(Page of Swords & The High Priestess, vol.19-6) Music Should Make Everyone Happy (6) - The Case of Nagiib Al-Jibril -

Now, a few days later, we were sitting side by side on benches in Central Park that day as usual, reading "A Course In Miracles" to each of us. Then, Masato was approached by an Arab-American man.

He pointed at Masato and shouted, "Oh, brave Japanese Masato Shiraishi!" and came running. He got excited unilaterally and told Masato.

You quit "Far East Rare Groove" all of a sudden, and I was so worried. You played Fairuz's' "YA RABI" 'right after' 9.11 '. Since then, I've been listening to "Far East Rare Groove" every week because I'm afraid you're going to be miserable one day! I knew you were going to get screwed. You got fired by the show sponsors and producers, right?

Masato replied, "No, I'm recuperating now."

He's a brilliant IT engineer named Nagiib Al-Jibril who, of course, lives in Manhattan. He seemed rather relieved to learn that Masato had resigned from "Far East Rare Groove" due to illness. After he called himself, he went on to explain why he was worried about Masato.

Are you sick? Then when you get better, will you go back to being a DJ? You're reckless. You don't have to play an Arab song right after "9.11." But you played Fairuz. And you said this.

• Music should make everyone happy. There are many expressions of emotion in music, but all of them are friends who are close to us. Everyone in this city is having a hard time right now, so on this show, I want to play a selection of songs that will comfort you. This program introduces Asian music. So, although the Arab nations are very far from Japan where I was born, the Arab nations are considered to be members of Asia, so I want to play their songs. Of course, I don't want to support terrorism. But I think we should stop being suspicious of people who have nothing to do with the terrorist attacks just because they're Arab, so I want to give Fairuz's song to people of Arab descent who probably find it harder to live in this city. My friend, the African American bassist, always says that Forgiveness and Reconciliation are important. It may take time, but I want to bring back a peaceful New York where we can enjoy music together.

I thought you'd be fired in a heartbeat if you said that. If you get fired, that's still pretty good, and I even thought you were going to be killed outright. As you know, all Arabs were looked upon with suspicion. I and many of my friends lost their jobs.

You know "Little Syria"? In the 1870s, many immigrants from the Syrian province of the Ottoman Empire came to New York and lived on the lower end of Washington Street. Ironically, a few blocks south of the "World Trade Center Building" used to be home to Arabs who called the areas of present-day Lebanon and Syria home. There were many Arab stores and Arab restaurants such as "THE NILE" and "THE SHEIKH". I'm a descendant of that.

You did a feature on Lebanese divas titled "The Tarab Moment" when Nancy Ajram's "Ah W Noss" became a big hit, I believe? At that time, you described the music situation in Lebanon like this, right? Lebanon has more Christians, so there is less resistance to women not wearing Hijab. That's one of the reasons why there are so many more divas than other Arab countries.

That's right. So few of the residents of "Little Syria" who came from that area had Muslim families. I'm Muslim, but not all my friends are Muslim. But if he or she look at our faces, they all believed we were dangerous Muslim terrorists who hated the Crusades.

You tried to be close to our hearts like that. How could you possibly be safe? That's why I kept listening to "Far East Rare Groove" every week to make sure you were explaining Asian music again this week!

Good evening. I'm Masato Shiraishi. How are you?

When I heard your voice every week, I was so relieved!

Nagiib Al-Jibril kept talking loudly to Masato. It seemed to be a creepy and offending sight to the non-Asians around us, and obviously we were looked upon with contempt. But Masato was clearly impressed. Nagiib Al-Jibril asked Masato to shake his hand. Masato, of course, complied. Nagiib Al-Jibril seemed really relieved to know that Masato was safe and left with satisfaction.

Naturally, I am well aware of how Nagiib Al-Jibril and people of Arab descent were treated by the people of this country after the September 11 attacks. I'm Japanese, and in this country, even in a non-emergency, I can be treated inappropriately by people of other races. But I also thought it was an opportunity. I knew immediately that this meant that some of the very best Arab-American IT engineers and, of course, marketers and other talented people would lose their jobs. So, I consulted with Angie Kendall about hiring them for "Nu-Era Pics". She is an "unprejudiced person" because she chose my yellow skin as a co-founder to launch "Nu-Era Pics". If "unprejudiced" is an exaggeration, then at least I can say that she is as unprejudiced as possible. But at that time, she didn't object, but she said that there was a high possibility of a big upset in the company, so we need to take measures. So, I created an excellent team of Arab-American to be my direct team. It was a clandestine group dedicated to my support, and I made them work entirely from home. When I really needed to see them, I met them outside the company. The members of my new team were thrilled. Of course, I knew and allowed them to do the worships that are important to Muslims, even in between jobs. They were happy to be able to worship at home without worrying about the curious eyes around them. Now, in time, they brought some big results to "Nu-Era Pics", so they introduced them to the whole company. Their loyalty to each project was very high and the level of achievement was remarkable. They were struggling to survive in these United States. They are currently supporting Angie Kendall well. In other words, after a few years, "Nu-Era Pics" was able to do great business in Dubai and other parts of the Middle East.

