Baha'i News: Composer dedicated life to building a better world

[Baha’i World News Service - Subscribe <bwns-subscribe@bwc.org>]

Baha'i World News Service
http://news.bahai.org
For more information, contact news@bahai.org


Composer dedicated life to building a better world
http://news.bahai.org/story/869


KERIKERI, New Zealand, 28 November 2011 (BWNS) – Russell Garcia, who has died 
at the age of 95, was an influential composer, arranger, and conductor, who 
dedicated his talents to promoting the teachings of the Baha'i Faith around the 
world.

In a career spanning eight decades, Mr. Garcia recorded more than 60 albums 
under his own name, and worked with stars such as Louis Armstrong, Charles 
Chaplin, Ella Fitzgerald and Judy Garland. 

Born in Oakland, California, on 12 April 1916, Mr. Garcia began writing and 
arranging music while still a boy. He composed for radio programs, for 
television shows including "Rawhide," and films such as "The Time Machine" 
(1960). 

A teaching post at the Westlake School of Music in Los Angeles also resulted in 
Mr. Garcia writing "The Professional Arranger Composer." The book and its 
sequel "continue to be basic handbooks for anyone who wants to understand the 
process of arranging and composing," the music critic Don Heckman told The Los 
Angeles Times.

During the Second World War, Mr. Garcia fought in the "Battle of the Bulge" in 
Belgium. 

"This is absolute insanity, people shooting at strangers," the composer said, 
vowing that – if he came out of it alive – he would dedicate himself to world 
peace. 

Mr. Garcia and his wife, Gina, joined the Baha'i Faith in 1955 and, from then 
on, devoted their lives to promoting its principles. In 1966, when he was at 
the peak of his musical career, they sold their home and possessions, bought a 
boat, and set sail, carrying the Baha'i teachings to the islands of the Pacific 
Ocean. 

"Not many people have the chance to follow their hearts with no financial 
worries," Mr. Garcia later said. 

The couple spent six years on their trimaran, "The Dawn-Breaker," anchoring in 
– among other places – Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica and Tahiti. During their travels, 
they fell in love with New Zealand and settled there permanently. 

Mr. Garcia continued to compose, arrange and conduct until the end of his long 
life. In 2005, the Los Angeles Jazz Institute honored him for his contribution 
to jazz. In 2009, he and his wife were awarded the Queen's Service Medal by 
Queen Elizabeth II. Together, they regularly volunteered their services to 
teach primary school children in New Zealand about spiritual qualities through 
the use of songs, stories and creative exercises.

On learning of his passing on 20 November, the Universal House of Justice 
recalled how Mr. Garcia also "devoted himself to the creation of a range of 
musical compositions as a means of spreading the light of Baha'u'llah." 

His "prodigious efforts in the application of artistic endeavour to the 
promotion of the [Baha'i Faith] will long be remembered," wrote the Universal 
House of Justice.

In an interview, Mr. Garcia once said. "We see mankind as one. So any goal that 
is not to help everybody is not a good goal."

"We've dedicated our lives to trying to build a better world," he said. 











To read the article online and view photographs, go to:
http://news.bahai.org/story/869

________________________________________________

Copyright 2011 by the Baha'i World News Service. Stories and photographs 
produced by the Baha'i World News Service may be freely reprinted, re-emailed, 
re-posted to the World Wide Web and otherwise reproduced by any individual or 
organization as long as they are attributed to the Baha'i World News Service. 
For more information, go to http://news.bahai.org/terms-of-use/