Palisadian Composer Wins Peace Song Prize

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

Television and film composer—and resident of the Alphabet Streets—Steven Chesne took home the grand prize at the third annual Peace Song Awards on International Day of Peace for his song “Let Peace Reign: Words of the Kikuyu.”

The winning song was featured on “Sapient: A Cantata of Peace,” which was composed after a spiritual and global journey spanning more than a year studying the shared themes of peace and oneness of mankind taught by Buddha, Lao Tzu, Jesus, Mohammed, the Sikhs, the Hindu, the Jews, the Cheyenne, the Kikuyu and the Baha’i.

“It’s sort of the culmination of things that had been brewing in my mind for decades,” Chesne told the Post earlier this year after the album was released. “Back when I was a child—I grew up in Santa Monica—I was always curious about culture and religion and things that are common to all people, the unifying factors among all people.”

Each track of “Sapient” is a musical interpretation of a tradition’s words of peace and oneness, accompanied by music and vocals influenced by each culture, language and place in world history.

The Peace Song Awards took place in Los Angeles’ Arts District, and featured musicians, songwriters, live performances and “messages of love, hope and peace for the world.”

The awards cover music in multiple genres, including rock/pop, country, folk, a cappella, choral, classical, jazz, opera and more. A new category for 2019 was Sound Healing. 

“In our third year, it’s become even more difficult to pick the Grand Prize honoree because of the variety of music and the caliber of music makers who compete,” Peace Song Awards Founder Steve Robertson said in a statement. “I was so moved when I started listening to Steven’s amazing composition that I believed it completely embodied everything for which Peace Song Awards stood, so I was thrilled when it received this great, well-deserved honor.”

The awards, founded by Robertson of Project Peace on Earth, are designed to inspire people around the world to “be the change” and create a world with loving peace.