Martin Remembered

Yesterday Clara and I went to a concert where our own (Coffee 'n' Politics friend) Steve Ernst was a participant in the Seattle Peace Chorus' presentation of "Martin Remembered" in two ways -- he sings in the chorus and he was one of the group who recited a particularly moving poem.

This first picture shows (barely) Steve with the chorus in the first part of the program which was a compilation of musical pieces based on King's statements. The work "Martin Remembered" was commissioned by the Seattle Peace Chorus, and it was the principal accompanist to the group who selected the statements and transformed them into choral pieces.

Here the piece is "All It Takes Is One Candle," and Steve is hiding behind one of his fellow singers.




"All it takes is one candle, a single solitary candle
To light up the sky, just lift it high. Let it be yours."











The second and third pictures show Steve as part of the group reciting "Let America Be America Again," by Langston Hughes, a poem from the early part of last century extolling America's founding values and their virtues, while making the statement that (for Hughes, a black man) "It never was America to me!" The recitation was followed by a musical rendition of the text.

If you wish to read the full text of "Let America Be America Again," you might recall that, by lucky happenstance, I had previously printed that in this blog under that very title back in September '07. Just go back and look for that title in the index.