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Licko keeps Celtic culture alive through her music - Campbell University
Born in Eastern North Carolina, singer Jennifer Licko was drawn to Celtic culture as a child. Her Aunt Jo Moore-Kalat runs a school for Scottish dance and from an early age Licko performed in Highland dance competitions, feeling a distinct connection with her Celtic roots. But the idea to pursue a career in Celtic music didn’t really dawn on her until she became a music education major at East Carolina University. “A voice teacher of mine actually encouraged me to sing Celtic music, and I fell in love with it and moved to Scotland,” she joked. In reality, it wasn’t that simple. First Licko had to convince a reluctant Rotary scholarship board that Gaelic was an important language to study. “The Rotary scholarship I had applied for provided continuing education abroad and required the recipient to learn a language,” Licko explained. “Because Gaelic was a dying language, the board thought it didn’t meet the language requirement. I argued just the opposite.” Licko insisted that losing a language is the same as losing a culture therefore it becomes even more important to learn the Gaelic language in order to preserve it. The board finally agreed, and Licko eventually spent four summers - more available