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News

Lithuania
Multicultural Menu Features Rock, African Rhythms, and Fusion

On May 6th, starting at 7pm at the Balti Drambliai ("White Elephant") Cafe in Vilnius, Lithuania, the Minciu Sodas Laboratory ("Orchard of Thoughts", at www.ms.lt) has organized a multicultural menu of musical and artistic talent, including American JB Willit, Plazi and Afroband (from Togo, Liberia, and Nigeria), and Lithuanian sculptor-poet Algirdas Zokaitis, among others. There will be an open mic, and all are encouraged to bring drums!

The Cafe, located at Vitalius Perkauskas, Vilniaus g. 41 in Vilnius, is at +370 (5) 262 0875 (telephone), and see www.baltidrambliai.com or write to info@baltidrambliai.com for more information. The musicians themselves can be reached at +370 (608) 70684 (spokesperson, JB Willit) or +370 (603) 306286 (program director, Plazi). And concert organizer, Andrius Kulikauskas (head of Minciu Sodas), can be reached at +370 (699) 30003, Grudu g 6, Vilnius LT-11306, ms@ms.lt.

JB Willit, a native of Oakland, California, is a metalsmith, mason, glassblower, and musician, whose musical influences include Tool, Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Bjork, Annie Lennox, Black Sabbath, and Bob Marley. There is no more moving tribute to JB, as both a person and artist, than the one his brother, Richard, has posted at http://people.tribe.net/jbwillit.

He writes: "JB is my brother and there are many things I like about him, but the biggest thing I admire is that--when life has hit him hard and knocked him down--he gets right back up and starts the good fight for life again. JB is a very talented mason and musician: the two occupations may not seem to go hand in hand, but I have worked with him and what he can do with bricks, stones, and mortar is an art in itself. I have watched him compose and sing: his knowledge, skill, and artistic sensitivity in performing his music reminds me of Johnny Cash (just a different kind of music), because he has had to teach himself while going down a very rough road of life."

Plazi, originally from Togo, is the lead singer of Afroband--one of the most talked-about new groups in Lithuania--who say they are hoping to create a Lithuanian fusion music, based in part on the rhythms of West Africa. Afroband has played on national TV and at Lithuania's Independence Day celebrations, has been played on the radio--providing the music for a political talk show about immigration--and has jammed live with some of Lithuania's most popular musicians.

The band was born in the Pabrade Centre for Immigrants, home at the time for its four members, who arrived here from Liberia, Nigeria, and Togo. In a country whose population is overwhelmingly white, it is rare to see a black person, even in Vilnius. Plazi says that he thinks exposure to Afroband's music is changing some people's minds about immigrants to Lithuania, and that their popularity is a sign of change, as the country--which is for the first time receiving immigrants from across the world--starts to embrace other cultures as part of its own. For more see news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4723268.stm.

During the concert, Minciu Sodas will be hoping to sign up interested people for the work of its online laboratories, among these being the working group Holistic Helping (in English)--led by OWB News Director, Janet Feldman--which seeks to learn how we can create local and global ripple effects as we help each other (groups.yahoo.com/group/holistichelping). And Talka (in Lithuanian), led by Zenonas Anusauskas, to learn how we can collectively manifest our creativity (groups.yahoo.com/group/talka).

This is the second year Minciu Sodas has participated in One World Beat: in 2005, members organized a joint Lithuanian-Austrian "drums and bells" event to celebrate the first day of spring--the original Earth Day--which occurred during the festival. We thank them for donating their time and talents, for their caring, and for their invaluable work, which illuminates, inspires, and truly makes a difference.

 

 

 

 

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