"There are countless horrible things happening all over the world and horrible people prospering, but we must never allow them to disturb our equanimity or deflect us from our sacred duty to sabotage and annoy them whenever possible." -Auberon Waugh
Monday, May 3, 2021
Classical corner
From Aaron Copland's
Appalachian Spring, Part Four, "The Revivalist and His Flock".
There was huge interest in authentic folk music right up the the mid-1960s - maybe The Beatles and what followed are what killed it I guess.
But in 1965 a New Yorker? named David Hoffman went into the Appalachians to find authentic folk culture and made some great films: https://youtu.be/vJB_HGdGfic
which may be the last time anyone cared about those folks. Aaron Copeland was an urban intellectual who found popularity when he dove into folk culture, just as Dvorak and Bartok had done in Europe before. This is my favorite Copeland piece by a mile.
Yes Mike, and it's sad that a lot of those quirky old traditions are getting harder to find now - white, brown, black, yellow or whatever. We're all becoming homogenized.
Another example is computerised recording of music where a rigid mechanical beat is imposed, while say Jimi Hendix had a unique changing rhythm and you can watch Youtube videos explaining that too. I guess despite the censorship on Youtube I'm grateful that technology has given me these insights, even though technology is causing the problem at the same time - the irony of modernity, we're caught in a double bind.
There was huge interest in authentic folk music right up the the mid-1960s - maybe The Beatles and what followed are what killed it I guess.
ReplyDeleteBut in 1965 a New Yorker? named David Hoffman went into the Appalachians to find authentic folk culture and made some great films:
https://youtu.be/vJB_HGdGfic
which may be the last time anyone cared about those folks. Aaron Copeland was an urban intellectual who found popularity when he dove into folk culture, just as Dvorak and Bartok had done in Europe before. This is my favorite Copeland piece by a mile.
That's a classic, Bruce.
ReplyDeleteThere are some other excellent Bluegrass videos by David Hoffman on YouTube that are well worth watching.
Yes Mike, and it's sad that a lot of those quirky old traditions are getting harder to find now - white, brown, black, yellow or whatever. We're all becoming homogenized.
ReplyDeleteAnother example is computerised recording of music where a rigid mechanical beat is imposed, while say Jimi Hendix had a unique changing rhythm and you can watch Youtube videos explaining that too. I guess despite the censorship on Youtube I'm grateful that technology has given me these insights, even though technology is causing the problem at the same time - the irony of modernity, we're caught in a double bind.
One of my favourite Aussie folk songs is Bill Scott's 'Hey Rain':
ReplyDeletehttps://mainlynorfolk.info/danny.spooner/songs/heyrain.html
Must be Youtubes of it you can find. First heard it 50 years ago and never forgot it, so simple but evocative.
Never heard 'Hey Rain' before.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful tune.
Thanks Bruce.
Kinda reminds me of my time as a roadie for Lester Coombs.
He liked the Aussie bush ballads.