Blog Post August 21, 2021
What: Market Youth Musicians performance
Where: Saratoga Farmer’s Market, 14000 Fruitvale Ave, Saratoga, CA 95070
When: Saturday, August 21, 2021, 9am-1pm
Who: Anirudh Margasahayam (guitar), Anthony Wang (violin/piano), Irene Wang (flute/piano), Judy Liu (harp), Michelle Liu (violin);
Why: fundraising for United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF): Afghanistan Initiative
How much raised: $517.06
In the early, cold, smoky Saturday morning, 5 members of the MYM team arrived in a battle zone. We feared for our lives as we played our instruments, or shall I say, feared for our instrument’s lives as I almost lost the keyboard and the harp as the tent practically flew over our heads.
Group picture
The monstrous wind. It was us and the music against that monstrous wind. The wind whipped our ears so we could barely hear ourselves playing. It was even worse because the wind pulled the sound we made away from us and our instruments, replacing them with dirt and dust. As a contact lens wearer, it was quite the challenge to keep playing while blinking furiously.
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But we felt community. People around us helped us. A lady in a pink shirt from a nearby stall helped us secure our tent with the sandbags. The market manager came over carrying two more sandbags for us. The man at the shaved ice station helped us secure our whiteboard to the tent pole with a huge metal clip. (He told us to return it back to him after, but I’m not sure we did… )
Today’s experience was different and difficult, but we learned many things as well. Despite a monstrous wind, we could play on. Despite our difficulties, kind people around us stopped to help us out. And finally, we need to fix that bass speaker on the keyboard - why does it keep dying!!!
Anthony on the piano Judy on the harp Irene on the flute
But finally, if we are given the chance, and we see some of our stall neighbors in need of help, let us stop and help them too. This is the power of community.