Fairuz, the singer of the song that Masato presented to Nagiib Al-Jibril and the people of Arab descent, is an active Queen of Arab music from Lebanon. Meanwhile, there was once a great Arab music Queen in Egypt named Oum Kalsoum. She began singing around 1910, when she was about 6 years old, and remained the Queen of Arab music until her last concert at the Palace of the Nile in 1972. More than 4 million mourners attended the funeral of Oum Kalsoum, who passed away on February 3, 1975!

Fairuz, on the other hand, has been regarded as an Arab Diva since the 1950s, when she succeeded by boldly incorporating Chanson, Tango, Classical, Opera, Jazz, and Latin music with the motif of Lebanese Folk songs. The songs she sings about her country were loved and sung by all Lebanese, regardless of sect, during the civil war. However, Masato did not worry about whether to choose the Queen's song between Oum Kalsoum and Fairuz. Oum Kalsoum's songs generally last more than 40 minutes per song, which unfortunately doesn't fit the New York FM radio program policy, but Fairuz has a lot of short songs that fit the size of a radio broadcast. Now, it was very important for Masato to play at least one of the two Arab music Queens immediately after "9.11." Their music is the pride of all Arabs!

Music is a wonderful thing, isn't it?

Masato said to me after Nagiib Al-Jibril left, crying with emotion.

Masato was helped in so many ways by C. J. Raymond when he started his life in New York, including finding a place to live. So, he lived in an African American neighborhood. There were no Orientals around him. Masato knew that it was a well-received program because he often received feedback about "Far East Rare Groove" via e-mail to the FM station. However, he had never had the experience of hearing face-to-face from Orientals expressing their excitement and appreciation for the program. He felt more joy and healing by the people he met during those few days than he had ever felt in his entire life. In tears, he began to explain to me what Nagiib Al-Jibril had not explained.

That day, I did indeed say what Nagiib just described. At that time I used Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come" as background music. I used the original version from the album "Ain't That Good News" released in March 1964. This is different from the version that was released as a single two weeks after Sam Cooke was shot and killed in a Los Angeles motel on December 11, 1964, and also appeared on the album "Shake," released in January 1965. The reason I used the original version is because it was used in Spike Lee's "Malcolm X". On February 21, 1965, Malcolm X was assassinated at a speech in Harlem, New York, the so-called "Black Mecca". In "Malcolm X" directed by Spike Lee, the original version of "A Change Is Gonna Come" was played during the sequence where Malcolm X goes to that speech. The film clearly shows that after his first pilgrimage to Mecca, he changed his policy to one of appeasement. How can we, the human race, stop hating each other? How can we understand each other? Can't music help us reconcile? I would like to believe that music is not powerless, but I think Nagiib Al-Jibril wanted to show me that music is not powerless.

I remember that sequence from Spike Lee's "Malcolm X" very well. Well, Masato kept talking while crying. When it comes to music, he talks endlessly.

I came to the United States because I admired Prince. So, I first thought about going to Minneapolis. I thought, of course, it would be great to work at Paisley Park Studios.

But in the end I chose to go to New York because there has always been so much music here. You like movies, don't you? Have you seen Francis Ford Coppola's "The Cotton Club"? Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway performed incredibly well at COTTON CLUB.

Sonny Rollins, Bill Evans, John Coltrane, the Jazz Giants all came to New York and had great sessions at VILLAGE VANGUARD and BIRDLAND.

New York is an important city for Rhythm and Blues and Soul. James Brown recorded and presented live performances at the Apollo Theater three times: October 24, 1962, June 24, 1967 – 25, and July 24, 1971 – 26. If we listen to the three albums in order, you can clearly see the transition of JB's musical style. They are all great albums. My favorite is the 1967 recording. The reason is that you can clearly hear Clyde Stubblefield's drum style.

For Rock, of course, New York is an important city. In the '60s, THE VELVET UNDERGROUND teamed up with Andy Warhol's favorite Nico to release a Banana record. It developed into a Punk movement in the 70s. Lou Reed, a member of THE VELVET UNDERGROUND, produced an album called "New York" in 1989.

There is another music in New York that we cannot forget. FANIA ALL-STARS '"Live at the Cheetah," released in 1972, became a global hit and caused a huge boom in Salsa music. JUNK SHOP, an import record store in Kyoto where I learned that there are many kinds of "Popular Music" in the world, usually plays Salsa music. JUNK SHOP encouraged me to start listening to Salsa music with Willie Colón's "El Malo". Then I listened to Héctor Lavoe's "De Ti Depende", and then Celia Cruz and Johnny Pacheco's album "Celia & Johnny".

