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Sunday, 24 November 2019
Saturday, 23 November 2019
Country Music: The Hillbilly Shakespeare and more; 5 Episodes; Ken Burns
Country Music by Ken Burns
From the beginnings until 1933:
"After centuries of percolating in the American South, what was first called hillbilly music began to reach more people through the new technologies of phonographs and radio. The Carter Family, with their ballads and old hymns, and Jimmie Rodgers, with his combination of blues and yodelling, became its first big stars".
My photos - JP
To the Hillbilly Shakespeare:
Excuse me while I get my guitar and play a little country song I composed
called “Thank you, Hank”:
“I enjoyed the good music,
Thank you, Hank.
I loved that sad singing,
Thank you Hank.
As I sit here and booze,
I share all your blues,
Thank you Hank,
Thank you Hank,
Thank you, Hank.”
And a poem:
Blue Ridge Mountains
Blue Ridge mountain horseback ride;
Down the forest track in Fall.
The owl is watching. The coyote prowls.
The deer are grazing; quilts are stitched
In the Shenandoah valley.
Country singers entertain us:
Bluegrass or Nashville, they glorify war.
Photos taken in Bristol, Tennessee/Virginia;
Franklin, Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee;
Franklin, Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee;
Nisbet, Mississippi; Ferriday, Louisiana;
The Carter Family Fold, Hiltons, Virginia.
Update 8th December, 2019
Just listened to a BBC World Service radio broadcast, Wars and Peace, Boston Calling, which included an item on bluegrass music, about the band Che Apalache wanting to make bluegrass music more inclusive. Joe Troop, who's committed to international artistic dialogue, talked of division-based politics in the USA. Elsewhere (Billboard) he had talked of the rise of white nationalism, of fear and mistrust, of "foreigners" being deemed a threat by the government and fellow citizens. In the BBC programme, he said "Bluegrass audiences are wide-ranging but sometimes you'll encounter hate speech at bluegrass festivals a sort of symbolism that encroaches on other people's comfort...I think that bluegrass, when it was coming into existence, wasn't that at all; it's been estranged from what it really is".
It made me think of my old Blue Ridge Mountains poem (above), which ends:
Only a very few songs do so, I admit. The real stuff remains among my favourite forms of music.
The Carter Family Fold, Hiltons, Virginia.
Update 8th December, 2019
Just listened to a BBC World Service radio broadcast, Wars and Peace, Boston Calling, which included an item on bluegrass music, about the band Che Apalache wanting to make bluegrass music more inclusive. Joe Troop, who's committed to international artistic dialogue, talked of division-based politics in the USA. Elsewhere (Billboard) he had talked of the rise of white nationalism, of fear and mistrust, of "foreigners" being deemed a threat by the government and fellow citizens. In the BBC programme, he said "Bluegrass audiences are wide-ranging but sometimes you'll encounter hate speech at bluegrass festivals a sort of symbolism that encroaches on other people's comfort...I think that bluegrass, when it was coming into existence, wasn't that at all; it's been estranged from what it really is".
It made me think of my old Blue Ridge Mountains poem (above), which ends:
"Country singers entertain us:
Bluegrass or Nashville, they glorify war". Only a very few songs do so, I admit. The real stuff remains among my favourite forms of music.
John Amos Comenius, Otakar Vočadlo Remembered in Bridport, Dorset; Horatio Morpurgo, Multiplying the Light
A rainy night, but I drove to Bridport, to listen to Horatio Morpurgo talk at the splendidly restored Literary and Scientific Institute.
MULTIPLYING THE LIGHT NOVEMBER 1989: WHAT EUROPE EAST AND WEST CAN STILL LEARN - 30 YEARS ON, AN EVENING WITH JOURNALIST HORATIO MORPURGO
I've never read Comenius's The Way of Light (Via Lucis) - John Amos Comenius, The Way of Light, translated by E. T. Campagnac (The University Press of Liverpool, printed by Hodder and Stoughton (London), 1938), but it was fascinating to learn about a book that it is almost impossible to obtain in the UK, or online. Comenius wrote it in England, 1641-1642.
I did search my shelves to find some other books, as a result of the stimulating and thoughtful talk by Horatio Morpurgo. I bought them both in Prague in the 1980's, before the Velvet Revolution.
https://huenemanniac.com/2015/03/24/comenius-the-way-of-light/
Comenius and contemporary education; an international symposium, UNESCO Digital Library
Comenius and contemporary education; an international symposium, UNESCO Digital Library
"Frustrated by the fragmentation of European institutions of higher education, along with their tendency to impose knowledge authoritatively and discourage critical thinking, Comenius advocated the creation of a universal college. In Way of Light, which he wrote while visiting England in 1641 and 1642, Comenius outlined his vision for establishing universal textbooks and schools, a common language, and a pansophic college. Comenius believed that a pansophic college would contribute to the establishment of an intellectual and spiritual consensus in the world by propelling, steering, and coordinating the research of all scholars. This "college of light" would be located in a prominent and accessible locale and utilize a common language in order to facilitate the inclusion of all European scholars of prominence. It would also govern an ideal world and disseminate knowledge so that an understanding of God's creations and glory would not become the exclusive possession of the privileged. Such an institution would therefore unite all human beings in the world both culturally and religiously. Although the pansophic college never came about, Comenius's treatise inspired the establishment of the Royal Society in England (founded in 1662) and the Berlin Royal Academy of Sciences (founded in 1700)".
See also:
Otakar Vočadlo (1895-1974) by M. C. Bradbrook
The Slavonic and East European Review
Vol. 53, No. 133 (Oct., 1975), pp. 579-581 (3 pages)
Bradbrook, M. C. “Otakar Vočadlo (1895-1974).” The Slavonic and East European Review, vol. 53, no. 133, 1975, pp. 579–581.
Lay, Lady, Lay ( Alternate Version)
5am. A pleasant surprise, an email from bobdylan.com, inviting me to "hear the first take of one of Dylan's most seminal recordings, featuring his original handwritten lyrics".
Bob Dylan - Lay, Lady, Lay (Take 2 - Alternate Version)
Friday, 22 November 2019
From Gospel to Rock 'n' Roll
Little Richard thought that he had discovered that exciting train rhythm! The beat is discussed by Charles Connor in "Rock 'n' Roll America" (from 54.45 minute point).
There's a man goin' round taking names...
"The song builds on "It Must Be Jesus" by the Southern Tones, which Ray Charles was listening to on the radio while on the road with his band in the summer of 1954. He and a member of his band, trumpeter Renald Richard, penned a song that was built along a gospel-frenetic pace with secular lyrics and a jazz-inspired rhythm and blues (R&B) background" - Wikipedia
Gospel and Trad Jazz
NPR Ia, Friday Radio News Roundup, 22 November, Washington DC
With Nina-Maria and other guests, Friday News Roundup, WAMU 1a, hosted by Joshua Johnson (who, very sadly, is soon to leave 1a). Thank you, Joshua!
Always interesting to have the US perspective from the heart of Washington DC (including brief discussion of the media coverage of Prince Andrew's controversial TV interview).
Listen:
https://the1a.org/topic/friday-news-roundup
"For the international discussion, we spoke with Moises Naim, a chief international columnist for El Pais; Rosalind Jordan, a State & Specials correspondent for Al Jazeera; and Nina Maria Potts, the Director of Global News Coverage for Feature Story News" - NPR
More from WAMU
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