Reflecting on Songs and Places

 

(On the left is a picture of my mom in 1980 and on the right the boy wearing a leather fringe jacket is my dad in 1965. Tony, I thought you would appreciate these old images of my family that I picked on my last trip to Mexico. These pictures are hung up in my bedroom wall as a reminder of my history, my family, and also as a reminder of time.)

Reflecting on Songs and Places

I am never late but somehow I was late to my first day of Songs and Places. I shuffled through the students in Wurster and made my way into class. The first thing I saw were my classmates huddled around a lamp above the center of the table. "What's your name?" said Tony. "Kimberly" I uttered. "Becerril!" exclaimed Tony. "You're Kevin Becerril's little sister! I recognized you after you smiled!" continued Tony. The conversation preceded into the place I grew up and how his grandmother is practically my neighbor. In those first minutes of class, I went from being totally frantic to feeling like I was talking to an old friend. In that moment I knew I was in the right place at the right time.

Having the opportunity to set time aside for my creatiåvity this semester helped me develop my art and kept me moving forward during difficult weeks. I learned to make art when I was not in the mood of it. Honestly my best pieces were created when I was not feeling very great. I let my emotions take over and documenting those moments helped me move on. It felt as though I had given that specific concern, thought, or emotion justice and the attention it deserved.

Tony's approach in teaching went beyond showing us the folk music by showing us the history that shaped and transformed it. Norton Juster, an American author, wrote this, "[t]he most important reason for going from one place to another is to see what's in between, and they took great pleasure in doing just that." By "they" I am sure he was referring to Tony and his class. Tony approached this class by giving us a history of the people that made these folk songs. A sad history that exemplifies the complications of being a migrator, an African American, having a broken heart, etc. But also about the beautiful history of humans and our ability to fall in love and sing about the silliest things because they makes us happy.

The fact that we have the resources to know about these songs is attributed to the importance of documenting and having someone like Alan Lomax travel across the country recording music of the people experiencing the best, the worst, and the in between of living in the U.S. It also reveals the power the white man has on the black folk. Without Lomax artists like Leadbelly, a second time prisoner, might not be recognized today thus leaving a dent in our t knowledge of the people who represented a large scale of America.

Artist like Taj Mahal, Mississippi John Hurt (MJH), and Leadbelly, only to name a few were story tellers and historians. Taj Mahal's pride in his West Indian and African ancestry influenced his eclectic sounds. His incorporation of sounds from the Caribbean, South African, and the South Pacific changed the way Blues is played today. Although MJH was a musician since his childhood he became famous until his 70s. A large part results from recording in the beginning of the Great Depression. Another artist strongly affected by the time of his release was Woody Guthrie. The Dust Bowl pushed him and his family out of Oklahoma making him resonate with the common man. Because of his displacement, he was able to empathize with all of those who migrated away from their homes. Similar to Guthrie, who was portrayed as the common man, I see Leadbelly as the exemplary American black folk. The stigma Leadbelly never moved past because of his history as an ex-convict does not surprise me. Long after his claim to fame and his obvious change in lifestyle, he was constantly portrayed as the black convict.

Each of the songs we listened to taught me something different. Leadbelly's "In the Pines" for example pushed me to see beyond the lyrics and to form a story for myself. The song is about infidelity but it fails to reveal the other side of the story. For my piece I drew a female going from facing forward to crying. It is meant to be up for interpretation but my goal was to make my audience question where those tears are emerging from. Is it sadness from loving someone that is not healthy for her? Is it from feeling trapped? The possibilities are endless. I attribute this piece to Lida who always pushed the boundaries by unapologetically questioning, analyzing, and critiquing these songs throughout the semester.

After signing up for this class, the thought of sitting through a 4 hour long class seemed daunting. However, the songs that I learned, the singing that we did, and the various artistic interpretations that I saw made it all worthwhile. I feel lucky for the opportunity to be in a class where I was surrounded by classmates who shared their song interpretations each week. I looked forward to the differences and similarities amongst our artworks. Differences in a general sense were expected but the images some of my classmates produced for various weeks kept me pushing myself to think past what felt safe. Also the weeks where we all created similar artworks gave me a sense of universality in emotions.

After every class I walked out feeling like the class was all in my head and it could not possibly be real. Something that unless you went to class would be difficult to fully grasp and understand. With a professor who took interest in our life and the history of our origin, and who shared the stories of those he loved and those that shaped him makes this class incomparable. Thank you for a great semester Tony! I look forward to our dinner at Kingman.

