INTERVIEW Ion Marin: I very much believe in changing Romania through culture

Conductor Ion Marin, honorary director of the "Madrigal - Marin Constantin" Chamber Music National Choir and founder of the Cantus Mundi National Programme, says in an interview to AGERPRES that music and culture in general represent a catalyst for Romania's change. "I believe in Romania's change, in the first place. And I believe music is a catalyst. I very much believe in changing Romania through culture. Both in the interior and toward the exterior. Adjustment, which is a synonym of change, is essential. (...) It would be very beneficial if in these soirees of the Enescu Festival, but not only, in the children events, in the concert hall, politicians were present. Because they would learn there is an alternative," Ion Marin said. In the interview, the conductor speaks of the Cantus Mundi National programme and its enlargement on an international level among Romanian children abroad, his participation in the George Enescu International Festival, as well as the honour of having been decorated by President Klaus Iohannis with the National Order for Merit in rank of Commander. AGERPRES: You have been away from Romania for over 30 years. You have known glory abroad. What determined you to create here, in the country, what, in fact, is the so-called "Cantus Mundi phenomenon"? Ion Marin: The international career and the privilege of being born and growing in the music world has given me the true dimension of the power music has, a language beyond words, beyond concept, which can reach certain corners of the human soul, and at the same time, I realised the colossal training power that music has, starting with my example. I experienced on my skin what it means to respect others, what it means to be inclined to civilisation, to communicate with others and to see a little in each person, to see yourself in them. Not to mirror yourself, to see yourself in them. To accept them by realising that "They" are different from "You". Music gives you this dimension and at first it only seemed an evidence to me. Then it became a passion, an extraordinary dedication and we started the Cantus Mundi Programme in 2011, which became a national programme in 2014. AGERPRES: You have announced that you want to extend this project internationally, to the Romanian communities in the Diaspora. What can you tell us in this regard? Ion Marin: I have recently announced the start of the Cantus Mundi International Platform, aimed mainly at Romanian children living outside the borders. I brought some of them to the country, in camps. AGERPRES: Why children? Ion Marin: Because if you want the fruit to be good and full of sun and earth, the seed needs to be protected and you have to be patient and water it and wait for it and care for it, and only after that, at the end, the fruit will be the one that it is supposed to be. This is why children, because in every country in the world the evolution of social civilisation, the evolution in the sense of eliminating discrepancies begins with the training of children. Discrepancies will always exist, there will always be social differences, so is human nature - but you live differently if you accept it and find things that you have in common with those above you and with those below you. There are things we have in common and, without this programme, it is harder to realise them. There is a part of all of us on the face of the Earth where we are the same. It's human nature. And when it manifests badly, we see it and suffer because of it. Or, for awakening the good part of human nature, of course we have to start with the children. AGERPRES: You believe that this can change the world. The Romanian world and the world in general? Ion Marin: I'm absolutely convinced of that. Absolutely positive. I don't have the ability to assist to all these things, but you know, the essence of world change is popularly called tradition. Nevertheless a lot of people think this way: tradition is what was before me and stops at me. From the moment we come to the world, we are part of the tradition. We are equally responsible for learning, accumulating as much of what has been left to us in the history of mankind, but also for what we transmit. Because, otherwise, it would be just a selfish gesture. And music has the advantage that you can't be too selfish. Usually, when you make music, you are in a group with others and this is something that can change the world. It can eliminate the fear of diversity. Take a look at what happens with the entire immigration phenomenon. It is an incredible fear of the other. Diversity has caused wars, led to frightening cataclysms, led to unresolved conflicts even to this day. Those remain in an underground of memory. Or diversity can be overcome by the act of making music together, using a language in which it is very difficult to offend someone with music and finding yourself in others. I believe in this wholeheartedly. AGERPRES: Cantus Mundi is now in the Enescu Festival as well. What does this participation entail? Ion Marin: It is one of our immediate projects. The Enescu Festival is open and benefits from the energy of the children in this edition. There are 14 performances of the Comic Opera, led by my former colleague Felicia Filip, whom I congratulate with all my heart - and there are 1,800 Cantus Mundi children, who are present at over 200 events of the Enescu Festival. AGERPRES: Beyond Cantus Mundi, you have always pleaded for the Enescu Festival. You are coming to Bucharest at the Enescu Festival on Saturday, to conduct the National Orchestra of France, with a unique programme: Suite No. 1 for orchestra in C major op. 9 by Enescu, Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major and the "Images" suite for orchestra (Rondes de printemps, Gigues, Iberia) by Debussy. How did you make the choice? Ion Marin: In this edition, coming with the National Orchestra of France, an ensemble with which I have been collaborating for more than twenty years, the programme is linked to a happy moment. Sure, French music, but that's not the basic idea. Enescu was a composer in Paris and in 1903 he wrote the first suite which he dedicated to Camille Saint-Saens, who was still alive. So you realise how integrated Enescu was from a European point of view. Debussy begins the "Images" cycle two years after Enescu, and Ravel's Piano Concert comes after World War I. Thus, there were windows of humanity and cultural cohesion at various times. Unfortunately there were too few, because the twentieth century was marked by three world wars, although we do not define the third as such, but it was there and I lived on my skin. It is a moment of oasis and I thought about this oasis of the programme, in the context in which the Enescu Festival has been, from the beginning, from the years of the communist regime, an oasis for music lovers, surely, but also for those who want culture, for those who feel that there is room to grow and enrich