What unites is stronger than what divides: Hilton Head’s ‘Violin Guy’ shares holiday joy
Music knows no language. It knows no race, salary, nationality or divide. It doesn’t care about status, situation or stature, education or gender. From sold out gilded concert halls to hole-in-the-wall gigs, just seven notes connect the rich and poor, old and young, friend and foe.
Music, said Jesús Parra, is necessary for life.
He sits at a round table covered in a Christmas tree tablecloth in the corner of a soup kitchen on Hilton Head Island. He is soft spoken and humble, shying slightly about questions of his professional violin career in Venezuela. He grins when he is asked what music means to him. His seventeen-year-old son who shares his name sits next to him, listening to his responses in Spanish and relaying them in English.
“Music makes some bad days better,” his father said.
Parra first picked up the violin at age 11. In the 36 years to follow, he played in professional symphony orchestras in states across Venezuela and in Lima, Peru. He was the concert master for an orchestra in Venezuela, the leader of the first violin section and second in command only to the conductor. He has studied at some of the most distinguished music schools in Latin America.
Now, he plays on a humble stage.
The soup kitchen in St. Andrew By-the-Sea United Methodist Church was bustling. Dressed in festive sweaters and aprons, volunteers filled plates with warm food while others pushed carts piled high with pieces of pie. The meal started with a prayer — the group joined hands in a big circle underneath a basketball hoop — said aloud in Spanish then English.
Prayer, like music, doesn’t know income, dialect or life history.
Guests sat among their friends and family, their chatter subsiding and their heads turning when Parra and his son picked up their violins.
His wife Leticia’s face was filled with pride.
Parra had been playing at the soup kitchen since late summer, but the crowd still erupted into applause when the duo hit a high note. For even just a moment, there was joy throughout the place.
Parra’s eyes wandered from the score, eventually closing as he moved his bow across the four strings. Playing violin is a way to completely disconnect from the world, he said. It brings about feelings that are inexplicable — from happiness to sadness.
Sometimes, playing certain songs will even bring back memories of Venezuela, Parra said.
It was only a year and a half ago when Parra and his family moved from their home country to the island to join extended family in search of a better life, they said.
They join the millions of Venezuelans that have fled in the past decade, the results of rising crime rates, inflation and shortages of food and other essential services. On average, 2,000 Venezuelans are still leaving the country on a daily basis, according to USA for United Nations Human Rights Council, seeking refuge mostly in neighboring countries. For the Parra family, an island in South Carolina 2,000 miles away became home in August 2023.
Parra’s family started out as guests at the soup kitchen, hearing about it from family members who ate there on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Learning each other’s language
Kay Sharp has volunteered at the soup kitchen for the past two years and helps teach conversational English to Spanish speakers in the group. Her husband, Tom, runs the soup kitchen. They buzz around the room, showing guests where they can pick up a bike or extra diapers.
She remembers hearing Parra play for the first time, admitting she usually hates the sound of violins. When he started to play, she stopped what she was doing to go and sit right in front of him. He was magnificent, she remembered.
“Who is this guy?” she thought to herself.
When he stopped playing, the two talked using Google Translate to fill in the language gaps. She learned that he was a professional violinist, which begged the question, what was he doing there, performing in the soup kitchen?
When they first moved to the island, Parra and Leticia, both with very limited English proficiency, worked in hotels. But Parra had a goal: to join the ranks of the Hilton Head Island Symphony Orchestra. He has been practicing both his English skills and the five music pieces that he has to perform flawlessly to be considered for acceptance.
Sharp and Parra talk on the phone most days, sometimes for several hours at a time, to practice English. She gave Parra an English textbook that should have taken many months to complete, but it took him just eight weeks to finish the learning. Having lived in Brazil and Germany without previous knowledge of the language, she said, she understands what it’s like to learn by necessity.
Determination knows nothing of race, language or ethnicity.
Most recently, Parra and Sharp began discussing English idioms, one of the trickiest hurdles for non-native speakers. They tackled the phrases “starving artist” and “it is what it is.”
In their hours of conversation, Sharp has learned a lot about Parra: his love of family, his kindness and his grace. At times, she said, he nearly hugs people who leave him a tip in his violin case.
“We just feel very lucky that we overlapped,” said Sharp.
He is charming, she said, made without a mean bone in his body and has since captured the attention of others on the island, earning the nickname “the violin guy.”
He’s had gigs at Grooby’s, Shelter Cove, The Greenery and Links in Harbour Town, Thanksgiving Day at Hudson’s, at weddings and even a 75th anniversary for a couple who have survived the test of time..
In August, he performed at a service at St. Andrew By-the-Sea. He was tasked with playing the final song, only accompanied by the pianist. A video on the church’s Facebook page captured the final moments of the service. Throughout the four and a half minutes, no one moved from their seats. When he finished, the entire congregation gave him a standing ovation. He shook hands with the pianist and looked up toward the crowded church. He smiled ear to ear, holding tight to his violin.
Parra humbly bowed his head.
This story was originally published December 24, 2024 at 12:21 PM.
