Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Black History Month at the Siauliai Public Library

 
Jane has been volunteering at the Siauliai Public Library, which is about a 10-minute walk from our flat on Vilniaus Street.  Her friend Roma, who is the librarian in charge of the American room, hosts an English-language circle that meets weekly and puts together events on an ad hoc basis for people interested in American culture.

Roma has been working with U.S. military officials at the nearby NATO base and the U.S. embassy to arrange a properly celebratory program in honor of Black History month.  About a hundred people were in attendance, including several African-American airmen.  The program featured a talented group of students from a music school in Vilnius. 

I had hoped to attach a link to a video, but Blogger is not letting me do so.  So you'll have to take my word for it:  it's really something to hear Lithuanian teenagers singing "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" as part of Black History Month.

5 comments:

  1. You just answered my question Ken. Bet you never anticipated something like this. Did they discuss the black struggle in America?

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  2. Well, the African-American air force officers talked about how badly blacks have been treated in the U.S. (perfectly justified, IMHO). And they were appealing personalities. But I thought in general that the Lithuanian school children set an example that would be hard to top. Wish I could attach the video of a pianist, saxophonist, and accordionist playing "Let My People Go." Wow.

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  3. Speaking of black musicians, do they know who Chuck Berry is?

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  4. Or that the roots of rock and roll are black?

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  5. Who's Chuck Berry? What's rock and roll? My students were born in the mid 1990s. Hey, nineteen, you don't remember the queen of soul?

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