Sweden: Swedish Artist Praises Gala Spectacular

On September 26th, 2008, the renowned Swedish artist Sam Paris led his chorus to perform in the Allhelgona Kyskan Cathedral in Stockholm for the benefit of The Divine Performing Arts Group.

Sam Paris was born in Brazil and grew up in the US. His childhood was greatly influenced by the church because his mother is a devoted Christian. Later he formed his own views and understandings about God, religion and life. During his performance career in the past twenty years, he performed with many renowned singing and dancing groups in New York, Paris and other places.

After seeing the performance by the American Performing Arts Group in Sweden last April, he was deeply moved. He said: “The Gala seemingly brought me on a tour of the heavenly world. I felt like I had drank a cup of pure water in the desert. Listening to the Chinese music, watching the classic Chinese dancing and being greatly excited by the majestic drumming of the Tang Dynasty, it is like an experience in another dimension. I will never forget this.”

At the time, he was so pleased, “I felt as if I was swimming in the sea of the universe, diving deep into the universe. I know I can dive as deep as I wish, and then swim back. But I don’t want to come back from the sea of the universe. I want to stay there, like a dolphin swimming freely; because that was the place I used to stay. At the end of my life, I can say with great satisfaction, 'Oh, I have seen it!'”

Sam Paris received by chance a leaflet introducing The Gala on the street. As a result, he formed a predestined relationship. He said this is a divine relationship. Although he has never been to China, has no Chinese friends and doesn’t know Chinese, he has a deep admiration for the ancient traditional Chinese culture. The Chinese songs seem to have a mysterious power to awake his memories. When he watches martial art movies and listens to the movie’s theme song, although he doesn’t understand the meaning of the song, the melody of the song and the Chinese temperament would awake some kind of seed in his deep memory. He couldn’t explain the reason behind this soul-shocking experience. Therefore he said to himself that he was maybe a Chinese before.

The benefit performance was very successful that day. Sam Paris wants to donate all the income from the benefit performance to the Performing Arts Group, to express his support and gratitude. Sam Paris, his orchestra, his choir and all the audiences expressed their great interest in the Gala performance next year. People look forward to seeing the Performing Arts Group next spring in Sweden. Sam hopes that people at every corner of the world would have opportunity to appreciate the true traditional Chinese culture expressed. He said, “This is the most precious gift to the world.”