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.

Appalachia

Appalachia

The theme for the week had us listening to "Banks of the Ohio" in the version of Clarence Ashley and Doc Watson and "Will the circle be unbroken" in the versions of the Carter family, and Clarence Ashley and Doc Watson. While listening to "Banks of the Ohio" I chose not to interpret it as literal, but as a song about the end of a relationship. Even-so, the song was very disturbing and I questioned what the purpose of its creation was and what the people that enjoyed listening to it thought of the song. 

I preferred the Ollie Gilbert version of "Banks of the Ohio" because it excluded the overly joyous rhythm. It felt much more stripped down and honest which seems especially important in this song. "Will the circle be unbroken" was a completely different feel. It evoked a strong sense of religion and the idea of heaven. I enjoyed this song a lot more. However it was also enjoyable to hear Clarence and Doc, especially after hearing "the Cuckoo Bird" song and the comments they had regarding record studios as lacking knowledge of the folk music they produce. For this song I preferred the performance version because although it is a song about death it was also very much a song about moving forward. The Carter family really knew how to put on a show and after reading the "Maybelle Carter and the Carter Family" article I learned what a pioneer Maybelle was in the folk music movement. 

Before starting on my piece I researched the Appalachian region to understand the place that these songs and artist came from. I learned that it is known as an impoverished and isolated place where people ended up there out of necessity. Taking all of these things into consideration I created a dark landscape of the Appalachia's where a family is shown in the foreground united by a campfire. The little girl in the front is meant to represent the innocence children possess under even the toughest circumstances.