This coming Monday (January 21, 2019), marks the birthday of the inspirational man at the center of the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. was born 90 years ago, on Jan. 15, 1929. This year marks the 51st commemoration of Dr. King’s death (April 4), and the 56th Anniversary of the Great March on Washington.
Stephen L. Fiske attended the historic march when he was 17 and had just graduated from the High School of Music and Art in New York City. Stephen traveled to Washington DC for the Great March and the event changed his life. Years later, he wrote the song ”We Carry the Dream” as a tribute to Dr.King with fellow songwriter Sophia Roberts.
In 2018, Stephen recorded his original song, with a full band, and produced with filmmaker Robert Corsini, a music video for ”We Carry the Dream”.
The 5 ½ minute music/video tribute to Dr. King features Stephen on guitar and vocals, pianist Hal Ratliff, drummer Rayford Griffin, bassist Jeff Breeh, a horn section led by Jeffery Clayton, and multiple singers. The video includes archival footage from the Civil Rights Movement and up-to-date clips from recent marches including the MLK parades, Women’s Marches, the recent teen protests from the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and other historic events in recent times from multiple locations in the US and abroad, portraying the quest for peace, justice, freedom, and equality.
Stephen Rohde, Chair, Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace. writes of the music video: “In this extraordinary video celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, Stephen Fiske, an exquisite musician and composer, and Robert Corsini, a consummate documentary filmmaker, have combined forces to produce a poignant and powerful tribute to Dr. King. Fiske’s original composition “We Carry the Dream,” provides a rousing and urgent soundtrack for Corsini’s masterful tableau of indelible images of King and his supporters “praying with our feet,” in the inspiring words of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, King’s partner in the civil rights struggle. Going far beyond any routine music video, “We Carry the Dream” comes at a time of renewed activism and puts the burden squarely on our shoulders to carry on King’s visionary work to end the evils of racism, militarism, and materialism. “
You can view the video, a Jerusalem Prayer Project production, below of ”We Carry the Dream”, which honors an extraordinary man — the great Martin Luther King Jr.
