Kansas City

Another weekend came, in another field trip we went.  Last Sunday it was Kansas City, Missouri, with its constrasts, traditions and contradictions.

The first stop was to get Jose Faus, a Colombian artist and poet, into our bus.  He took us to the heart of an immigrant area where we could feel the social tension and the difficulties of that segment of the American society.  Through his art, Jose expresses social problems and promotes opportunities to help people - other artists and street gang boys.

After that, we went to 18th & Vine to visit the American Jazz Museum and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, diving into the African-American culture. 

It was amazing to be in the center of the music life of this area of America and to know more about great musicians who are part of the musical tradidion in jazz and blues.  Names like Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington among others create the perfect atmosphere to a trip to the roots of American black music.  The feeling, the rhythm, the beat in an absolutely interacting experience makes the American Jazz Museum an unique place, where we are touched by music.

"Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom.  If you don't like it, it won't come out of your horn." - Charlie Parker

Being in a baseball  field, by the side of the players, catching their views of the game, even though it was just a replica of the field with statues, was amazing!  Listening to talks and watching to a player from the Negro League singing the American anthem before a game, moving...  But what stroke me the most at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum was the figure of John "Buck" O'Neil and what he represents to the American culture, having been such a wonderful player, a manager and the first  African American coach in Major League Baseball.  Like the children in the video sing: "What a man!"

http://vimeo.com/18718916