Folk Music and Modern Sound

Ethnic and Popular Style in America

Ethnic and Popular Style in America Richard Spottswood IT IS GOOD to note that the seventies have brought about an enlargement of the arena devoted to the study and discussion of American popular and folk music to include the current and historic activities of ethnic minority elements of our society. The survey of what, for want of a better term, is called "ethnic" music has already begun to prove particularly rewarding, as is evidenced by the fine work being done by scholars like Mark Slobin and Charlie Keil. My own interest in ethnic music evolved while I was in the process of editing and selecting materials for the Library of Congress record series, Folk Music in America, beginning in 1974. I knew from the start that I wanted to obtain and use some folk-styled performances from non-English-speaking cultures, but I had little notion of where to begin or what sort of music would prove aesthetically rewarding as well as being useful documentation. But I only needed to scratch the surface to find that the same stalwart record companies who had immortalized Jimmie Rodgers, the Skillet Lickers, and Bessie Smith had, with equal vigor, tapped the roots of vital folk and popular music cultures from nearly every ethnic group in America. What's more, they had been doing it practically since the birth of the commercial recording industry in the 1890s. And it took only a little further surface scratching to discover 60 Ethnic and Popular Style in America 61 that some of that music can still be heard today often in the environs in which it flourished then, side by side with music which reflects internal musical developments, and varying degrees of accommodation with American popular styles, such as rock and country and western. Much work awaits those willing to explore the field to track down ethnic music in contemporary settings. Most of us are familiar with the current Irish revival; the Cajun music of Louisiana and the Norteno music of Texas are both flourishing in the post-McLuhan age, successfully defying those forces which seek to incorporate their distinctive features into the musical melting pot. In part, these musical cultures are thriving because of reinforcement from the outside. Significant numbers of Americansoutside these musical cultures are supporting them by record purchases, sponsoring concerts in remote locales and even learning to play the music themselves. With somewhat less attention, other European-American groups are also holding their own. There is a fine Ukrainian Hutsul group who is keeping Carpathian mountain musicalive in Philadelphia. Several Polish highlander groups in Chicago actively support the archaic fiddling and singing styles of the Tatra Mountains, which coexist happily alongside the big-time polka outfits of Marion Lush and Eddie Blazonczyk. Old and new Greek, Turkish, and Armenian styles can be found in the urban centers of both coasts. Getting at the roots of ethnic music is a formidable challenge . Newspapers, printed music, pamphlets and other ephemera will yield much to one who is willing to explore them. But the most important and reliable source is sound recordings themselves, primary documents which need to be collected, reissued, organized, and discussed, so that we may gain some insights into the history and development of individual ethnic styles. For my own part, I am gathering raw data from the files of the Columbia, Victor, Edison, Decca, Brunswick,and Gennett companies to assemble adiscographic work which will identify 62 E T H N I C V O I C E S every known recording made by these and other companies for ethnic groups through 1942. Recording dates, locations, vocal and instrumental details, composer and artists credits, master numbers, and release data will comprise the basic elements for artists of each nationality. Old recording ledgers, catalogs, file cards, and label coupling sheets still in company files are the primary sources. Occasionally, copies of the records themselves are available for examination and audition. I would like to give a brief idea of some of the components which make up what wecall ethnic music, aterm, incidentally, which has not usually been applied to this music in the past. It is not easy to give an all encompassing description, since its boundaries often overlap with country, art, and pop music. Great cantors, like Pierre Pinchik and Joseph Rosenblatt, found their records issued in both Victor's Jewish and classical "Red Seal" series. Popular Polish, Italian, or Greek...