Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Dr. King enlightens us on life, struggle, and Jazz at the 1964 Berlin Jazz Festival

Many people know that Dr. Martin Luther King,Jr. was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 in Oslo, Norway.  This historic event forever added to the civil rights leader's stature, and highlighted the Civil Rights movement in America to a largely European audience.

However, there was another speech Dr. King gave in Europe after leaving Oslo which I first become aware of upon a visit I made to West Berlin in 1986. That speech was given at the 1964 Berlin Jazz Festival where Dr. King had been invited to speak by Wily Brandt, the Mayor of West Berlin.

In the Berlin Jazz Festival speech, Dr. King talks about the struggles of Black Americans and how Jazz provided a voice for those suffering under the yoke of oppression.

The complete text of Dr. King's speech is provided here. take a few moments to read and reflect.


 Dr. Martin Luther King reflects on the legacy of Jazz at the 1964 Berlin Jazz festival


God has wrought many things out of oppression. He has endowed His creatures with the capacity to create and from this capacity has flowed the sweet songs of sorrow and joy that have allowed man to cope with his environment and many different situations.


Jazz speaks for life. The Blues tell the story of life's difficulties, and if you think for a moment, you realize that they take the hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph.


This is triumphant music.


Modern Jazz has continued in this tradition, singing the songs of a more complicated urban existence. When life itself offers no order or meaning, the musician creates an order and meaning from the sounds of the earth which flow through his instrument.


It is no wonder that so much of the search for identity among American Negroes was championed by Jazz musicians. Long before the modern essayists and scholars wrote of racial identity as a problem for a multicultural world, musicians were returning to their roots to affirm that which was stirring within their souls.


Much of the power of our Freedom Movement in the United States has come from the music. It has strengthened us with its sweet rhythms when courage began to fail. It has calmed us with its rich harmonies when spirits were down.


And now, Jazz is exported to the world. For in a particular struggle of the Negro in America, there is something akin to the universal struggle of modern man. Everybody has the Blues. Everybody longs for meaning. Everybody needs to clap hands and be happy. Everybody longs for faith.


In music, especially this broad category called Jazz, there is a stepping stone towards all these.

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