UNPA celebrates International Music Day

By Denise McCarty

The UNPA is celebrating International Music Day, Oct. 1, by issuing three panes of stamps, one for use from each U.N. post office.

Each pane includes 12 setenant (side-by-side) stamps depicting musical instruments.

The U.N./N.Y. pane features brass and woodwind instruments. One stamp (the middle stamp in the top row) shows two instruments, a flute and clarinet. The only other woodwind shown on the pane is a saxophone; the rest are brass instruments.

Stringed instruments are pictured on the 1fr stamps on the pane of stamps for use from the U.N. post office at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.

The €0.80 U.N./Vienna stamps depict various percussion instruments.

The header is different on each pane of stamps, reflecting the type of instruments shown on the stamps and the language used in the host country (English for U.N./New York, French for U.N./Geneva and German for U.N./Vienna).

Sergio Baradat of the United Nations designed the stamps. Joh. Enschede printed them by offset lithography plus hexachome. The quantities are 18,000 panes of 50¢ stamps (216,000 stamps); 19,000 panes of 1fr stamps (228,000 stamps); and 24,000 panes of €0.80 stamps (280,000 stamps).

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The stamps measure 40 millimeters by 30mm, perforated gauge 14 by 13¼, and the panes are 140mm by 170mm.

The International Music Council established Oct. 1 as International Music Day in 1975.

The council was founded in 1949 as the nongovernmental advisory body to UNESCO on musical matters, according to its website.

The IMC describes itself as the “world’s leading membership-based professional organisation dedicated to the promotion of the value of music in the lives of all peoples,” adding that its mission is to “develop sustainable music sectors worldwide, to create awareness about the value of music, to make music matter throughout the fabric of society, and to uphold basic music rights in all countries.”

For more information about the U.N. International Music Day Stamps, visit http://unstamps.un.org; email unpanyinquiries@un.org; telephone 800-234-8672; fax 212-963-9854; or write to UNPA, Box 5900, Grand Central Station, New York, NY 10163-5900.