Seattle Peace Chorus – Trip to the Soviet Union – 1985

In response to the tensions of the Cold War, the chorus embarked on its first trip of citizen-to-citizen diplomacy. Forty-nine choristers took a message of goodwill into the vastness of the Soviet Union—Moscow, Leningrad, Kalinin, Yaroslavl—and to Soviet Asia—Samarkand, Tashkent, Alma Ata. We sang concerts in seven cities. Everywhere we received a warm reception—for the music, for the smiles, and for our eagerness to express the desire of diplomacy through song. Upon returning, chorus members created a slide show of the trip called Peace Song, which they presented to numerous community groups. The slide show was later made into a video, which you can watch here.

Transcript

Corrections are welcome.

[Crowd noises]

[Newscaster] The Soviet Union blamed America’s reluctance to negotiate in good faith for the breakdown of peace negotiations. In a harshly worded statement, the Soviets accused America of talking peace while preparing for war.

00:56
[Child, Casey Strand, singing “I Am but a Small Voice” by Odina E. Batnag and Roger Whittaker.]
I am but a small voice.
I am but a small dream.
To smile upon the sun.
Be free to dance and sing.
Be free to sing my song
to everyone.

01:27
[Seattle Peace Chorus, singing]
Come young citizens of the world,
we are one,
we are one.

01:41
[Narrator: John Gilbert] We are one. One planet. One people. That is the message of our song and the purpose of our trip. For us, this dream has been emerging for a long time. It began with Helen Lauritzen, our director.

02:11
[Helen Lauritzen] The chorus was started in 1983 out of a concern about the nuclear arms race. Music seemed like a good way to communicate the longing that all people have for peace and human unity. After singing around the Seattle area for a while, we started to think about reaching out with our songs to the people of the Soviet Union. It was a time when relations between our two governments were at a very low point, with lots of finger-pointing and harsh words on both sides. People-to-people contacts seemed to offer a way to keep some channels of communication open during this difficult period. Perhaps ordinary people like ourselves in the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. could get to know one another, there would be less fear and more willingness to work things out between us. At first the trip seemed like an impossible dream, but once we decided to go for it, we just took one step at a time, discovering what to do as we went along. We talked to people who had been there. We wrote letters, learned how to raise money, and through it all we practiced and gave concerts. In June of 1985, 49 of us flew into Moscow. After all our hard work, all those months of planning and preparation, the fund-raising and so many concerts, and the anticipation, and then finally there it was in front of us at last.

And the first feeling that flooded up inside of me was apprehension. I guess I just underestimated the effect of all those years of being told who my enemy was.

04:17
[Narrator] The Soviet Union is the largest country in the world. It stretches from the Baltic to the Black Sea, from the Arctic to Southwest Asia. It is larger than the face of the full moon. Although we will travel two thousand miles, we will experience only a fraction of it. We will visit only three of the fifteen republics, see only a handful of the 270 million people. The country expands through eleven time zones, and encompasses over ethnic groups. The largest and most prominent of these groups is the Russian minority, and their center is Moscow, the fifth largest city in the world. We’re in Moscow now, and it does seem immense, yet it is clean, traffic is sparse, colors are muted. There’s a feeling of order, not quite what one expects in a city of eight million people.

05:24
[Aaron Katz] The first and most powerful feeling was awe.

05:33
[Doris Hulse] For me, it was the sense of hesitancy, almost a reluctance to approach, to get too close, yet, at the same time, I was pulled, fascinated.

05:49
[Aaron Katz] There I was, at midnight of the first night, standing in the middle of Red Square. Directly in front of me, within thirty yards, is Lenin’s tomb and the Kremlin. Over there is Saint Basil’s Cathedral. I kept thinking, I’m an American and I’m standing at the center of power of my country’s enemy. It was bigger than life.

06:26
[Narrator] We came here to reach out to people, not only from concert platforms, but up close, to learn about them, to see them in their daily lives, and, hopefully, to talk with them. We find it is not easy. How do we do it? Fortunately, our guides begin to understand our purpose and find ways to help us. Curious thing—these formal and resolute officials are turning into helpful charming people.

07:29
[Balalaika music]

07:42
[Frank Winningham] I couldn’t help wondering how we would react if a busload of Soviet tourists unloaded in Pioneer Square and began giving balloons to our children.

07:51
[Kathy Crockett] The people were so gracious when we offered balloons to their children, or when we pointed to our cameras and asked them, Mozhna, “May I?” They seems to just accept us as people who wanted to be their friends.

