Meet Ewart, violinist behind soundtracks of iconic films including ‘Titanic’

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Transcript

00:00 [Music]

00:20 Every night in my dreams I see you, I feel you, that is how I know you go on.

00:39 [Music]

00:43 My name is David Ewert. I am joyful to be with you here in your country in Gisenye.

00:49 I am from Los Angeles, California. My first time in Rwanda.

00:54 [Music]

01:06 I grew up in the United States and I always was very fond of music.

01:13 I play the violin, my father plays the violin, his father plays the violin.

01:18 So I brought my violin, maybe later I play for you.

01:21 Well, the violin is an instrument that many people believe sounds like our voice.

01:29 And where my father was from in England, in the country of Scotland, he was a violinist,

01:36 his father was a violinist, there were many musicians that in our family played the violin,

01:43 including all of my children. So it's just a special instrument for my family.

01:48 A piece of music that I've loved all my life is a song and it's a folk song.

01:54 It's a song from the country my father came from.

01:57 And the name of the song is "Oh Danny Boy" and it's a beautiful song about losing someone to heaven,

02:05 but always remembering and the longing of that loss.

02:14 The opportunity to play music in Hollywood is a rare and wonderful experience.

02:22 It was a big blessing to me because I thought always I would play on an orchestra stage,

02:28 you know, with an audience and an orchestra. Never did I dream that I could play for movies like Titanic

02:35 or Finding Nemo or The Black Panther. And then I studied so hard that I was lucky to be given an opportunity

02:47 to join people in Hollywood, in Los Angeles, where the movie industry is, that's Mecca.

02:54 So in the years that I have worked in the violin in Hollywood, more than 30 years,

03:00 possibly almost as many as a thousand movies, one memory stands out.

03:06 I would like to share with you a movie that started called Jurassic Park,

03:11 and then there was another and another and another. But this movie was about long ago

03:17 and the creatures that went over all of Africa and other countries and the music is beautiful

03:26 and the connection to hundreds of thousands of years ago, even millions of years ago,

03:32 was so exciting because of the great music from John Williams, one of the possibly the most famous composer

03:40 of music for film. He did the Home Alone, he did the Indiana Jones, he did the Star Wars,

03:49 he did the Harry Potter and he did the Jurassic Park. And I work on all of these films. Very exciting.

03:56 So the question was asked to me about the movie Black Panther, which I think is one great movie.

04:02 And the company that does these movies also, you may know this, they did Spider-Man,

04:07 they did Batman, they did the Avengers, they did, you know, all these superheroes.

04:13 And we were all waiting and waiting and waiting for a black hero. And we got the Black Panther.

04:20 Sadly, the actor, the great actor is no longer with us. I hope many more movies like this to come.

04:28 And I have loved this movie and I want to see it again and again. I keep watching.

04:34 It's a beautiful movie. Rwanda reminds me of this movie, but maybe in the future.

04:39 Well, in particular, a movie like Black Panther touches my heart because forever in my country,

04:50 we have a crisis and you too have had a crisis in your country and other countries have crises.

04:56 But our crises was to do with slavery, a terrible, terrible thing.

05:01 And when I worked on this movie, I was both very proud, but quite sad to face this reality.

05:11 But we must do better. Music has taught me in my life.

05:18 You play for the pleasure of the other person. And sometimes when you practice, you play for yourself.

05:25 But my teachers always shared to me this important thing in life.

05:31 You make something beautiful to give to another person. And this is my joy in life.

05:36 I have the violin and I try to play nice and sweet for you.

05:42 So in 2005, for me, was in my house of fire at Christmas and the house was no more.

05:51 And I went to the hospital and I burned my hands badly. And also my son and my father, they were badly burned.

05:58 It took a long time to play the violin again, about six months before I could even play one note, two notes.

06:07 This taught me appreciation. My friends, I have a long life.

06:14 I'm 66. I don't know everything, but I know some things.

06:21 Life teaches you that you fall, but you get up. You fall and you get up.

06:28 And I am so proud of what I have seen and learned of your country and its people.

06:35 You fall and you get up beautifully and you smile. And this is important because future is bright.

06:46 Future is many things are possible. And we look behind so we may not fall again.

06:54 But that's just where we start. And then we go and do great things and you will do great things.

07:00 I want to play a song for you. After my big fire, my big fall in my life, my mother was so sad.

07:11 She had no joy. And this is my mother, who I love.

07:15 Until she heard this music and we were in the hospital for many months and recovering.

07:23 And it was a long, serious, almost to death for my whole family.

07:31 Now I know you've experienced this all across your nation.

07:35 Many, many, many families and my heart is broken, but it is also joyful.

07:39 And my mother had no happiness until she heard this song. So may I play it for you?

07:44 Okay. This is when her joy came back.

07:47 [Music]

07:50 [Music]

07:54 [Music]

07:57 [Music]

08:11 [Music]

08:14 I'll see you on my next trip to Rwanda. Sawa!

08:27 [MUSIC PLAYING]

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