Music an instrumental part of Obama inaugural fetes

WASHINGTON - "Someone is trying to make music somewhere," the poet Elizabeth Alexander read yesterday from the steps of the Capitol. "With a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum, with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice."

Indeed, during the three-day celebration of the inauguration of President Obama, it often seemed as if everyone was making music everywhere.

In sports arenas and on the steps of national monuments, in small clubs and at inaugural galas whose talent list included Stevie Wonder, Kanye West, and the reunited members of the (Grateful) Dead, there was a collective musical outpouring throughout the District of Columbia.

Singers and rappers made an honest effort not to get too giddy while the country is "in the midst of crisis," as Obama put it in his inaugural address, while celebrating the historic election of the nation's first black president.

Some of the music they played used cello, like the contemplative new John Williams composition, "Air and Simple Gifts," performed by the cellist Yo-Yo Ma (a featured artist on the First iPod), along with Itzhak Perlman, Gabriela Montero and Anthony McGill.

But most of it employed more vernacular forms of instrumentation - drums and keyboards, guitars and vocals - that reflected the pop-music predilections of the new president, and echoed the inaugural festivities' populist message of unity.

So instead of an opera singer, Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, was the featured soloist yesterday morning, delivering a husky, grainy version of "My Country 'Tis Of Thee" that got its "Let freedom ring" message across loud and clear, even if it was almost upstaged by the bejeweled bow on her hat.

The song had special significance - Marian Anderson sang it at the Lincoln Memorial in 1939 after being banned from nearby Constitution Hall because of her race. Still, it would have been more musically satisfying to hear 'Retha try to outdo Ray Charles on "America the Beautiful."

With a new president they see as simpatico, many musicians couldn't help but crow. At a Rock the Vote party at the 9:30 Club on Monday, Sheryl Crow opened up with the obvious - "A Change Would Do You Good" - and ad-libbed "I've been crying for eight years" in her song "Can't Cry Anymore."

Much of the pop-music world, and the hip-hop community in particular, sees Obama's election as a personal victory. "I always knew we were going to be instrumental in electing the first black president," Sean "Diddy" Combs told a hip-hop symposium at Howard University this week. He was ringside for the swearing-in, along with Jay-Z and Beyoncé, whose version of Etta James' "At Last" was the Obamas' first dance last night, at the Neighborhood Ball, as the nation's first couple.

"Music has always been the creative heartbeat of the American experience," Denzel Washington said at the Lincoln Memorial during Sunday's opening ceremony.

That truism was brought vividly to life this week. Bettye LaVette turned in a soul-searing performance at the memorial of Sam Cooke's civil-rights-era classic "A Change Is Gonna Come." Bruce Springsteen and Pete Seeger gave Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land" a full airing, with often-omitted protest verses restored to their rightful place.

Judging from their screams, the schoolgirls at Monday's Kids' Inaugural: We Are the Future concert at the Verizon Center would also seem to be among the administration's most ardent supporters. Or maybe it was Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, and the Jonas Brothers who were the objects of their affection.

Strangely enough, that free concert, with tickets distributed to military families, was only three-quarters full, suggesting that the famous efficiency of the Obama campaign might not carry over to handing out ducats to pint-size fans.

Still, the size of the crowd didn't seem to diminish the decibel level. Among the shriekers: First Kids Sasha and Malia. The sisters risked going on stage during the Jonas Brothers' last number, even though the JoBros were, as their song put it, "Burnin' Up."