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City Concert, Europe Festival, Baltic Way, May 21, 2007

Music and song resounded through the streets of Vilnius on the first weekend in May. No fewer than 600 musicians—including about 60 professionals—transformed the Lithuanian capital into one big alfresco concert hall on May 5th. Initiator Andrius Mamontovas was quite impressed by the public’s response: “Of course I was convinced that some people would join in, but I certainly didn’t expect such a tremendous outpouring of interest. This is clear confirmation that the people want a day of music in the streets. I played together with some unknown young musicians in front of the cathedral, and a lot of the folks in the crowd really got into the spirit of things, singing and dancing along with us.” Although it was a “normal” working day (to make up for April 30th, a “bridge day” Monday preceding the May 1st holiday), thousands of music lovers gathered on Saturday in Sereikiškių Park at the foot of fortification-topped Gediminas Hill for the grand finale concert featuring a musical lineup that ran the stylistic gamut. Music enthusiasts also took to the streets in five other Lithuanian cities to play, sing, dance and listen. Andrius Mamontovas, a 40-year-old composer and actor as well as Lithuania’s best known rock singer, went on to express his fondest wish for his brainchild’s future: “Making music in the streets on the first Saturday in May ought to become a tradition. And not only in Lithuania; all over Europe and throughout the world too!”

Street Music Day was the premiere event in Vilnius 2009’s Aperitif series, which will continue on June 22, 2007 with a Night of European Culture.

A Friday Noon parade featuring traditional brass band music kicked off the Europe Festival entitled “Lithuania – A Starlet of Europe” and staged to mark both the third anniversary of Lithuania’s admission to the EU (May 1) as well as Europe Day (May 9). About 70,000 visitors over the course of three days enjoyed European cultural and culinary delights, and also partook of traditional arts and crafts proffered on stages and in tents arrayed along Gedimino prospektas. Non-EU Europe was also represented in the form of Swiss modern dance performances and Turkish shish kebab. Restaurants around town served up Greek, Spanish, Czech and Bulgarian cuisine and beverages as well.

The three-day festival wound up with a concert in honour of motherhood, an event organized and supported by the City of Vilnius, the national government and the Foreign Ministry. Mother’s Day celebrations were banned during the Soviet occupation, but Lithuanians revived their prewar tradition once they regained independence in 1990; since then, they’ve been honouring mothers on the first Sunday in May. It’s also common to pay respects to deceased mothers and grandmothers by visiting their graves on that day.

Two days after this festive weekend, more than 2,000 Lithuanians gathered on Vilnius’ Cathedral Square (Katedros aikštė)on May 8th and formed a human chain to express their solidarity with Estonia, where clashes amidst demonstrations triggered by the transfer of a Soviet soldiers’ memorial to a different location in Tallinn in late April claimed one life. Meanwhile, many people also formed human chains on the Latvian-Lithuanian and Latvian-Estonian borders as well as in the Latvian capital, Riga. These human chains evoked memories of the Baltic Way of August 23, 1989 when Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians joined together 50 years after the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact to form a 600-kilometer-long, hand-in-hand human chain extending from Vilnius to Tallinn.


By the way: With the election of 67-year-old Juozas Imbrasas on April 16, Vilnius now has a new mayor. Artūras Zuokas’ successor has been involved in municipal government for 10 years—he was deputy mayor twice and even served a brief term as mayor once before (June 1999-April 2000). His political career has included two changes of party affiliation: after a switch from the conservative Homeland Union to the Liberal Union, he’s been a member of Order and Justice since 2002 and is currently that liberal democratic party’s deputy chairman. Juozas Imbrasas speaks Lithuanian, Russian, Polish and English. In a May 2nd communiqué, Mayor Imbrasas invited his Linz counterpart, Dr. Franz Dobusch, to pay an official visit to Vilnius.

Translation commissioned by Linz09