Reich hopes music keeps reporter Pearl's name alive

LONDON, Sep 30 (Reuters) Composer Steve Reich does not expect his memorial piece for Daniel Pearl to stop what he calls the ''medieval religious war'' that claimed the reporter's life.

He just wants to keep Pearl's name alive.

Approaching his 70th birthday on Tuesday, Reich, known as a founder of minimalism in classical music, shows no signs of slowing down or tempering his views.

''If anybody had told me 20 years ago you're going to be approaching 70 and worrying about a medieval religious war that could destroy New York City, I'd have said, 'Hey get a good shrink or have a few drinks and forget all this stuff'.

''But sad to say, it's come to be reality,'' he told Reuters.

Reich thinks Islamic militants are even now trying to get an atomic bomb into his native city. He also blames them for the murder of an innocent man, the 38-year-old Pearl.

The Wall Street Journal reporter was abducted in Pakistan in 2002 as he chased leads after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US Claiming the American was an Israeli spy, his captors made a videotape as they slit his throat and beheaded him.

''Daniel Variations'', scored for four singers accompanied by a small ensemble and using words Pearl spoke on the videotape, has its world premiere at London's Barbican Hall on October 8.

It caps a birthday retrospective of Reich's pulsating, often hypnotic music in which instruments seem to blend into one another in ''Drumming'', ''Desert Music'' and ''Music for 18 Musicians''.

Reich was deeply affected by the September 11 attacks. His son and granddaughter were in his apartment near the World Trade Center when the two towers collapsed.

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