The Vital Role of the Artist Immigrant in Achieving World Peace

October 4, 2022

Guest blogger: Kirkman Ridd, law student, University of San Francisco

Imagine a world where artistic ideas are confined within the country of origin. A world where the Samba is only heard in Brazil, the Tango only danced in Argentina, Fellini’s films only seen in Italy.

Imagine a world where musical instruments invented by creative minds never make it outside their country of creation. The piano has remained in Italy, the saxophone was patented and has remained in Belgium, the conga has never materialized beyond the island of Cuba.

This would be a world speckled with isolated flecks of art, uninspired by outside influence, untouched by outside thought, a world where even new musical sounds moving freely through the air never reach foreign ears, a world revolving in divisiveness.

Perhaps, in the internet age, these isolated flecks of art could be experienced remotely. But there’s no substitute for the impact of sitting twenty feet away from Poncho Sanchez in Torrance, California and hearing him play the tumba, feeling the sound resonate in your body, watching him pour his passion into the drum and feeling the spirit of his band soar through the room, through your body, and out into the universe. How did Poncho come to be in that American room with you when his parents were born in Mexico? How did his tumba come to be there when it was invented on the island of Cuba? How did this magic you feel come to you? It was brought to you by human migration, by the adventurous and undaunted spirit of immigrants, embodied in a musician pouring forth a singularly unique expression of sound and vision.

Poncho Sanchez was born in Laredo, Texas to Mexican immigrants. His father was from the central region of Matalsas, Jalisco, and his mother was from the northern region of Vallecillo, Nuevo Leon. His parents sang in the church choir in Laredo, and Poncho began his musical life as a singer too, but when he played the conga drum, an invention that made its way to Texas from Cuba, he found something that resonated in his body and his soul, and that resonation is the magic he brings wherever he performs. So when you feel that magic twenty feet away Torrance, you are infused with a migration of sound from Cuba, a migration of humans from Mexico, a migration of creativity from the soul.

Without this migration, our understanding of the world is limited. We imagine a distant shore teaming with humans we’ve never seen, strange sounds we’ve never heard, sights and smells we’ve never experienced, ideas we’ve never entertained, cultures we’re completely ignorant of and thus, unfortunately, often fearful of.

People fear what they do not understand. That spider on the wall just above your bed. What is it thinking? What will it do next? What if it crawls over you in the middle of the night? If you’re looking at it, is it looking at you? Does it have a plan to hurt you? Your heart races, your breath quickens. Those unknowns are fearful. Expel that spider now, get it out of your world. Catch it and throw it outside, or, if your fear prohibits the risk of missing the catch and having it jump on you, kill it. Then, with the spider gone, your heartbeat returns to normal, your breath relaxes, your world is known, comfortable, peaceful. Analogously, what if one of those humans from that distant shore arrived in your world, with a strange appearance and manner you don’t understand, a strange language you don’t understand, and that human is looking at you? What is that person thinking? Do they have a plan to hurt you? What if they invade your home and attack you in the middle of the night? Your heartbeat quickens. You’re on alert. You don’t understand this person enough to feel safe around them. So, you fear them.

Conflict is often the result of fear—fear of harm, fear of loss. But if we understand people, we have much less reason to fear them. If we understand that their style of dress goes back generations and is rooted in cultural honor, that the language they speak is rich and nuanced and has much to teach us, that the food they eat is a revelation of flavors, the music they make a vehicle of joy, then our understanding embraces a new culture filled with discoveries to enhance our lives. This foreign person won’t harm you, instead, this person will enrich you. And now that you understand them, you have no need to fear them.

Music transcends language, transcends cultural differences, transcends the physical. Music is a unifier, for when music leaves its source and expands into the world, all that it vibrates is influenced by it, enveloped by it, elevated by it. Music is the expression of love: the love of the musician for their instrument, the love of the instrument maker for sound, the love of sound for the listener, the love of the listener for the musician. Music is the essence of community, the essence of kinship, the essence of understanding. Its energy is cyclical and self-elevating. Music is a vehicle for well-being, and well-being is a vehicle for peace.

And music is just one of the arts. Visit a museum and experience silk paintings from China or photography from the Netherlands, see a stage play and experience a story from India, eat out and experience food from Bulgaria followed by a movie from Spain. These are the luxuries we have available to us from birth in America, because we are a country of immigrants. Television, a truly international invention, has always afforded cultural exchange that we often take for granted. Can you imagine “I Love Lucy” without Desi Arnaz in the show? Can you imagine Desi without his conga drum? We all laugh at Lucy’s misguided ideas, Desi’s rapid-fire rants, the clash of cultural ideas, the love of cultural differences. The immigrant artist brings us all of this and more, every day, as we understand more, feel more, and are increasingly inspired by artists who bring their passions from distant lands to our shores, share with us their hearts, and bring to us their gifts.

Migration is a basic human urge. Humans yearn to experience new things, go new places, see new sights and hear new sounds. Humans are born curious, and that curiosity remains. And so, thankfully, we do not live in a world where art is confined within the country of its creation. We live in a world where immigration of humans and art enriches our lives, increases our understanding, and shows us the way to a peaceful coexistence.

People embrace what touches their hearts. People value what inspires them. I experienced Poncho Sanchez in person just once, in Torrance, California, but his music and his passion touched my heart, and the transcendent peace I felt that evening remains in me forever.