08:11
[Charlotte Warn] I was talking to a young Western-looking man in jeans and a leather jacket. He asked me, “Do you like Reagan?” I said I didn’t vote for him but he’s our president, and I was not here to talk about politics anyway, but to sing for peace, to express my personal belief that it is possible for all of us to live together in peace. I could tell that he didn’t really believe that I meant what I said. I asked the interpreter to tell him, “I really mean it. Please, believe me.” And I reached out and hugged him. When I looked at him again, there was a tear rolling down his cheek.

08:50
[Song: The Blue-Green Hills of Earth, by Kim Oler]

09:11
[Rose Morrison] Our first real singing engagement was one we arranged ourselves at the Moscow Baptist church. That church is one of about fifty official churches in Moscow. You hear different things about it. Some people say it is what it appears to be. Others say that it’s only a facade, a kind of showcase, to show that there is a policy of religious tolerance in the Soviet Union. I don’t know the answer.

09:42
[Bruce Hulse] There were other foreign visitors there, it’s true, but even if it is a showcase, it certainly is more than just that. You only have to look into the eyes of the people who are looking back at you to know that, or to listen to the quality of their songs. Such an explosion of feeling! I’ll never forget it.

10:05
[Singing, in Russian]

10:22
[Helen] As I sat there in the midst of their choir, I thought, These are the people our missiles are aimed at. These are the people we are preparing to destroy. How can that be? I cried so hard that the choir director got worried about me. He put his hand on my shoulder and said, “What is the matter?” I just said, “Your singing is so beautiful.”

10:48
[Singing: Alleluia, Alleluia]

11:27
[Jean Mohring] It was hard to be anything more than a tourist in Moscow. The place felt impersonal and indifferent, like most other big cities, I suppose. But in the outlying areas, Kalinin and Yaroslavl, it was different. Those towns were on a much more human scale. The people seemed more relaxed and self-assured. I think this is when I began to relax and to feel more like a welcome guest.

11:56
[Narrator] In Yaroslavl, on the banks of the majestic Volva, we discovered true Russian hospitality. In one day, we were introduced to both the ancient treasures of the city and the modern pastimes of its citizens. We tour church museums, decorated with exquisite 17th-century frescos, and we experience clubs in which people spend their leisure time. We’re invited to sing in a chapel with magnificent acoustics, and we star in a movie which members of the youth film club shot, dub, score, develop, and screen, all in one afternoon. We see a film about children’s fear of nuclear war made by children, and we’re given a song, composed especially for us, by members of a young adult club. We, in turn, present the young adults with a peace quilt sewn in Seattle, and then spend the evening talking, singing, and dancing with them. Yaroslavl is celebrating its 975th birthday, and today we celebrate, too.

13:20
[Narrator] Fabled Samarkand, conquered by Alexander, overrun by Genghis Kahn, heart of Tamerlane’s magnificent empire. For us, it is like stepping into a different world.

13:41
[music]

14:10
[Narrator] Alma Ata, meaning father of apples, is a garden city less than two-hundred miles from the Chinese border. Marco Polo came this way in his travels.

14:22
[music]

14:37
[Narrator] Reaching out seems easier in the southern cities. The people are eager to meet us, to teach us about their culture. They sing us their songs, and receive ours with enthusiasm.

14:50
[music]

15:16
[Anita Vedell (Lenges)] We were visiting the wedding palace in Alma Ata when the bride and groom came down the stairs after saying their vows. Suddenly we were in the middle of the wedding party, but no one seemed to mind. We took lots of pictures and said that we’d send them copies.

15:31
[Man singing]

15:37
\ [Lea Ann Strand] We met Vadim at the hotel bar, and he invited us to come to his flat. He took us there in a hired taxi, and asked us not to speak English as we climbed the stairs of the apartment building. Then, we all sat in his tiny room, knee to knee, listening to the Beatles, laughing, and talking politics. Since his mother was out that evening, we danced in his mama’s room.

16:02
[Man singing]

16:13
[Narrator] And now, Tashkent. The modern capital of Uzbekistan, where cotton is white gold and water sets the limits on dreams. Half-way around the world from Seattle, we have reached the sister city. Two thousand years old, with an irrigation system dating from the Roman times, the city is also progressive, and thriving. The major communication center for the Soviet Orient. An earthquake destroyed her in 1967, but Tashkents rebuilt, modern, and proud, and big. Two million people from many, many places fill this crossroads city.

17:01
[music, sounds of the city]

17:27
[Narrator] For the chorus, Tashkent is the city of ceremony, and we are honored, entertained, televised, received by the mayor. The people of Tashkent tell us how much they value our sister-city relationship as an important link between our countries.

17:46
[local chorus]

18:54
[Shirley Morrison] As we left the reception, I glanced in the showcase outside the mayor’s office. One of the “Target Seattle ”letters to the people of Tashkent was on display. Out of forty-two signatures and hundreds of letters, there was my mother’s name, Bessie Blanchard, right on the top line.

