Prog keyboardist Rick Wakeman has said he is “incredibly honoured” after performing a concert to more than 150 “music loving” rescue bears.
The 77-year-old performed two new pieces about rescued moon bears Dawn and Moon, along with two songs written about bears, called Cyril Wolverine and Rocky (The Legacy), on a piano to the audience of bears at Animals Asia’s sanctuary in Tam Dao National Park, Vietnam.
Concert aims to free final bears
The Free The Final Bears concert aimed to raise awareness of the 125 bears who are still trapped in bile farms in Vietnam, despite the government banning bear bile farming in 2005.
Speaking after the concert, former Yes musician Wakeman said: “I feel immensely honoured to have played here in this beautiful setting to these incredible bears today.
“It is honestly the most extraordinary concert of my life. I was looking at the bears the whole time, I almost forgot what I was playing.
“It was like I was in a bubble – just me and the bears. I mean I’ll never in my life get to play a concert to such a well-behaved audience. They were brilliant.
“There were two bears in particular who came right up to the edge and I deliberately played around with the music a little bit as there were definitely certain things that they reacted to more than others. Obviously, we know music affects humans so I now know it affects bears too.
“I hope this will bring awareness of how important it is to free the final bears. I believe about four a month are dying in captivity.
“You’ve got to look around at these wonderful, wonderful bears – and I defy anybody to not want to save them.”
Bears gather to watch performance
The concert took place on Thursday and saw the bears become more inquisitive as the gig went on, with 11 moon bears coming to sit in the lush grass directly in front of the piano to watch, and one named Georges standing up near the piano to take a closer look.
Previous wacky Wakeman gigs include his 1975 performance of his album The Myths And Legends Of King Arthur And The Knights Of The Round Table on ice at Wembley Empire Pool, and he will perform a tribute to scientist Stephen Hawking in Spain later this year based on his teachings on black holes.
The pianist became involved in the charity thanks to his friends, the actor Peter Egan and Downton Abbey’s Lesley Nicol, who were among the few humans witnessing the gig and he said “introduced me to the wonderful world of the moon bears and how appallingly they’d been abused and treated”.
Wakeman is a guardian to Moon the bear, having previously been the guardian of another called Cyril Wolverine, who has now died and was named after the pianist’s late father.
A petition urging the prime minister of Vietnam to help Animals Asia free the bears still stuck in bile farms can be signed at Animalsasia.org/free.
