Piano Concert for Bears
Former Yes Keyboardist Rick Wakeman Performs Piano Concert for Rescued Bears in Vietnam
Anonymous
Former Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman performed a piano concert at Animals Asia’s bear sanctuary in Tam Dao National Park, Vietnam, playing music he composed for rescued bears. The performance aimed to draw attention to 125 bears still held in bile farms or other captivity in the country, despite Vietnam’s ban on bear bile extraction. More than 10 bears approached during the concert, which Wakeman described as a long-held dream and an unusual opportunity to play for an audience of bears.
Key Points
1
Wakeman performed three pieces—“Gone But Not Forgotten,” “After the Ball” and “Morning Has Broken”—over 30 minutes, with the sounds of the forest and bears’ daily activity around him.
2
Wakeman has sponsored rescued bears since 2016 and is a patron of Moon, an Asiatic black bear rescued from a bile farm; he has also composed bear-inspired pieces that appeared on his album Piano Odyssey, which reached No. 7 on the UK Albums Chart.
3
Ahead of the concert, Wakeman said Animals Asia had played his piano music for the bears and described gentle, melodic music as calming for animals, while acknowledging he could not know how the bears would respond.
4
The articles explain that bile is extracted by inserting a needle into a bear’s gall bladder and drawing the bile out; the practice is associated with traditional Chinese medicine, and bears can remain in cramped enclosures even after Vietnam’s ban.
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