Music in the Parks----- Suzuki violin students performing in Rideau Park of Brandon

With the water tower looming large in the background, and against setting sun, a group of Suzuki violin students are giving performance in Rideau Park with their beautiful music resonating with every person in the audience in the beautiful park setting  late on Thursday afternoon. One piece of music Swanee River by Stephen Foster stirred up deeply trenched memory of mine. Over 30 years ago, when Mainland China was just about to step out of the shadow of the Mao's decades of brutal rein, suddenly we were able to hear something not just revolutionary, interestingly it was Stephen Foster's songs and Charlie Chaplin's silent movies that got to be introduced to Chinese audience first! I still remember how Stephen Foster's songs came to the air like a breath of fresh air! His songs such as Beautiful Dreamer , I dream of Jenny with light Brown Hair, My old Kentucky Home, and Swanee River, etc are forever linked with the most memorable part of my life. Now after so many decades,  hearing  it flowing out of violins of these young performers , I suddenly felt being taken back to those few dreamy years of my life. I did this quick oil sketch on location as if trying to  pay a personal tribute to a special memory of mine.