Country Blues: The Mississippi Delta

Country Blues: The Mississippi Delta

The Southern United States has been a treasure chest for U.S. culture. African-Americans were and continue being tremendous influencers in various areas of art and culture, particularly in the music industry. As African-Americans began migrating north their music transformed along the way. This movement really took off during WWI as the demand for industrial workers pulled southerners and women to jobs. Country blues evolved from the Folk and Blues scene in the south. Country Blues itself transformed in the 1960s to Folk Blues which was mostly targeted towards white, college aged people.

For my final week I drew inspiration from Robert Johnson's "Sweet Home Chicago." Johnson recorded this song in 1937, making it an anthem for those leaving their homes because of the Great Depression. "Sweet Home Chicago" references a variety of cities and states including Kokomo, California, and Chicago. My favorite interpretation of Johnson's song was that "the song was intended to be a metaphorical description of an imagined paradise combining elements of the American north and west, far from the racism and poverty inherent to the Mississippi Delta of 1936" (Knopper, Steve).

"Sweet Home Chicago" is also very much about longing for the place you have left. During the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl most of America was forced to leave the homes and places where their family lived for generations. They moved to places where they were not always welcomed, making their move that much harder. The lyrics "oh baby don't you want to go" sounds like the necessary pleading needed to convince someone to follow them away from their home and the people they love.

For my piece I made an abstract black and white city. I imagined looking at a city for the first time whilst acknowledging that I may never return to the life I use to know. I entangled the buildings, and railways together to illustrate feeling overwhelmed by a new place, especially a city.

Immigration, migration, or simply movement is a natural part of surviving. Whether it is towards colder or warmer climate (for the animal kingdom) or away from the governing elite that are no longer serving the values its residents want to be a part of. It is incredible that some of todays society is fearful, and against migration, even though it is something that allowed humans to survive and thrive above other genera.

With the early morning sunlight I wake to read about Syrian refugees and the hostility and discrimination some people and countries have made so clear. I hope things will change and the importance of migration historically is acknowledged. I hope we welcome these refugees with open arms because entering into a new place and having to call it home is not easy. 

Woody Guthrie

Woody Guthrie

Known for symbolizing the common man, Woody Guthrie's songs have the ability to resinate to a vast variety of people. In Studs Terkel introduction of Woody Guthrie he really hits the nail on the head when he quotes Guthrie, "I am out to sing songs that will prove to you that this is your world[...]." Guthrie connected with so many different walks of life because he made them feel significant and validated. Guthrie was also set on bringing honesty to the American people. For that reason he ridiculed Irving Berlin's song "God Bless America." In a time when people felt ashamed and embarrassed about the places they came from, he was a source of strength and pride. In particular as a local to Oklahoma, he was part of a place that was most discriminated during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression.

For this week I focused on Guthrie's song, "So Long It's Been Good to Know You." A decade into living through the Great Depression and Dust Bowl, most of America connected with his lyrics about the troubles that come when being forced to leave the place they call home. The Dust Bowl pushed people out of their homes and because it occurred around the same time as the market crash the places they migrated to were not welcoming.

The beauty and appeal to Guthrie is in his capacity to convey a genuine story in his songs. Because I too wanted to be genuine with my response to his song I drew inspiration from the thought of losing a friend, which is a very persistent reality as a college student. In this image I focused on portraying emotion because, like Woody Guthrie, I want this piece to connect with all walks of life that may have a different story than my own.

Leadbelly

Leadbelly

It is incredible to grasp the significance of the Lomax's in folk music history. Without their curiosity and desire to record the traditional American songs of the early 1900s I would not have the resources to listen to those songs. The dynamics of time and necessity were great reasons for their tour across America. With the Great Depression hitting hard on the 1930s, John Lomax's children pushed him to record these songs as a source of occupation when so much of the U.S. was struggling. Alan Lomax in particular was interested in prisons for negro music. Unlike the mainstream negro jazz meant to entertain its white audience, Alan saw the music created and sung in prisons as pure because those singing were isolated from the masses and therefore singing for themselves and their own desires.

