UK man performs piano for previous elephants in Thailand sanctuary: Video

A British pianist, living in Thailand, has taken his craft to entirely new
heights.

Somewhere, deep in the jungle, 57-year-old Paul Barton has dragged his
piano into a clearing, on the banks of the River Kwai, to play music for old,
injured and disabled elephants.

The self-taught pianist met his larger than life audience during a visit to an
elephant sanctuary with his wife in 2011.

“I wondered if these old elephants might like to listen to some slow
classical music when I arrived, so I asked if I could bring my piano along
and they allowed it,” Mr Barton said.

Roping in a bunch of mates to help him load his upright piano onto the
back of a ute, Mr Barton drove it up the mountain and into the middle of
the Elephants World sanctuary.

Untethered and free to wander and graze as they please, elephants would
surround Mr Barton and his piano during each visit, fascinated by the
calming sounds of Beethoven, Mozart, Bach and Debussy.

Mr Barton uploads videos of his jungle concerts to his YouTube channel,
showing baby elephants who squeak and bark along to the music, and
older elephants that flap their ears and sway as the he plays.

“It’s said elephants memorise your scent and will think of you as a friend
the next time you’re together,” he said.

“When I play music to elephants I always feel calm and happy.”

Mr Barton will calm the elephants, welcoming him to his
piano before sitting down to play for them. Picture: YouTube

According to Mr Barton, it’s a feeling most of the sanctuary’s residents
haven’t felt in a long time.

Many of the elephants ended up there after falling victim to ivory hunters,
while others were left injured, abused or homeless after a lifetime working
for humans on deforestation sites across Thailand.

Mr Barton said the first time he played his piano in the jungle, a blind
elephant called Pla-Ra stopped eating his breakfast and stood completely
still “listening to the music with grass protruding from his mouth”.
Pla-Ra had come to the sanctuary after his previous owner removed and
sold his tusks.

“A bad infection set in and he was often in pain from the holes where his
tusks had been cruelly removed,” Mr Barton said.

“I like to think that the soothing music gave him some comfort in the
darkness.”

Sadly, Pla-Ra didn’t survive the infection.

“I became very close to Pla-Ra and I was devastated when he died,” he
said.

I’m calling it: This story will be snatched up and made into an Oscarwinning
feature film, starring the kind old Morgan Freeman, before you
can say “pachyderm”.

Mr Barton says he has devloped a deep affection for the
animals at Elephants World sanctuary. Picture: YouTube

Mr Barton chooses particular songs he thinks each elephant will like.
It must work because he has been doing it for years and has some
seriously big fans.

“Elephants are emotional animals, like us, and I’m just following my
instincts to play music for them,” he said.

“All I can do is hope that the work we do can make the lives of these
rescued elephants a little bit better.”

Mr Barton said sometimes the elephants even drape their trunks over the
piano to “explore the keys for themselves”.

“I hope that music like this will be part of a process of rehabilitation for
elephants that have had stressful lives,” he said.

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