Out here,’ Chea says, his voice gentle, as if not to frighten her, ‘there’s only music of the ghosts.
-- Chea, the soldier (Prelude)

Importance: This quote symbolizes the title of the novel, as well as underscores two of the main motifs of the novel - music and ghosts. Chea is the soldier who leads Suteera and Amara out of Cambodia and into Thailand, which eventually gets them to the United States as refugees. Ratner writes this as the ending of the prelude, before the rest of the novel begins with Suteera returning to Cambodia to bury her Aunt’s ashes and find out what happened to her father. She thinks this quote again later in the Third Movement before she finds out what happened to her father. Her father was a musician - and his absence has haunted her throughout her life.

Who among us, dear old man, has not been touched by tragedy...
-- The Abbot (First Movement)