It was a painful project for me personally on physical and emotional levels from the first freezing shooting day and ending with September 11 concert.  I have chosen to speak up about my 9/11 American experience to the MuHa audience, media and friends.  Though 10 years later in England this topic did generate some interest and we managed to get a bit of media coverage of our project, I felt it was not something English people were too passionate to commemorate. Understandingly, 10 years after-  9/11 events  are  not more than a history that affected the world of today in various, mostly non positive ways. Besides, America with its foreign policies is not a very popular country here in the UK among free thinking educated people.

Nevertheless, ’ 9/11 UK community ‘  commemorated the anniversary with a usual passion. Through this project I was lucky to meet    Rob Halligan – musician, broadcaster fro Coventry who, like myself,  lost his father in 9/11. He and his family welcomed me in his house and we talked about 9/11 and music in his radio show.

September 11 Concert at Nottingham contemporary Caffe Bar happened to be more of MuHa’s family and friends community support event rather than a big scale commemoration event I initially hoped for. Looking back at it however , I am happy it happened this way. It was great to see close friends and friends of a friends supporting the event. I am very happy to say special thanks to Manushi Dance Company lead by a beautiful woman Vina Ladwa; Ling Peng with her amazing Erhu playing; Abel Chaude on clarinet;  Richard Kensington on percussion; Emma Mario organizing fundraising;  Ste Alan for booking us such a beautiful venue; Steve Barnet for a great sound; photographer Robert Balmer and all the people who came and helped us to raise money for the War Child charity.

It was an amazing experience to work with all the people who were involved in one way or another, but to be completely honest, I am happy the project is over and we can concentrate on our future collaborations,  including animation project with Chinese studio…. oops… not to spoil the surprise- will leave it to 2012!

It is easy to spot these people as they stand out from the crowd shouting or talking to themselves, crying then laughing the next moment or just standing or wandering with an absent face.

During the week preceding to the 10th anniversary of 9/11 I was listening to the monologue of a woman in a subway. She was on her own, but she talked very expressively to someone appearing to be on her left hand side as she was continually looking there as if she had a companion at that spot.

Interestingly, what she was saying was not all nonsense , it was a normal conversation… except she was having it to herself. She was talking about various things jumping from one topic to another. At one point she discussed the Freedom Tower- the fortress-like skyscraper that they are building on the WTC site and that will be the tallest building in the United States and one of the tallest in the world.

The woman said ‘ Why are they building this Freedom tower? What America wants to prove to the world?’ – Wow, I thought- she says exactly what I think about this! Then she continued with ‘ America doesn’t need to prove anything to the world- we ARE the best’ …

But there was nothing strange about this sentence either – it is a very popular view in America – this is how most Americans perceive themselves and their country in a global context. It was however strange and ironic to hear it from this poor woman talking to herself in a subway carriage.

The look of a Freedom Tower ( or WTC 1) when it is finished in 2013

I thought I will put a link to this sarcastic image as well – as to my opinion America hasn’t learnt to be humble.

Confirmed Artists so far:

MuHa
Ling Peng- Erhu player from China
Olya Shafikova- pianist from Moscow
Manushi Dance Company – Classical Indian Kathak dance
Abel Chaudé ( France)
Richard Kensington- Cuban percussionist from Nottingham

BRING A CANDLE

Our Charity is the War Child – they help children affected by war and terrorism. Emma Mario is an organiser of the fundraising. Please donate online to the War Child

The charity’s Sherwood link organised an exhibition of a London artist Zachary Peirce who went to Chernobyl and drawn his inspiration from this abandoned town with it’s gloomy, almost unreal scenery. MuHa was of course was very happy to support the event with our gig at the Malt Cross.

On a photo Ian Harra with Zachary Peirce

See Zachary Peirce’s pictures of the event.

With the killing of Osama Bin Laden conveniently just before the 10th anniversary of 9//11 we see people cheering overwhelmed with joy as if we celebrate some sort of goodness. They say Bin Laden killed my father, but I don’t feel any joy about him being dead at the bottom of the sea. I feel indifferent- what other outcome could had been for him but a violent death; and does it really change anything? It makes me very sad however that the consciousness of our planet is so wicked and aggressive.

To pick up a sword or to walk the path of peace- it is a personal choice. I can almost hear objections from the readers – somebody has to fight to defend the peace; but on the other hand- if everybody chooses peace- there is nobody to fight with…

If you believe that emotions and thoughts are the subtle energy that, giving enough saturation, always transforms to the physical world in a shape of circumstances and events, then following the path of non judgemental acceptance and peace in your thoughts and actions is an obvious choice.

So, I refuse to join the medieval celebrations of the killing and sending a message of peace and love to you all.

If you wanted to contribute towards the Journey from the Ground Zero project to commemorate the lost lives in 9/11 , don’t put it for later, show your support now.

Love and peace,
Iryna

She put in simple few words those thoughts and feelings that I was researching in my design degree and writing songs about for the last six years, but never managed to outline so precise as she did.

Binta was talking about assimilation and integration.
Assimilation is when you come from one culture to another and become a part of the new the community, acquiring it’s properties, but loose what you had.
Integration is when you bring your culture into a new environment and share it, put it in a pot and stay open minded – then we surround ourselves by the rich culture.

I will let this to be my answer to a question why I do not sing in English