Vilnius and Frank Zappa

Travel books for foreigners often mention the monument in Vilnius to musician Frank Zappa (1940-1993) among other places of interest. In his lifetime Zappa wasn’t particularly popular in the West, on the contrary, he was better known for his nonconformist and untamed spirit. This talented and productive singer and musician (among his talents are composing symphonies, directing films and his work as an activist) is virtually unknown in his native Baltimore. So the monument erected in Vilnius on the private, local initiative attracted attention of the American press (1) and made Americans question the choice of the subject of the monument. In Soviet Lithuania, Frank Zappa was considered not just any rock musician and creative artist; he became a voice of freedom that managed to filter though the Iron Curtain and the wall of official propaganda. For decades Vilnius existed in a completely different cultural, social and political context. The Soviet regime tried to control public and private life totally, and even daily life had to acquire acceptable and ideologically trustworthy forms (2). People lived and worked, and even died according to the Codex of builder of communism (3). In this system of total adherence and control, citizens of Vilnius tried to create and keep at least small islands of respite from the Soviet reality of the Gulag Archipelago (4). Despite the compulsory attendance of mind numbing State Festivals (5), and in spite of compulsory membership in all the communistic youth organisations simply because there was no alternative way (6), and despite official art and music which ordinary citizens tried to avoid for sanity’s sake (7), there were alternatives appearing, barely visible signs that normal life existed behind the Iron Curtain (8). Zappa’s music and lyrics were one of those things that reminded people from Vilnius of some existing alternatives to the Kremlin controlled reality (9). It may sound controversial, but Frank Zappa’s life and work became ingrained in Vilnius citizens’ memory, very much as a sign of a certain period. Just like empty shelves in the shops and constant shortage of basic goods (10), just like Soviet tanks in Afghanistan (11) and Leonid Brezhnev’s warm embrace kissing Erich Honecker of the German Democratic Republic (12).