Your favorite Madonna ate nothing but popcorn in this city and waited for her chance to succeed, and of course Hip-Hop was born here. I got my idea of New York City from Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five and ULTRAMAGNETIC MC'S record covers. It's impossible to talk about the last 15 years or so of "Popular Music" without mentioning the work of DJ Premier, who came to town from Houston, Texas to join GANGSTARR.

Carnatic singer M. S. Subbulakshmi came from South India to perform at Carnegie Hall. The live recording is a worldwide classic. I cannot decide which is the best, "Live at the Cheetah" by Fania All-Stars, "Live at the Apollo" by James Brown released in 1968, or "Live at carnegiehall USA" by M. S. Subbulakshmi. I can't decide which is the best.

Leonard Bernstein composed "New York, New York" for the musical "On the Town" and Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly and Jules Munshin sang it for the 1949 film version. In Martin Scorsese's 1977 film "New York, New York," Liza Minnelli sang "Theme from New York, New York" with lyrics by Fred Ebb, music by John Kander, and arrangement by Ralph Burns, Frank Sinatra covered this song in 1979.

And John Lennon was killed in this city on December 8, 1980. It was right after he and his wife Yoko Ono produced and released "Double Fantasy".

So, this is New York. There are people of different skin colors, different ethnic backgrounds, and therefore they bring different cultures and live together. Music tells us that very clearly. We are all different, but I think it's great because we are all different. That's what the music is telling me, and that's what I wanted to tell the people of New York through "Far East Rare Groove".

I had to give him an absolutely fantastic reply. I thanked that Arab-American man for identifying himself as "I am Nagiib Al-Jibril" and replied as follows.

Yeah. He said this at the beginning. Oh, brave Japanese Masato Shiraishi! He obviously admired what you did. Not only that, he also thanked you. He was talking out loud with Joy! "Jibril" means the archangel Gabriel, right? He's the angel who came to give you a message. You've done a good job. Heaven is blessing you. You know what I mean? You still have to keep that job. Let's cure cancer and live together. I Love You. I want to live with you.

I finally said to him, "I Love You." I said to him the one important word that Japanese rarely say, "I Love You," which I had not yet said since I met him. He was very surprised. He wasn't ready and didn't say "I Love You" to me, but he said, "Thank you."

Now, at dinner that day, Masato told me for the first time since we had met, "There is something I want you to buy for me". He felt guilty that I was spending more and more of my own hard-earned money for him, including the airfare and lodging back to Japan, our new home, his clothes, and his daily meals. So, he came to me, very apologetically, asking me to shop for him. To be honest, his image of my wealth was an underestimate, and it was far, far away from my total wealth. In other words, there is absolutely no need for him to worry about money.... Sure, I did have to examine my portfolio carefully and sell some shares in order to buy a home in New York. Even before I read "A Course In Miracles", I knew that "guilt" can make us ill, and as I started reading "A Course In Miracles", I became more and more convinced of this. So, when he said, "There is something I want you to buy for me," I was so happy that I burst into tears! OMG! I was such a Bambi that I would cry at such a request from him!

What do you want me to buy for you?

Please tell me right away!

He asked me to buy some Alchemy Crystal Bowls for him. Masato wanted me to buy some of the Alchemy Crystal Bowls that the workshop participants brought and played at the "Peace of Mind Workshop" organized by Hiroshi Ohuchi and Janet at Lake Yamanakako! Masato had resumed practicing tabla and seemed to be deepening his interaction with Karsh Kale. As a result, he wanted to apply the theory of "Rāga" and "Tāla" of Indian Classical music to Alchemy Crystal Bowls' playing to create new Ambient music. He was obviously trying to heal from cancer and re-start his path to becoming a performer. He said the following:

You have always taken care of me and everything, and I would like to do something for you. But as you know, I don't have any money right now. I don't think I will be able to make as much money as you in Ambient music, but in the not-too-distant future, I would like to be able to feed you and me on a daily basis with the money I earn, and at least be able to give you some thoughtful gifts.

Like a girl who has really fallen in love for the first time, I was so moved that my heart trembled and I cried as I replied to him as follows:

As co-founder of "Nu-Era Pics", I've trained Rachel Hayashibara and many other talented people. So, Angie Kendall is not in much trouble without me. I have a talent for finding talented and growing people. You will succeed. I have a monopoly on the very best PE/Private Equity. I am a super talented Angel Investor. I will make you successful!

I gladly bought seven Alchemy Crystal Bowls from the manufacturer's official online store and presented them to him immediately.