Your Story - Katarina Cerny

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 04:00:00

Your Story - Katarina Cerny

Katarina Cerny

Dick recently talked to Tim Brooks about his CD called "Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry," which won a Grammy this year as Best Historical Album. Tim pointed out that these recordings aren't simply archival. They had a huge impact on the musical landscape of their own day, including on the European composer, Antonin Dvorak.

That program inspired Katarina Cerny to e-mail The Story:

When I was a child growing up in the former Czechoslovakia in the 1950s and 60s, my father sang Negro spirituals every night to me and my sister. Even though I did not understand the words, I (like Dvorak) loved the melodies. I always wondered why my father, who trained as an opera singer, was so drawn to the spirituals…
-Katarina Cerny

Katarina's father recorded himself singing some of his favorite spirituals before he died of cancer. Katarina talks to Dick about how much it means to her now to hear her father sing, and how the spirituals touched his heart.

See a photo of Katarina and her father
Listen to Katarina's father sing "Ma Curly Headed Baby"

The Story from American Public Media - Your Story - Katarina Cerny

Your Story - Katarina Cerny

Your Story - Katarina Cerny