Five religions perform religious music together for the first time
To celebrate the 22nd Anniversary of the establishment of the Macau Special Administrative Region, the Macau Taoist Association, the Bahai Community, Buddhist Association of Macau, the Sheng Kung Hui Macau, the Macao Catholic Culture Association held the Concerto Organizado em Conjunto pelas Cinco Religiões (Joint Concert) on the 5th December in the Broadway Macau of the Galaxy Entertainment Group.
It is the first time in Macau after the establishment of the MSAR that five different religions have co-organized the concert, reflecting the culture of different religions in Macau, and highlighting the harmony of the Macau society. It is also a cultural exchange between music and different religions in Macau, promoting peace, love, communion, unity, the spirit of mutual respect, cooperation, and appreciation among religions.
The invited guests on that day included Vice President of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Mr. Ho Hau Wah, the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Macau SAR Mr. Fu Tie Sheng, the Director of the Cultural Affairs Bureau, Ms Mok Ian Ian, the President of Macao Catholic Culture Association Bishop Lee Bun-Sang, The Buddhist Association of Macau Master Shi Jie Sheng, the Macao Taoist Master Mr. Ng Peng Chi, Sheng Kung Hui Macau Reverend Simon Fan, the President of Bahai Community Mr. Kong Siew Huat, and the Vice Chairman of GEG, Mr. Francis Liu.
The concert began with a speech by Bishop Lee Bun-Sang. He said that the concert sends blessings and peace to everyone through singing and praise. He said, “The sacred music builds a bridge to bring one closer to the holy and spiritual things.” He also mentioned that Church Father St. Augustine said, “He who sings, prays twice.” Therefore, the church is also committed to promote the traditional and Chinese sacred music, praising the Lord through songs, and spreading the message of the Gospel through the beauty and power of music.
Bishop also said, “Music brings people closer, it has no nationalities, no races……and invites all people to a respectable language and brings people to a kind of harmony.” The Bishop also hoped that different religions and people will pray for the harmony of Macau and the end of Covid through songs especially on the anniversary of the transfer of the sovereignty of Macau.
Afterwards, Master Shi Jie Sheng began his speech. The Master mentioned that Buddhism believes that music can relieve distress, balance the mind and body, and surpassing myself, thus achieving “Freedom”. Music is a language that can cross race, colour, culture. The five religions believe that music can deliver truth, goodness, beauty, with a hope to present five types of culture and the music of the religions and serve the purpose of mutual exchange and for the blessings of the Macau community.
The guests opened the calligraphy to kick off the concert, and on the scroll, it is written “communion”, “mercy”, “care”, “equality”, “love”, “respect”, “unity”, “harmony”, and “wellbeing”, symbolize the five religions have the same goal. Before the performance of each religion, there is an explanation of the music to be performed.
The 5 religions invite its own religious music groups to perform a total of 19 religious music works in different styles. Representing the Catholic church, the Cathedral Schola of Macau and The Diocesan Choir of Macau performed five classical sacred music in Latin, English, and Cantonese. The sacred music included Fr. Tadeu Tong’s <I Believe in Jesus> and <My Spirit Yearns>.
The Macao Catholic Culture Association hopes to share the Catholic music to the public through the concert, to build a foundation of mutual understanding from a cultural perspective, to continue the mission of cultural exchange between the East and West and contribute to the community of Macau. To watch the concert, please visit the third YouTube channel of Centro Diocesano dos Meios de Comunicação Social.
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