Monday, November 2, 2015

Chi-chi Nwanoku: Dominique-René de Lerma...Farewell my dear friend and inspiration. Your life's work...has been immense.

Chi-chi Nwanoku & Dominique-René S. de Lerma

Chi-chi Nwanoku writes:

Dear William

I was so saddened to hear the news of the death of our dear friend Dominique-René de Lerma. He will be sorely missed by us all. i posted something on Facebook, and would be equally happy if you felt you would like to post it on the Africlassical site. This is what I wrote:-
Dominique-René de Lerma...Farewell my dear friend and inspiration. Your life's work researching and documenting black composers over the centuries has been immense. Having been part of the Civil Rights movement, marching on Washington (amongst others) you gave up your career as a professional oboist following the assassination of Dr King and selflessly devoted yourself to uncovering the history of black composers and musicians. Virtually every international historian I interviewed for my BBC R4 series 'In Search of the Black Mozart had sourced their knowledge from you. I was honoured to meet you and interview you for this too. You were a font of all knowledge, all roads led to you and you will be sorely missed. Thank you for everything you gave us. RIP Dominique-René de Lerma xxx
Here are a couple of photos of us in February 2015 that were taken in his study, immediately after his recorded interview for my BBC R4 series In search of the Black Mozart http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05wkkrf/episodes/player.


Thank you 

Best wishes

Chi-chi Nwanoku MBE, FRAM

Chineke! Foundation http://chineke.org/
BBC R4: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05wkkrf/episodes/guide
Skype: chichinwanoku
Website: http://www.chi-chinwanoku.com

OAE: http://www.oae.co.uk

chichinwanoku@me.com

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