by H. Christine An

On somber September 12, songwriter/producer Art Halperin of Yorktown launched a mission to beam hope into despair. Judging that it was hatred that triggered the horrific atrocities of the day before, the award-winning composer wrote a song "in hopes that love and light may spread more powerfully and quickly than hurt and fear." Halperin’s idea of a cure for the world - "universal love."
He titled his new composition "Universal Love" and simultaneously started a website www.universallovesong.com. With these two creations, the musician who has recorded many national and international albums and performed throughout the world directed his energy to Ground Zero. Halperin’s first-hand knowledge that people turn to music for comfort in times of trouble led him to send his song via the internet as a means of soothing wounded souls of the suddenly transfigured world as well as exhausted bodies of relief workers. The original song "Universal Love," sung by Halperin with backup by his 11-year-old daughter Meeka, also an accomplished singer, was made available for listening through Halperin’s website as a "gift for anyone who would like to receive it."
Built with the help of his brother and professional web-page designer Jim Halperin, the site also served as a hotline to those involved in the relief efforts at the World Trade Center. Lists of needed supplies as well as other pertinent information were posted and updated almost daily.
Halperin’s message has indeed been spreading. To date, some 21,000 visitors have received information from his site and shared their post-trauma thoughts and feelings. Comments have been pouring in from different regions of the country as well as the world, particularly from the Caribbean where Halperin’s latest album Hurricane is Coming is currently ranked number one.
The creative side of "Universal Love" (with more than 1300 hits online) has also been expanding. "I have been going non-stop on this project, " Halperin said.
Consistent with trauma experts’ advice to get involved to alleviate the sense of helplessness, Halperin noticed children participating in fund-raisers, such as bake sales. Meanwhile, Meeka and her 7-year-old sister Aneek were expressing their interest in helping with their dad’s latest project. Thus was born the idea of a second version of Universal Love to be sung by children with the proceeds from the sales of its compact discs donated to the New York Police & Fire Widows’ & Children’s Benefit Fund.

In "Universal Song -Yorktown Singers,” Meeka and Aneek (with four albums already to their credit), are the lead singers. She and Aneek rounded up their friends at Mildred E. Strang Middle School and French Hill to sing the backup. To further increase the involvement of the community, Halperin contacted Ken Levy, principal of Brookside. With Levy’s prompt response, arrangements were made for the school’s music teacher, Michelle Salustri to teach the song to 25 children at Brookside to be used as additional backup.
"The Yorktown Singers" rendition, sung so fittingly by innocent voices, is sweetly powerful in eliciting the sense of peace and urging that "It’s time for universal love." The moving and memorable tune, according to Halperin, was channeled through John Lennon, the legendary musical advocate of peace.
The two versions of "Universal Song" are packaged as an enhanced CD with an accompanying video to be played on the computer. The video mirrors the lyrics of the song "I just want to give you a smile…. I want to send you some peace…" and offers a view that Halperin wants the world to see. He zooms in on the positive side of the events surrounding September 11, particularly that of people pulling together at this difficult time. With that vision, Halperin compiled snippets of scenes from New York City and Westchester -- young jazz dancers holding hands and dancing in a circle (to choreography by Donna Simone of the Westchester Ballet Center); little Aneek handing a flower to a fireman at NYC’s Engine Company 33, Ladder 9 - the station that was one of the first to be called to the disaster site and lost 11 of its heroes; and firefighters’ coats once again hanging neatly in a row; and the music fades with vibrant girls running while triumphantly carrying the American flag.
Advance order forms for this enhanced CD have been distributed in Yorktown’s Brookside and French Hill elementary schools and Mildred E. Strang Middle School as a fund-raiser. While responses are still coming in, Brookside alone has already received more than 100 requests.
Levy commented, "The kids, staff, and I are very happy to partake in various relief efforts. Many children have expressed desire to participate in efforts along this line. We are pleased to be involved in the CD project."

A full-length CD compiled with the two versions of the "Universal Love" songs and other related numbers by the Halperins that fit the theme are also available for online listening and purchase. Proceeds from the sale of these CDs are also directed to the same Police & Fire Fund (www.nypfwc.org). The fund assists the families of fallen New York City firefighters and police officers.
Musical collaboration in the Halperin household is a way of life. Meeka recorded her first album at the age of 4-1/2 and was dubbed "Shirley Temple for the ‘90s by Parents’ Choice Consumer Guide. As an 8-year old, she was the youngest artist to sign a recording contract with Youngheart Music, a leading children’s music company. The series of albums titled Meeka and her Cool Cousins (her multi-cultural cousins and back-up singers) was co-written and co-produced by the father-daughter duo and features children’s songs that blend Caribbean-style rhythms and melodies with lively pop music. Their works won several awards, including Parents’ Choice Award and Children’s Music Web Award.
Although Halperin desires to bestow more recognition on the student contributors of the Universal Love project than on himself, his own talents have been widely recognized in the music industry. Producer and talent scout, the late John Hammond Sr. (who discovered Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, among others) signed Halperin as the first artist on Hammond/CBS Records. Halperin has thus been named "John Hammond’s last discovery" in rock history books. As a performer, he has shared the stage with Eric Clapton, Jerry Garcia, and other luminaries.
He has long been expressing concern for the environment through his music. Some of his compositions have appeared on Billboard’s R&B, Pop, and Classical charts; and the video of his song "Back into the Sea" is broadcast by different stations, including MTV.
He shares his Yorktown home with wife Nadaje and their two girls and divides his time between the United States and the Caribbean.
Further information about Universal Love CD can be obtained by visiting the website www.universallovesong.com

Thursday, December. 13, 2001

Musician spreads ‘Universal Love’ through memorial album

Yorktown man creates song as cathartic response to WTC disaster

By Rich Logis
The Patent Trader

YORKTOWN - Bruce Springsteen left his wife for musician and Yorktown
resident Art Halperin.

“I was in a bar, he walked by and I said ‘hello.’ Later, when he heard I was
signed by John Hammond, he froze and left his wife upstairs to talk to me.”

Springsteen and Halperin chatted about life, music and Hammond, the
legendary CBS Records producer who signed Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin,
Bob Dylan and Springsteen. Halperin was the first person signed on Hammond’s
own label all those years ago. The 44-year-old Halperin has played with Eric
Clapton and Jerry Garcia. In addition to Springsteen, he’s chilled with
Dylan, George Harrison and John Lennon, solidifying his place as a
luckier-than-usual fan.

If Halperin and Springsteen were to meet again today, their conversation
would probably be dominated by the attacks on the World Trade Center. The
events of Sept. 11 have certainly occupied the thoughts of the Yorktown
musician, who counts some of the victims among his friends. The day after
the disaster, the songwriter, singer and producer felt the compelling need
to create - a cathartic response to his grief and shock, he said. Without
moving from where he was sitting, he wrote a track called “Universal Love”
and released an album of the same name, with all proceeds going to the New
York Police and Fire Widows’ and Children’s Benefit Fund. To date, he’s
raised $1,320 and counting.

The album features two versions of “Universal Love”: one with Halperin on
lead vocals and one with his daughters, Meeka, 11, and Aneek, 7, as
frontwomen. Backing his daughters are 25 children from Brookside and French
Hill elementary schools. Also on the album are some Halperin originals and a
few unreleased ditties. An excerpt of the song can be heard on the Web site
at universallovesong.com and the album can be purchased for $10.99 through
the site. “Universal Love for Kids,” which includes the two renditions of
“Universal Love,” is also available for $6.

The final stanza of the song reads, “I just want to send you some peace/And
put an end to all of your grief/‘cause sometimes the world gets cold
outside, and love can only warm it up/So wherever you go, the people will
know/It’s time for universal ... universal love.”

“I wrote it (the song) immediately,” Halperin said. “You want to help, and I
wanted to get my kids to help.”

The Yorktown musician said he didn’t give a second thought to writing a song
and donating the money. “I was channeled by John Lennon,” Halperin said. “It
was a spiritual thing. Some gave blood, we did music.”

As soon as “Universal Love” was posted on the Web site, which has received
22,000 hits, Halperin began receiving letters from people he hadn’t seen in
20 years. A month after Sept. 11, a mother of two he hadn’t talked to since
high school e-mailed him, fearful that her 18- and 19-year-old boys would be
drafted.

A few weeks later, one of her sons died in a car accident.

“She said how she needed the CD right away,” he said. “I just started
getting responses from all over the globe. It was amazing. It was just
spreading.”

Besides recording the album, Halperin also sent clothes and batteries to
some Greenwich Village musician buddies who were helping out at Ground Zero.

Reflecting on his career, Halperin, who’s recorded five rock albums and four
children’s albums, said it was an honor to be the first musician signed by
Hammond’s label. The venerated producer was revered for his ear and loathed
by his colleagues because he was, figuratively speaking, color-blind, he
said. “He was one of the first to sign black musicians.”

It was just as great an honor to play music in the name of WTC relief, he
added. “This was a thing we knew we could do to comfort people. Music just
touches people in certain ways.”

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