HIT THE DECK...Incoming.....In The Key Of 'C'

by Paul Schadler cc

I [T. Jan] found this really cool story online [ABC NEWS, link below.] last year, and just had to post it again...'cause, it proves once again that MUSICIANS are just plain brave...there's NO way around it. This story's about... this beautiful 92 year old lady pianist named MADAME THAI THI LIEN. She lives in Hanoi, Vietnam. Her love of music was so great...OK..Classic Western-type Music that is, she risked her life and limb to keep that-type of music going in her country way back in 1965 in her own music school. Cool.
 AND, now the people of Viet Nam are creating  the country's first professional concert hall , AND, she's being honored. YAY!
This is some of the reasons why she really deserves the way cool honor: well, she did the impossible...well, almost impossible.
Just read this:
1. She just loved the piano, and was a trained  in western classic music.
2. She decided to teach her beloved music in Viet Nam back in 1965...remember that's when the Viet Nam war was going on  in her country.
3. She saved her sixty upright pianos by hauling them out of Hanoi to Bac Giang Province by train...that was like the next state or something...then, those pianos were 'dragged' about 8 miles further or so...THEN, put on some carts and, pulled by some water buffalo and that's not all, they were then carried by hand, by her students the rest of the way into the 'school' huts ..where there was no electricity or running water in the jungles of course, but, NOT the continual bombing from the Americans, that they had to get away from.
Madame Lien, could teach other smaller musical instraments to her then 400 students in the mud bunkers at her music school...but, the pianos were too big to fit down there. The piano students had to take cover when hearing the sirens, telling them that the American B-52 bombers were heading their way. AND,  some of her students refused to stop their practice and continued the playing. 'What?'.... Luckily, the school or village were never hit.
----------------
OK, let me take a breather here....this is AMAZING stuff.
 I now remember, how 'I' thought a 30 minute piano practice in a nice warm safe house was a terrible hardship back in '65...cause I might miss a snack or some of my many favorite T.V. programs.
I was spoiled...just plain spoiled.
Not only does this Lady...Madame Lien deserve a metal...so do ALL her students! Says I. [Jan].
---------------------
This is a fasinating story about some very determined musicians. Go to ABC NEWS and read the whole thing. OK? Thought you might like this story....proving, once again, that musicans  ARE ALL very brave. Jan
------------------
I'm posting a video from Youtube. It's from 1969, from EDWIN STARR...It's 'WAR'. Posted bykingdaka5006