刚刚过去的6个月真是太了不起了，很多很多音乐盛事发生！今天我参加了在浦东香格里拉酒店举行的一个音乐会，很特别！

相信你听到过很多爱尔兰音乐，即使你可能不知道他们来自爱尔兰，Amazing Grace, You Raised me Up, Danny Boy，都是大家耳熟能详的。昨天为我们表演的乐团叫做"Cross Border Orchestra Ireland"，那这个“cross border”说的是哪里呢，其实是爱尔兰南与北的跨界。这是怎么回事儿呢，如果你知道一些历史的话就会明白，南方与北方一直打仗打了很多年，很多人死伤，对于只有4百万人口的小国家来说，真是痛苦不堪。有位居住在南北交界线的母亲，她觉得都是自己人，这样打来打去有什么意义呢？！她组织了一个乐团，同时召集了来自南北方的年轻人，用音乐的形式感召大家，呼唤和平。现在这支乐队逐渐壮大，乐队成员里既有年长的，也有小朋友，他们也在全世界都演出呢，这次来到中国，不仅在世博会爱尔兰馆，还在香格里拉酒店。

指挥是Gearoid Grant，漂亮的提琴手Patricia Tracey，特棒，男声是Emmanuel Lawlore,还有一种乐器叫做Illin Pipes，我以前从来没见过，你们知道中文是什么吗？ 

总之呢，每次参加香格里拉的活动总是很开心，不仅是我，你看看过来的家庭，带着小孩子，又有很多好吃的食物！我的好朋友Reja Bakh也在，大家都是喜欢音乐的人，在一起就很开心，Mr. and Mrs Cetin是酒店的GM，还有我的新朋友Pearline，是他们的女儿啦~超级cute的一半土耳其一般新加坡人。

These last 6 months have been fantastic.  So many people came in and so many musical events took place.  Today, I attended a fabulous concert hosted by the Shangri-la hotel of Pudong.  a few times a year, they put together  wonderful and unique cultural events.  Usually in music.  Today was really special too!
It was a concert by the "corss Border Orchestra Ireland".  Cross Border where?  where north and South Ireland.  Why?  if you know the history, you will know why.  The North and the South were in violent war for years, killing lots of people. It is really sad for such a small country of just 4 million people.  One mother who lives in the border between North and South Ireland decided that it was crazy that they Irish would fight against each other like this, so this lady called Sharon Tracey-Dunn decided to start an orchestra for young people from both North and South.  They now have played all over the world. Here in china, this big orchestra  played in the Ireland Expo pavilion, the oriental art center and also today at the Shangri-la. The mix of ages of this orchestra is wonderful... from older to little kids.

i am sure you have heard quite a bit of Irish music before. Although you might not know they were Irish, but you will recognize the tune . Famous songs like Amazing Grace, You Raised me Up, Danny Boy are all world famous sung and played not only by Irish, but by everyone. It was a treat.

 Gearoid Grant was the conductor. Patricia Tracey is the beautiful Violinist.  She is so good.   the great tenor  was Emmanuel Lawlore, Illin Pipes was an instrument I have never seen before. It is played on the lapse of the performer.there was also the scottish pipers.  so fun. 

As usual, the Shangri-la brunch was attended by families, including a lot of kids.  And as usual, the food was wonderful!  Lots of friends were there including Reja Bakh, Partner of Gensler which is the architectural firm building the tallest building in Pudong, or in China.  Nice mix of all kinds of people who love music....

Mr.Reja Bakh 

This is my friends Mr. and Mrs Cetin Sekercioglu who is the GM of the Hotel who was my host and hostess today. 

Mr. and Mrs Cetin Sekercioglu

This is my latest new friend little Pearline, their daughter, who is cute and is half Turkish and half Singaporean.