One day, Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez was walking along the streets of downtown Los Angeles when he heard beautiful music. And the source was a man, an African-American man, charming, rugged, homeless, playing a violin that only had two strings.
Jednog dana je kolumnist Los Angeles Timesa, Steve Lopez, hodao ulicama centra Los Angelesa, kada je čuo prekrasnu glazbu. Dolazila je od čovjeka, Afroamerikanca, šarmantnog, surovog beskućnika koji je svirao violinu sa samo dvije žice.
And I'm telling a story that many of you know, because Steve's columns became the basis for a book, which was turned into a movie, with Robert Downey Jr. acting as Steve Lopez, and Jamie Foxx as Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, the Juilliard-trained double bassist whose promising career was cut short by a tragic affliction with paranoid schizophrenia. Nathaniel dropped out of Juilliard, he suffered a complete breakdown, and 30 years later he was living homeless on the streets of Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles. I encourage all of you to read Steve's book or to watch the movie to understand not only the beautiful bond that formed between these two men, but how music helped shape that bond, and ultimately was instrumental -- if you'll pardon the pun -- in helping Nathaniel get off the streets.
I pričam vam priču koju mnogi od vas znaju jer je Steveova kolumna postala osnova za knjigu, koja je pretvorena u film, u kojem Robert Downey Jr. glumi Steve Lopeza, a Jamie Foxx Nathaniel Anthony Ayersa, kontrabasista s glazbene akademije Julliard čija je obećavajuća karijera prekinuta tragičnom pojavom paranoične šizofrenije. Nathaniel se ispisao s Julliarda, pretrpio potpuni slom i 30 godina kasnije živio kao beskućnik na ulicama Skid Rowa u centru Los Angelesa. Sve vas potičem na čitanje Steveove knjige ili gledanje filma kako biste razumijeli ne samo divnu vezu koja se stvorila između ova dva muškarca, već kako je glazba omogućila oblikovanje te veze, koja je na kraju bila instrument(alna), ako ćete dozvoliti igru riječi, pomoći Nathanielu kako bi se maknuo s ulice.
I met Mr. Ayers in 2008, two years ago, at Walt Disney Concert Hall. He had just heard a performance of Beethoven's First and Fourth symphonies, and came backstage and introduced himself. He was speaking in a very jovial and gregarious way about Yo-Yo Ma and Hillary Clinton and how the Dodgers were never going to make the World Series, all because of the treacherous first violin passage work in the last movement of Beethoven's Fourth Symphony. And we got talking about music, and I got an email from Steve a few days later saying that Nathaniel was interested in a violin lesson with me.
Sreo sam gosp. Ayersa 2008., prije dvije godine, u koncertnoj dvorani Walt Disney. Upravo je čuo izvedbu Beethovenove prve i četvrte simfonije, te se došao predstaviti iza pozornice. Govorio je na jako veseo i druželjubiv način o Yo-Yo Ma i Hillary Clinton, i kako Dodgersi nikada neće osvojiti svjetsko prvenstvo, a sve zbog nesigurnog prvog pasaža violine u zadnjem stavku Beethovenove četvrte simfonije. I tako smo pričali o glazbi, da bih nekoliko dana kasnije dobio e-mail od Stevea u kojem kaže kako je Nathaniel zainteresiran da ga podučavam violinu.
Now, I should mention that Nathaniel refuses treatment because when he was treated it was with shock therapy and Thorazine and handcuffs, and that scar has stayed with him for his entire life. But as a result now, he is prone to these schizophrenic episodes, the worst of which can manifest themselves as him exploding and then disappearing for days, wandering the streets of Skid Row, exposed to its horrors, with the torment of his own mind unleashed upon him.
Trebao bih spomenuti kako Nathaniel odbija liječenje jer su ga ranije liječili šok terapijom, Torazinom i lisicama, i taj mu je ožiljak ostao za cijeli život. Sada, kao posljedica toga, sklon je tim šizofrenim epizodama od kojih se najgore mogu manifestirati tako da eksplodira, a potom nestane na nekoliko dana, lutajući ulicama Skid Rowa, izložen njihovim užasima, dok ga vlastiti unutrašnji demoni progone.
And Nathaniel was in such a state of agitation when we started our first lesson at Walt Disney Concert Hall -- he had a kind of manic glint in his eyes, he was lost. And he was talking about invisible demons and smoke, and how someone was poisoning him in his sleep.
Nathaniel je bio toliko uzbuđen kada smo započeli s prvom lekcijom u koncertnoj dvorani Walt Disney da je imao neku vrstu maničnog sjaja u očima, bio je izgubljen. I govorio je o nevidljivim demonima i dimu, te da ga netko truje dok spava.
And I was afraid, not for myself, but I was afraid that I was going to lose him, that he was going to sink into one of his states, and that I would ruin his relationship with the violin if I started talking about scales and arpeggios and other exciting forms of didactic violin pedagogy. (Laughter) So, I just started playing. And I played the first movement of the Beethoven Violin Concerto.
