The World Peace Violin Story

“The World Peace Violin serves as a powerful metaphor for both the beauty and diversity of our planet and for the successful integration of its religions, cultures, and people. It is bringing peace to the world.”

—Reverend Patrick McCollum, Children of the Earth Director

The violin has been traveling around the world and will continue traveling in 2015.  This year among others it is scheduled to play in Portugal at the opening of World Yoga Day, in Jordan and Israel for the World Peace Caravan, at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Salt Lake City, in Turkey for the Middle East and North African Peace Training, and for the World Summit of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates in Atlanta.

This is the story of the World Peace Violin

Constructed of diverse woods and materials collected from the sites of world conflicts and resolutions, and impregnated with materials and fragments collected from sacred sites and events connected to the peace process from around the world, the World Peace Violin was fully born on the Winter Solstice of 2012.

The World Peace Violin serves as a powerful metaphor for both the beauty and diversity of our planet and for the successful integration of its religions, cultures, and peoples.

The World Peace Violin contains woods from a resolved conflict in Africa, and from a tree said to carry the voice of peace gifted by Native Americans. It has inlays carved from a tree growing from a sacred well in Ireland during the signing of the Irish peace treaty, and much more.

The varnish is comprised from the ashes of the white buffalo gifted by a Anaswabi Chief during the Buddhist celebration of Weisak in Bangkok Thailand, and from sand collected from the baptism site of Jesus during Arab-Israeli peace talks in Jordan.

Mr. & Mrs Saionji of the Goi Peace Foundation bless the violin

There are fragments of shell casings from the battle of Iwo Jima and debris resulting from the bomb dropped at Hiroshima and much more. The violin is an instrument of peace connected to all the peoples of the world from the top of the Himalayas to the shores of the Pacific Ocean.

Violin makers said the diverse, mismatched, and conflicting materials would never create a successful violin or create a thing of beauty or produce beautiful music, reflecting the views espoused by many about the peace process itself. But they were wrong!

Rev. Patrick  McCollum, the maker of the violin believed differently. Rev. McCollum, a World Peace Visionary and Peace Counselor, believes that it is the very diversity of our planet and its people and our navigation through the conflicts and resolutions that we have experienced together, that holds the key to our future. He believes that it is only through the acceptance of diversity and the coming together of the many different visions of the sacred, that real peace is possible.

And so the World Peace Violin represents the coming together of all peoples and cultures and the many different belief systems they represent.  It stands as a powerful symbol that together, we the people of the planet have a voice, and that together with that voice, we can make beautiful music!

The World Peace Violin isn't perfect. It broke numerous times during its construction and had to be continuously patched up and reworked to refine its sound and appearance ...  much like the peace process itself.

And Rev. McCollum is not a violin maker. But like the peace process itself, it is only through faith and understanding and a vision of what you are trying to accomplish that success is possible.

The World Peace Violin is still evolving and you can play a part. New contributions and fine tuning are still in play. It has now been blessed by many of the worlds spiritual leaders and infused with the energy of many ordinary people.

So join us in sharing this communal treasure around the world. Touch it, play it, share with it your hopes and dreams for a brighter future. The World Peace Violin and what it stands for belongs to all of us.

It is our symbol, our hope and our destiny!

Follow her story here: http://worldpeaceviolin.org

Here is one of the articles that came out in India:
http://www.theindianjournal.com/haridwar-gets-to-see-world-peace-violin/

This is a video of the violin playing the solo written for it by famous composer, Yuval Ron:

This is Scarlet Rivera playing the violin at the World Summit for the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates: