Mainer spreading harmony Blue Hill man’s project helps disabled Laotians

“Music is the staff of humanity,” Derrick Semler’s mentor, Los Angeles blues pianist J. D. Nicholson, once told him. “It is a bridge for a person’s mind to walk on.” It was one of many lines that registered in Semler’s mind during the ’70s when he played gigs with the bluesman around L.A.

Even though Nicholson has died since then, Semler has never forgotten his mentor’s philosophy. And the Blue Hill musician has put it into practice with the Music Laos Project, a nonprofit aid organization he founded last year to help bring music therapy to disabled Laotians at the National Center for Rehabilitation in Vientiane, Laos’ capital.

Since 2003, both in Laos and the United States, Semler has hosted musical benefits and informational meetings about his long-term project and the $360,000 needed to fulfill it. As part of that effort, the guitarist and singer-songwriter will give a benefit concert at 9 p.m. Friday, April 30, at the Waterfront Bar & Grill in Bangor. Semler will play with his band, The Shambles. The performance also marks the release of Semler’s latest album of original material, “Father and Son from Hell.”

Semler’s interest in bringing music and humanitarian aid to Laos was spurred by a chance meeting with a Japanese woman, Hisayo Morikawa, at a bed and breakfast in Portland. At the time, Morikawa was living in Vientiane and working at the National Rehabilitation Center. Morikawa happened to be in Maine for her daughter’s graduation from Bates College.

At the time, Morikawa encouraged Semler to bring live music to the war-ravaged, economically depressed nation. Her urging led Semler to the Xieng Khuang Province in northeastern Laos, a region severely affected by the Vietnam War. Vietnam is Laos’ western neighbor.

In Laos last year, Semler met a 27-year-old Laotian crippled by muscular dystrophy and polio. The man still managed to compose songs and poetry when a pencil was placed in his permanently clenched hand.

Semler spent three days with the young Laotian, recording him singing songs and reciting poetry. The two formed a close, musician-to-musician relationship.

“Khamphapan’s spirits were raised considerably by the validation of his talents,” Semler recalled on his project’s Web site. “His mother, also, was overjoyed that she saw her son’s mental health strengthened and commented that she had never seen him so happy in many years.”

The experience was inspirational for Semler, too. When he returned home to Maine, Semler established the Music Laos Project to help other disabled Laotians.

Semler, who had already seen the benefits of music therapy when he worked at a rehabilitation center in Ellsworth, strongly believes in music as a vehicle for healing.

“The healing power of music, whether simply listened to, danced to or performed, is the objective of music therapy,” Semler explained. “Group music therapy is also a setting in which valuable benefits are shared, as inhibitions are overcome and confidence and self-esteem are enhanced.”

After the National Rehabilitation Center endorsed his project, Semler also won support from the Laos Ministry of Public Health. Semler serves as the project’s director while Hisayo Morikawa is the assistant director.

Semler has just returned to Maine from a fund-raising trip to Laos. During his month-long visit, Semler returned to the Xieng Khuang Province. Sadly, his young Laotian friend died before his return. But with $600 in donated funds, Semler was able to purchase the necessary supplies to construct a Music Laos Project center named in Khamphapan’s honor. Semler said the center will serve as a combined performance space, guesthouse for foreign visitors and traditional Laotian music school.

Semler also spent time in Vientiane, where the Music Laos Project operates through a partnership with the National Rehabilitation Center to provide music therapy to individuals afflicted with disabilities such as blindness, leprosy, polio and amputation.

Last summer, Semler raised about $8,000 to purchase musical instruments and equipment for the center. The purchase sparked the formation of Palangchi (Power of the Heart), a music group made up of blind students from the center that performs popular Laotian music.

During his recent stay in the Laotian capital, Semler received a large donation from a hydroelectric company. The funds will help house the blind students during the summer so they can stay at the center and hone their musicial skills rather than having to return home to their small, remote villages.

While in Vientiane, Semler also met with the U.S. Ambassador in Laos. Semler says he feels the U.S. diplomats support the work of the Music Laos Project.

“They’re just delighted to see the U.S. represented in such a positive way at the Rehab Center,” Semler said. “And they’re starting to unlock some doors with us.”

For more about the Music Laos Project, visit www.musiclaos.org. Donations can be sent to the project’s treasurer Mary M. Semler, Box 4007, Brooklin, ME. 04616. George Bragdon can be reached at gbragdon@bangordailynews.net.