In performance, we have a greater purpose. The greater purpose is that we're communing together, and we want this moment to be really special for all of us. Because otherwise, why bother to have come at all? It's not about proving anything. It's about sharing something.

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I play an instrument that has four strings, and I'm still trying to get it right. What I've tried to do in the process of playing these four strings is to try and understand the people I meet, the stories they have to tell. And then become an advocate for them and their stories through music.

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When we have a good balance between thinking and feeling... our actions and lives are always the richer for it.

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But an innovation, to grow organically from within, has to be based on an intact tradition, so our idea is to bring together musicians who represent all these traditions, in workshops, festivals, and concerts, to see how we can connect with each other in music.

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Culture opens our hearts to one another. And the currency in culture is not money, but trust.

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Music is one of the ways we can achieve a kind of shorthand to understand each other.

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A Senegalese poet said 'In the end we will conserve only what we love. We love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught.' We must learn about other cultures in order to understand, in order to love, and in order to preserve our common world heritage.

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Good things happen when you meet strangers.

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Passion is one great force that unleashes creativity, because if you're passionate about something, then you're more willing to take risks.

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Each day I move toward that which I do not understand. The result is a continuous accidental learning which constantly shapes my life.

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