The beginning of this entry is going to be depressing, but I promise there will be a happy ending.

The quote at the beginning of the entry comes from none other than Pepi Leistyna, my wonderful professor from UMass Boston who passed away almost exactly one year ago to the day of today.  Not a day has gone by since he passed away that I haven’t thought of him.

In a class I took with him two years ago, he said that culture goes beyond fun, flan and festivals and it is true, but I also always like to note that all cultures go through the same things.  We all laugh, we all cry and we all deal with broken hearts and sadness.  Pepi always said we all deal with it in different ways and that is true.

This sounds trite and cheesy, but music unites us all, in our happiness and our heartache.  Tonight I attended an amazing event at the Berklee College of Music that really brought that home to me.  The College annual hosts an occasion where they have a folk music festival.  Someone next to me said “what are they singing about?”  I said “heartache, sadness, etc” and in fact they were singing about those particular subjects.

It was a beautiful night.  Outstanding.  The performers were some of the best I have ever seen and the music was from the heart.  It was wonderful: