Go Tell It in Berlin

In Berlin one day last week, a rosy-cheeked little girl stepped out before an audience of oldsters and read a German translation of the song they were about to hear. When she finished, the beaming Negro at the piano sounded a chord and his whole chorus of German children, aged seven to 15, burst into Go Tell It on the Mountain--in Southern-accented English. After I'm Certainly Glad To Be Born Again and Mary Had a Baby, Yes, Lord, sung in the same manner, the oldsters were shiny-eyed and smiling.

Seven times last week, in Berlin hospitals and homes for the aged, the choristers repeated their Christmas program. Few if any in the audiences had ever heard a Negro spiritual before. Their fervent verdict: "Beautiful."

The word meant more than hall-shaking ovations to the pianist, Georgia-born Parker Watkins, 41. He went to Berlin in September as a singer in the Hall Johnson Choir, stayed on at the request of the director of Berlin's Amerika Haus. The director's idea: to attract German children by teaching them American songs.

Only twelve children showed up for the first class. Watkins had to explain everything through an interpreter, but somehow the twelve caught his enthusiasm and spread the word. Before long he had 60 youngsters from all over West Berlin.

Watkins writes the words in English on a blackboard, uses his richly pliable face to teach their pronunciation. The children repeat after him until they have learned the words by heart, then they begin to sing. At first, says Watkins, "their voices were wild and flat. I used to tell them, 'You are so pretty, why should you sing so ugly?' " He teaches most songs in two-part harmony, some spirituals in three, often joining in himself as a fourth. Their favorite: Ol' Man River.

Now, with West Berlin radio stations preparing to broadcast recorded songs and Christmas carols by his chorus, and a busy round of performances ahead, Parker Watkins' own enthusiasm overreaches that of his kids. He wants to bring the chorus "up to 100-200 if possible--and to stay as long as I can."

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