Celebrating Peace With Song

Families from across the island, including the Ohana Music Together studios in Kapolei and Aiea, are invited to gather at 5:30 p.m. Friday at Kaimuki Community Park to observe United Nations’ International Day of Peace in song.

Celebrating a simple wish for peace will be an estimated 100 families linked to one of OMT’s five music studios on Oahu. A centerpiece will be May All Children, a song performed by millions of voices throughout the world in Music Together classes. Music Together LLC founder/director Kenneth Guilmartin composed it in honor of UNICEF’s 40th anniversary in the 1980s.

“Our Peace Day event will be a heartwarming and joyous celebration,” said Becky Andrew, owner/director of Ohana Music Together (a licensee of Music Together since 2003). “We hope many families join us for what promises to be a fun family afternoon.” The group will continue singing as it walks from the park to the Kaimuki OMT studio. The public is welcome.

The Aiea studio is located at 98-029 Hekaha St. (in Sounds of Success Pre-school), 372-8767; the Kapolei studio is at American Renaissance Academy, 91-1001 Lexington Ave., 732-7464. The studios offer daytime classes for children and their parents. Other venues are Kaimuki, Kakaako and Kailua. For details, call 732-7464.

A UN resolution in 1981 created the day of peace, which is observed worldwide on Sept. 21. It is a day devoted to “strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples.”