Longtime BCSF Member Wrote Music to Skylar Lam’s ‘Storms and Peace,’ Which Debuted at BCA 125th Anniversary Service
The video of “Storms and Peace” is available on YouTube at:
For jazz saxophonist Francis Wong, it’s not just about the music. It’s always been music — in service to the community, to highlight injustices, and as an instrument of change.
When Wong, a groundbreaker in Asian American jazz, accepted the BCA Music Committee commission to turn a teenager’s lyrics into a gatha, it was the latest example of his view of the role music should play in life.
Wong teamed up with 15-year-old Skylar Lam of the Florin Buddhist Temple to develop the teenager’s winning entry in the BCA gatha lyric competition — sponsored by the Federation of Dharma School Teachers’ League — into a full-fledged song that premiered Sept. 1 during the BCA’s 125th anniversary service.
Wong, an active member of the Buddhist Church of San Francisco (BCSF) for decades, was pleased to support the next generation of Asian American musicians and create music for the Sangha.
“I’m honored to be part of that process,” said Wong, who composed the music for the song.
The finished “Storms and Peace,” was recorded in June and August in Sacramento and features Skylar on ukulele and percussion, Wong on soprano saxophone, Sacramento Betsuin Rimban Rev. Yuki Sugahara on electric bass, Rev. Noritaka Imada of the Florin and Lodi temples on guitar and vocals, and Lisa Orpilla, a member of the Buddhist-inspired trio The Cherry Blossomz, on vocals.
Skylar’s lyrics talk about reciting the Nembutsu in good times and bad times. The first verse says:
“In the swirling of the storm
Recite the Nembutsu
And become
The lantern in the darkness”
Skylar wrote the lyrics and submitted them before the June 2023 deadline, and they took on added significance for him when the Maui fires devastated Lahaina and other parts of the island two months later, killing 102 people and destroying the Lahaina Hongwanji Mission and other Buddhist temples. He has family on Maui and Oahu, and his family was in nearby Kihei during the fires.
Wong said there is a “sense of drama that comes across” to the listener. The song is a call for “peace and serenity and relying on the Dharma to take people through these periods. I was moved.”
Wong and Skylar spent several weeks conversing back and forth about the song as Wong got a sense of Skylar’s vision for the song. With input from Skylar, he wrote the melody, incorporating the teenager’s desire to utilize an ukulele.
Wong, Skylar, Orpilla and Rev. Sugahara gathered in Sacramento in June to rehearse and record the song.
“I really appreciate Francis working patiently with Skylar for many months and rehearsing with Skylar, Lisa Orpilla and Rev. Sugahara the day before the recording session in June,” said Kemi Nakabayashi, chairperson of the BCA Music Committee.
Once the recording artists listened to the initial mix, they realized parts of the recording could be improved for the final mix, according to Nakabayashi.
Wong arranged a second recording session before working with a sound engineer on the final mix. Rev. Imada joined the production during the second recording session.
“We were so fortunate that Rev. Imada was able to work with Francis at the second recording session in Sacramento to fix some rhythm issues with the introduction (and to record vocals) when Skylar couldn't make the recording session to record the ukulele opening measures,” Nakabayashi said.
A video of “Storms and Peace” was played during the BCA 125th anniversary service on Sept. 1 at the Buddhist Church of San Francisco and streamed live on YouTube. Marissa Wong (no relation to Francis) of the Seattle Betsuin Buddhist Temple edited the video.
The video can be found on YouTube:
The finished song “is a beautiful coming together of the diversity of the Sangha,” Wong said. “So many good hands and hearts went into it ... and it shows.”
Music has been a part of Wong’s life since he started playing violin at the age of 9 while growing up in San Francisco. But his musical upbringing took a turn when the orchestra program at his middle school was cut. He switched to playing band instruments, clarinet, flute and eventually, saxophone.
“I was pretty serious, but my parents never encouraged me … I guess they wanted me to become a doctor,” Wong said.
In his early adult years, his focus was activism and social justice. He said he was a “full-time activist,” supporting himself through part-time jobs such as an assistant in a small claims court and in the graduate library at Stanford University.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Wong advocated for a variety of causes including: redress and reparations for Japanese Americans imprisoned in incarceration camps during World War II; freedom for wrongly convicted Korean American immigrant Chol Soo Lee; divestment of US companies in apartheid South Africa; and Jesse Jackson’s presidential campaigns.
Wong was also part of a community of Asian American musicians who played jazz, leading to his decision in 1982 “to pursue saxophone playing as a career.” His first composition was “Prayer for Melvin Truss,” about a 17-year-old unarmed African American shot to death by a San Jose police officer in 1985.“I was, I guess, intertwining or integrating my activism with my interest in music,” Wong said.
Wong has been an Asian American studies lecturer at San Francisco State University. He also taught “Aspects of Asian American Culture” for five years at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
He has also mentored young Asian American musicians, and with pianist Jon Jang, co-founded Asian Improv aRts (AIR), which highlights and promotes Asian American artists.
A San Francisco native who grew up Catholic, Wong was introduced to Shin Buddhism by his wife, Julie Yumi Hatta, the daughter and granddaughter of Buddhist ministers and retired staff member of the BCA’s Center for Buddhist Education. They enrolled their children, Megumi and Kenjo, in Dharma School at Buddhist Church of San Francisco, where he met the late BCA Minister Emeritus Rev. Hiroshi Abiko.
“He really welcomed my participation as a musician in the Sangha,” Wong said.
When BCSF temple member Camille Pating wrote a Dharma School play, Wong wrote the music and taught the students how to perform it. He also organized music workshops for the students.
Those experiences convinced Nakabayashi to ask Wong to write the music for “Storms and Peace.”
“I knew that Francis has made an effort to teach and mentor younger musicians and envisioned he’d be a good fit for the commission and to work with the youth gatha lyric contest winner,” she said.
The collaboration is a continuation of his musical and religious relationship with Shin Buddhism. He fondly recalls listening to Dharma talks by Rev. Abiko, the late Rev. LaVerne Sasaki, and BCA Minister Emeritus Rev. Ronald Kobata.
Shin Buddhism, “is an abiding influence and frames my involvement in community, in the Sangha and beyond,” Wong said.
What role did mentorship and collaboration play in the creation of Storms and Peace, and how did it reflect Wong's involvement with the Buddhist Church of San Francisco and the Block Blast younger generation of Asian American musicians?