19:19
[Seattle Peace Chorus] Come young citizens of the world.
We are one. We are one.

19:30
[Bill Nielson] We took two thousand peace cranes with us, folded by Seattle-area school children. A thousand of them were folded by children at the school where I teach. And we decided to give them out in Tashkent, our sister city. Toward the end of the concert, I brought the box out on stage, and I began to tell the story of Sadako and the thousand cranes. And I noticed a lot of people in the audience began to smile. A hand went up in the back and a lady jumped out and said, “We know this story! We know this story! ”As we began to pass the cranes out, people were pushing forward eagerly to receive them. And it was a good feeling to know that the cranes that we had folded in Seattle were going to so many schools and homes and to new friends in Tashkent, our sister city.

20:16
[Seattle Peace Chorus] Peace, prosperity,
and love for all the earth.

20:34
[Burt Bokern] I said to our guide, “You know, Irena, what a lot of people in the United States are afraid of is that the Soviet Union wants to dominate the world. ”She looked at me, turned away, and stared silently out the window for a moment. When she looked back it was obvious that she was crying. “Anyone who believes that, ”she said, “can’t possibly understand how much we’ve already suffered.”

21:03
[Liz Lampert] I knew that the Soviet Union had lost 20 million in the Second World War, but that was just a number until I went there. When I visited the vast memorial in Leningrad, I began to understand what they went through.

21:23
[Woman singing: Rose Morrison]

21:31
[Scott Wyatt] They say virtually every family was affected, so when the time was right I asked my new friend, “Did your family lose anyone in the war? ”He shrugged and gave sort of a nervous laugh. “No. ”When I started to explain why I’d asked, he said, “But what do you call mother’s brother? ”I answered, “Uncle. ”“Ah, yes. Uncle, ”he said. “Five uncles were killed.”

21:59
[Seattle Peace Chorus] And only time
will heal my woe.
Johnny has gone for a soldier.

22:39
[Narrator] White knights, water, and war. The city of Leningrad is where Soviet power began, where the October revolution broke out in 1917. It was once Saint Petersburg, Venice of the north, home of the tzars. Its magnificence was praised by Voltaire, and proud guides still extoll its beauty. With its sumptuous architecture, broad boulevards, and fabulous Hermitage Museum, it feels very European, very Western and comfortable. Finally, we are very much at ease. But this is our last stop, and soon, too soon, we must leave. Determined to make the most of our final hours in the Soviet Union, we scatter about the city, taking advantage of the long summer days, to reach out to those last few people, to take the final photos, to shop, to say a hurried goodbye, each in our own way. Many of us have names of people to contact in Leningrad, and we deliver gifts and news sent along from Seattle for Soviet friends and relatives. There is a final concert at a resort outside of the city. And then, unexpectedly, one last, special, outpouring of song.

24:08
[Piano playing]

24:21 [Seattle Peace Chorus women] I am but a small voice.
I am but a small dream.
The fragrance of a flower
in the unpolluted air.

24:39
[Seattle Peace Chorus men] I am but a small voice . . .

24:41
[Jo Ashley] After the concert at the resort, people in the audience crowded around us as we tossed balloons from the stage. We shook hands and many of us embraced. It was such an intense feeling to realize we had made a real emotional connection. One woman’s eyes met mine and we cried and hugged each other. It was as if we were both experiencing the same yearning, to love one another and never have war again.

25:06
[Seattle Peace Chorus] Come young citizens of the world,
we are one.
We are one!

25:19
[Ev Winningham] One of the women said we were the first Americans she had ever seen and she was so glad to know that we wanted peace. Of course, I didn’t tell her that I was the only non-American in the group.

25:33
[Seattle Peace Chorus] We have one hope.
We have one dream.
And with one voice, we sing.

25:53
[Royce Morrison] That last night, there were just a few of us singing at midnight alone in the hotel lobby, then to a handful who clapped from a balcony.

26:01
[Lea Ann Strand] Then there were more of us with guitars, singing to a few more from East Germany, Africa, and Asia.

26:08
[Scott Wyatt] Then the lobby bulged with our forty-nine, ringed by singing, swaying, clapping friends. Above us, the railing was full of people and song. Coins fell, balloons bounced, hands held, smiles melted together. Truly this song was a gift, and it carried, for all of us, the sense that peace is possible. Not easy. Not quick. But possible.

26:33
[Seattle Peace Chorus] I am but a small voice.
I am but a small dream.
To smile upon the sun.
Be free to dance and sing.
Be free to sing my song
to everyone.
Come all citizens of the world
We are one,
we are one!
Come all citizens of the world
We are one,
we are one!
We have one hope.
We have one dream.
And with one voice,
Peace, prosperity,
and love for all the earth.
Peace, prosperity,
and love for all the earth.