Take 5 as Obama honors US artists
Source: Agencies |
December 8, 2009, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
NEARLY 40 years ago, a Kenyan father was visiting his son in Hawaii and took him to his first jazz concert. The boy was Barack Obama and the performer was jazz great Dave Brubeck.
"I've been a jazz fan ever since," the president said on Sunday, crediting the pianist and composer with bringing jazz into the mainstream and transforming it with new rhythms. "The world that he opened up for a 10-year-old boy was spectacular."
Obama greeted Brubeck at the White House on the musician's 89th birthday.
The performer, most famous for "Take Five," was lauded with the Kennedy Center Honors along with four other performers - rocker Bruce Springsteen, actor Robert De Niro, comic genius Mel Brooks and opera singer Grace Bumbry.
The awards are the nation's highest honors for those who have defined American culture through the arts and part of a living memorial to President John F Kennedy.
Jon Stewart opened the tribute to Springsteen, recounting his theory on how The Boss came to be. "I'm not a music critic, nor historian, nor archivist," Stewart said. "But I am from New Jersey. And so I can tell you what I believe. I believe that Bob Dylan and James Brown had a baby."
"These performers are indeed the best," Obama said. "They are also living reminders of a single truth - and I'm going to steal a line from Michelle here - the arts are not somehow apart from our national life, the arts are the heart of our national life."
Springsteen, 60, described the award as "an acknowledgment that you've kind of threaded your way into the culture in a certain way."
Of 66-year-old De Niro, Meryl Streep said her friend was exacting with details as an actor, director and producer.
Aretha Franklin recounted highlights from Bumbry's career. As a 25-year-old singer, Bumbry broke racial barriers in 1961 when she was invited to perform in a production of Wagner's "Tannhauser." She would be the first black opera singer to appear at Germany's Bayreuth.
Jacqueline Kennedy invited Bumbry to sing at the White House and Bumbry, 72, said returning to meet Obama for the award was the highest honor she has received.
Of his award, Brooks, 83, said: "I think when all my awards go to eBay, it will be the last."
"I've been a jazz fan ever since," the president said on Sunday, crediting the pianist and composer with bringing jazz into the mainstream and transforming it with new rhythms. "The world that he opened up for a 10-year-old boy was spectacular."
Obama greeted Brubeck at the White House on the musician's 89th birthday.
The performer, most famous for "Take Five," was lauded with the Kennedy Center Honors along with four other performers - rocker Bruce Springsteen, actor Robert De Niro, comic genius Mel Brooks and opera singer Grace Bumbry.
The awards are the nation's highest honors for those who have defined American culture through the arts and part of a living memorial to President John F Kennedy.
Jon Stewart opened the tribute to Springsteen, recounting his theory on how The Boss came to be. "I'm not a music critic, nor historian, nor archivist," Stewart said. "But I am from New Jersey. And so I can tell you what I believe. I believe that Bob Dylan and James Brown had a baby."
"These performers are indeed the best," Obama said. "They are also living reminders of a single truth - and I'm going to steal a line from Michelle here - the arts are not somehow apart from our national life, the arts are the heart of our national life."
Springsteen, 60, described the award as "an acknowledgment that you've kind of threaded your way into the culture in a certain way."
Of 66-year-old De Niro, Meryl Streep said her friend was exacting with details as an actor, director and producer.
Aretha Franklin recounted highlights from Bumbry's career. As a 25-year-old singer, Bumbry broke racial barriers in 1961 when she was invited to perform in a production of Wagner's "Tannhauser." She would be the first black opera singer to appear at Germany's Bayreuth.
Jacqueline Kennedy invited Bumbry to sing at the White House and Bumbry, 72, said returning to meet Obama for the award was the highest honor she has received.
Of his award, Brooks, 83, said: "I think when all my awards go to eBay, it will be the last."
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