I bio sam uplašen, ne za sebe, već sam bio uplašen da ću ga izgubiti, da će potonuti u jedno od svojih stanja, te da ću ja upropastiti njegovu vezu s violinom ako krenem govoriti o ljestvicama, arpeggima i drugim zanimljivim oblicima didaktičke pedagogije violine. (Smijeh) Stoga sam jednostavno počeo svirati. Svirao sam prvi stavak Beethovenovog koncerta za violinu.
And as I played, I understood that there was a profound change occurring in Nathaniel's eyes. It was as if he was in the grip of some invisible pharmaceutical, a chemical reaction, for which my playing the music was its catalyst. And Nathaniel's manic rage was transformed into understanding, a quiet curiosity and grace. And in a miracle, he lifted his own violin and he started playing, by ear, certain snippets of violin concertos which he then asked me to complete -- Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius. And we started talking about music, from Bach to Beethoven and Brahms, Bruckner, all the B's, from Bartók, all the way up to Esa-Pekka Salonen.
I dok sam svirao, shvatio sam da se dogodila duboka promjena vidljiva u Nathanielovim očima. Djelovao je kao da se nalazi u zagrljaju nekog nevidljivog lijeka, kemijske reakcije, kojoj je moje sviranje violine bio katalizator. I Nathanielov bijes se pretvorio u razumijevanje, tihu znatiželju i milost. I kao u čudu, podigao je svoju violinu, i započeo svirati, po sluhu, određene isječke koncerata za violinu, a potom me zamolio da ih dovršim - Mendelssohn, Čajkovski, Sibelius. Počeli smo pričati o glazbi, od Bacha do Beethovena i Brahmsa, Brucknera, svim B-ovima, od Bartóka, sve do Esa-Pekka Salonena.
And I understood that he not only had an encyclopedic knowledge of music, but he related to this music at a personal level. He spoke about it with the kind of passion and understanding that I share with my colleagues in the Los Angeles Philharmonic. And through playing music and talking about music, this man had transformed from the paranoid, disturbed man that had just come from walking the streets of downtown Los Angeles to the charming, erudite, brilliant, Juilliard-trained musician.
I shvatio sam da on ima ne samo enciklopedijsko znanje o glazbi, već da je s njom povezan na osobnom nivou. Govorio je o njoj s jednom vrstom strasti i razumijevanja koju ja dijelim sa svojim kolegama u LA filharmoniji. Kroz sviranje i razgovor o glazbi taj se muškarac transformirao iz paranoičnog, poremećenog čovjeka koji je dolutao s ulica centra Los Angelesa, u šarmantnog, obrazovanog, briljantnog glazbenika s Julliarda.
Music is medicine. Music changes us. And for Nathaniel, music is sanity. Because music allows him to take his thoughts and delusions and shape them through his imagination and his creativity, into reality. And that is an escape from his tormented state. And I understood that this was the very essence of art. This was the very reason why we made music, that we take something that exists within all of us at our very fundamental core, our emotions, and through our artistic lens, through our creativity, we're able to shape those emotions into reality. And the reality of that expression reaches all of us and moves us, inspires and unites us.
Glazba je lijek. Glazba nas mijenja. A za Nathaniela, glazba je zdravlje. Glazba mu omogućava uzeti vlastite misli i obmane te ih, pomoću vlastite mašte i kreativnosti pretvoriti u stvarnost. A to je bijeg iz njegovog mučnog stanja. I shvatio sam da je to srž umjetnosti. To je razlog zašto smo stvorili glazbu, uzimamo nešto što postoji u svima nama, u našoj temeljnoj srži, našim emocijama, i kroz naše umjetničke leče, kroz našu kreativnost, sposobni smo pretvoriti te emocije u stvarnost. I stvarnost tog izričaja dopire do svih nas i potiče nas, inspirira i ujedinjuje.
And for Nathaniel, music brought him back into a fold of friends. The redemptive power of music brought him back into a family of musicians that understood him, that recognized his talents and respected him. And I will always make music with Nathaniel, whether we're at Walt Disney Concert Hall or on Skid Row, because he reminds me why I became a musician. Thank you. (Applause)
A Nathaniela je glazba vratila natrag među prijatelje. Iskupljujuća moć glazbe vratila ga je u obitelj glazbenika koji su ga razumjeli, koji su prepoznali njegov talent i poštovali ga. I uvijek ću stvarati glazbu s Nathanielom, bilo da smo u koncertnoj dvorani Walt Disneya, ili u Skid Rowu, jer on me podsjeća zašto sam postao glazbenik. Hvala vam. (Pljesak)
Bruno Giussani: Thank you. Thanks. Robert Gupta. (Applause)
Bruno Giussani: Hvala vam. Hvala. Robert Gupta (Pljesak)
Robert Gupta: I'm going to play something that I shamelessly stole from cellists. So, please forgive me.
Robert Gupta: želio bih odsvirati nešto što sam besramno ukrao od čelista. Molim vas, oprostite mi.
(Laughter) (Music) (Applause)
(Smijeh) (Glazba) (Pljesak)