On one of their trips to a prison, they were shocked to realize that prisoners were prohibited to sing while working on the field. A place where the Lomax's knew negroes were known to sing. In spite of such revelation, they met Huddie Ledbetter better known as Leadbelly. Leadbelly was 42 years old at the time and was facing his second term in prison (for attempted homicide). The Lomax's recorded Leadbelly for the Library of Congress in 1933. Leadbelly was released after serving his minimum sentence in 1934. Unfortunately, Leadbelly was released during the worst time in the Great Depression. Although he acquired fame from his music, he never acquired wealth from it.

Leadbelly left a huge legacy in music. Inspiring artists like Bob Dylan, Elvis, and Kurt Cobain to name a few. The piece that I made is inspired by Lead Belly's "In the Pines." The song is about a man questioning where his partner's fidelity by asking where she spent the night whilst saying that she probably did not spend it out in the pines where it is cold at night. The sound of the song is really dark and sad. The purpose of my piece was to show the complexity of the situation. It is not meant to reveal whether or not the woman cheated but rather to show the depth and complexity of a relationship. I made three separate pieces to show a sequence of emotions in a storyboard-like presentation. The piece is up for interpretation and can be seen as revealing strength, sadness, courage, or embarrassment.

Songster II

Project: Songster II

By definition a songster is a traveling musician which in a way goes hand in hand with folk music. The way folk music became such a powerful staple in the U.S. was through its ability to travel and resonate throughout towns and those that neighbored them.

For this week I focused my piece around "Fishin' Blues" by Taj Mahal. I gravitated towards this song because it somehow seemed simple and honest, with a blues and folk sound. After reading about Taj Mahal the honesty in this song made sense. Mahal grew up in a musical family, both his father and mother had music in their daily life. Taj Mahal also experienced the tragic death of his father when he was eleven, thus rendering a different perspective and grasp on life than most kids. Taj Mahal in the most fundamental sense is the poster boy of what songster means. His parents instilled pride and knowledge about his West Indian and South African history thus propagating a sense of distance and displacement. Moreover, I was surprised to read that Taj Mahal was really into farming and for a while he chose it over music. His life felt very circular when I read about his philosophy towards farming, "You have a whole generation of kids who think everything comes out of a box and a can, and they don't know you can grow most of your food." This quote particularly resonates with "Fishin' Blues" because it is about having good bait in order to capture fish. Nothing too complex. After farming for a couple of years he went back to college to study music and formed band.

MJH/Songster Tradition

Project: Mississippi John Hurt / Songster Tradition

John Hurt had two periods of rising to fame. The first was in the late 1920's which was not successful because of the stock market crash in 1929. Thereafter he returned to the farm life in Mississippi. His second rise to fame came the 1960's during the folk revival effort. Tom Hoskins, a musicologist and blues enthusiast, looked for Hurt in hopes of performing once again.

The piece above was influenced by John Hurt's song "Coffee Blues" which was created in 1965, only a year before his death in 1966. The song is playful and soothing but also very cleaver. The song is about the desire of getting an ex-girlfriend back but it might only for sex. The song is constantly referring to sex when John utters "I wanna see my baby 'bout a lovin spoonful, my lovin spoonful." Growing up in a farm in the early 1900s and almost claiming fame right before one of the most devastating market crashes and then once again receiving public attention in later years created a very unique life for Hurt. In spite of the bad timing of his career with historical events, his persevering and light-hearted personality really comes through in this colorful song. It's almost as though he knows that the only way to make it through life is by not taking things too seriously.

Appalachia II - The British Ballads

Project: Appalachia II - The British Ballads

My song of choice for the week was "Comin' Thro' the Rye" by Julie London. This song felt very sensual and very much about the physicality and movement of two people. It is odd knowing that this song started off as a tradition child's song by Robert Burns, a Scottish author. The intensity of this song is overwhelming however when looking beyond that, at its most bare, it is about relationships between people. It is about finding that other person to share experiences with. In this piece the woman's body position and the hand on her back is meant to represent a captured moment in time of a developing relationship.

In "Cecil Sharp in America" he notes that the songs of the Appalachia were "traditional songs and ballads which their English and Scottish ancestors had brought out with them at the time of their emigration." Due to the geography of the mountains and social pressure, Appalachians were isolated those songs were preserved for a couple hundreds of years. These songs deal with the wonders and troubles of love, something universal. Thus, transcending those Ballads across oceans and managing to continue to resonate with people. There American counterparts are however much more specific to the concerns of the Appalachians, thus localizing the problems that were sung.