their soul. AGERPRES: You were talking about the need to organise the Enescu Festival each year. Ion Marin: This seems something categorical to me. I think no effort is too big. Even if you put in the figures, which you know better than me, it's a ridiculous effort. AGERPRES: The organisation was hard this year. Ion Marin: Every year it was hard. You should know that it was hard in '76, it was hard in '73 and so on. No good thing comes easy. From a tennis tournament to an international festival. Everything requires effort, but what is important is the intensity with which you believe in the beneficial contribution and in the extraordinary importance of the Enescu Festival for Romania, for Romanians, for foreigners, for everyone. The Enescu Festival changes Romania also because it is a powerful dissolver of the actual borders and the internal borders that people have. AGERPRES: You are, it is obvious, an ambassador of Romania. Romania, the Romanians constantly come up in your words. Is it hard to be Romanian? Ion Marin: At times, yes. But no, not inside. It's hard, because you have to convince yourself, sometimes you are seen as coming from a shady area of Europe and it happens to be forced to be much better than good, in order to be accepted. Yes, it is both beautiful and hard. I remember, when I first came to Romania after I left, I think in 2007, there was a question. It wasn't about if I was proud, if I loved... It is obvious. I was born here, I was raised here and I left not only because of how bad things were, but because my aspiration, having grown in the spirit of the Italian Renaissance and in the spirit of Enescu, was that of the internationality of music. It seemed to me that if I could do something to take my roots and carry them around the world... You know, people have their roots in their heart. Trees and green beans have their roots in the ground. We don't have to be afraid and be nailed to one place just because we were born in one place. The world is ours. AGERPRES: About the roots. What did maestro Marin Constantin, your father, give you? Ion Marin: He gave me something that I started to realise when I became a father myself. It is not impossible for a son to realise what he receives, besides life, from a parent. But, often feeling his absence, due to tours, probably led to a happy thing, in which I was thinking a lot more about him and he was probably thinking about me a lot more. And when I became a father, I realised that what you can give a child to become a HUMAN being, in capital letters, is to see him/her as a HUMAN being, not to see him/her as your property, do not see him/her as a subordinate just because he/she is younger. Of course you will give him/her everything you can, from all points of view, but from the first moment you should see a human being in him/her. The respect my father showed me, since I was very young and when I started to study music, is something that gave me wings and gave me the first example that, when you make music, the essence is made of - it's hard to tell you the percentages - but out of humility, modesty would be best said in Romanian. Out of modesty and out of love for others. AGERPRES: In the beginning of the year, you were decorated by President Klaus Iohannis with the National Order "For Merit" in rank of Commander, "as a sign of high appreciation for the important contribution you made to the start and development of the first national programme of social integration through choral song of Romania, as well as for promoting the Romanian musical art abroad." What did this distinction mean? Ion Marin: I will tell you that I was particularly honoured by this decoration. I am Commander of the National Order "For Merit" and I received this decoration for each of the almost 50,000 children in Cantus Mundi, because it embodies the passion and the effort to create Cantus Mundi in Romania and to reorient a bit of the political reflectors towards the future of our children. This honour that I could share with every child in Cantus Mundi is a special moment. It wasn't so much an honour of mine. I received it as a reverence of a very high level towards a phenomenon which Romania needs and which, you see, no one in Romania - I hope this from all my heart - can say they haven't heard about. AGERPRES: Do you believe in changing Romania through music? Ion Marin: I believe in changing Romania in the first place. And I think music is a catalyst. I very much believe in changing Romania through culture. Both in the interior and toward the exterior. Adjustment, which is a synonym of change, is essential. (...) It would be very beneficial if in these soirees of the Enescu Festival, but not only, in the children events, in the concert hall, politicians were present. Because they would learn there is an alternative. People die the moment they give up learning something, the moment they believe they are the holders of the truth. At that moment, the existence of a man is through. However, learning that there are different options and that the soul is deeper and the inter-human relationship is deeper than the diatribes, polemics and dissensions, that there is something beyond us in which we are the same, this is what I think, that music and culture in general can greatly help the change that Romania needs. AGERPRES: What other projects does the artist Ion Marin have? What about the man Ion Marin? Ion Marin: The projects are conducted in a diachronic sense, because this is how the world is made. Contracts have to be negotiated and there are things I have to establish even today. I set aside a few hours for Skype discussions for the rehearsal order of some pieces, for things that will happen in two and a half years. As a man, my project is to learn and grow as much as possible, to be able to stay with the consciousness in the present moment, to be able to enjoy the richness of each moment, how important every second is. Do you know why? Because no matter how many balances we'd make ... If I had started making balances, I would have had to stop after the first years of Vienna. There are terms that I really dislike - "the first who did," "the last who did." It is sad to use arithmetic in real life. You cannot think about the future without growing. And that second of present, however absurd it may seem, the second is our only contact point with reality. The past is related to memory. Of course, memory is a very powerful tool, which can make you relive emotions you had as a child. Modern psychology is based on memory. And the future must be built. You cannot wait for it, you cannot sit with your hands crossed and wait for the future to be as you wish. The only contact point that the human being has with reality is the present moment. And, the more you improve it or try to discover its depth, the more it will help your future to look different. Because you contributed by raising the awareness of the moment. AGERPRES (RO - author: Daniel Popescu, editor: George Onea; EN - editor: Adina Panaitescu)