|
|
|
|
2) Duke Ellington: Human Dignity and True Freedom
When you
belong to a minority group which is oppressed and discriminated against, how can
you fight back? One option is to protest, for example by singing songs like
"Strange Fruit." Another
option is to become successful, very successful and to become a role model for
your peers. This is exactly what Edward Kennedy Ellington did. When he turned
70, he was awarded the "Presidential Medal of Freedom" which he
received from President Nixon in person. Edward
Kennedy Ellington was born in 1899 in a comfortable middle-class home in
Washington DC. In spite of the segregation and discrimination going on in the
capital city too, his family was able to lead a dignified life, and they were very lucky indeed. His mother
Daisy believed that he was "blessed" and she would remain a very
important source of support for her son throughout her life.
For
example, she taught him that "unpleasant facts and potential barriers are
simply to be ignored", and one fundamental principle for success which is:
"do the best you can with what you've got." Edward always remained
dignified whatever happened, and he soon earned the nickname "the
Duke." One
anecdote shows how well Duke Ellington had absorbed these guidelines from his
mother, which were also reinforced at the all-black school he attended. In 1933
he went to Europe and England with his orchestra, and the tour was a complete
triumph. However when they came back home, they started a tour of the American
South, and the hotels and restaurants would refuse to serve him and his band
because of their skin color. His reaction was fabulous: he arranged for the band
to have their own pullman cars, a whole train with rooms and a restaurant just
for them.
The band
was therefore able to play throughout the racist South while sleeping and eating
comfortably, a luxury that few African American musicians could afford at the
time. This is truly the principle of "Do the best you can with what you've
got" in action. In March
1939 Duke Ellington was back in Europe and his tour was again a triumph, in
Belgium, The Netherlands, Denmark,
Norway and Sweden, but there is one city where he and his men
could not even get off for a second, even though their train was delayed
at the station for six hours. Now, can you guess which
city? Of all the train stations of Europe, where do
you think Duke Ellington and his musicians were
forbidden from even taking a step outside the train? Believe
it or not, it is none other than the beautiful city of Hamburg, where we have
gathered tonight to celebrate jazz and social justice. At that time, in 1939,
the Nazi regime had barred black foreigners and jazz, which they called
"Nigger Jew Music." After an otherwise successful tour, Duke Ellington
and his orchestra went back safely to the U.S. a few months before the actual
start of the Second World War. As you
know, many Germans tried to stand up against the Nazi regime at the cost of
their lives, trying to help their compatriots to wake up from the Nazi nightmare,
as for example the members of the "White Rose Movement" based in
Munich. Others
found in jazz music a way to resist the oppression and took risks to play and
dance all night long, swinging right under the nose of the Nazi regime, secretly
listening to and performing jazz songs like the one we will hear in a few
moments. Today,
here in Hamburg, let's enjoy a powerful rendition of one of Duke Ellington's
most celebrated songs, the title of which gave its name to a whole musical
movement and to the "swing era". This song was very popular in Germany
in the underground movement against the Nazis: "It don't mean a thing if it
ain't got that swing."
3
|
|
|
