mission Church marked a milestone in cultural exchanges and collaboration between the two communities since the 1992 riots, when hundreds of Korean-owned stores were destroyed after a jury issued not-guilty verdicts against police officers accused of beating Rodney G. King.

Sunday is the ninth anniversary of the start of those riots.

At Wednesday’s concert, many of the 700 attendees--almost evenly divided between blacks and Koreans--shed tears of joy.

Violinist Chan-Ho Yun, volunteer musical director of Sweet Strings, a youth instrumental group in South-Central, founded by Keith, said he couldn’t think of a better way than through music to reach into people’s hearts and minds.

“Music is a common language that cuts across many barriers,” said Yun, who teaches at the Coburn School of Music. “Music will reach the heart and intellect [simultaneously]--like yin and yang.”

The event, jointly sponsored by the Korean Central Daily newspaper and Sweet Strings, included performances by the Children’s Choir of the West Angeles Church of God in Christ and Korean American musicians.

Married to a Korean American, Yun has been teaching violin to central-city youngsters for two years.

Most members of the Sweet Strings group, who range in age from 5 to 18, are African American, but some Korean Americans and a handful of Latinos participate.

Sweet Strings got its start when Yun told Keith, whose daughter was his student, that he wanted to volunteer his services as a violin teacher to South-Central children to pass on his love of music and promote racial harmony. Keith promptly went to work to make it happen.

What began as violin instruction in a single room at the 42nd Street Elementary School with 25 children has grown to 100 youths, with 200 on a waiting list, Keith said.

The best part of the project, Yun and Keith agreed, is not only that youngsters are learning and appreciating music, but that their lives are transformed as they work closely with people of other ethnicities.