Re: [ARSCLIST] Sounds of Slavery

[Don Cox <doncox@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 27/04/07, Steven Smolian wrote:

> This is not throwing dirt.  It points to a legitimate line of inquiry.
> 
> Recordings of people who had been slaves (minstrel show participants,
> Gaskin, etc., see Brooks. Lost Voices) is different from interviews
> with slaves or music addressing the issue of slavery.
> 
> Given the general outlook of the entepreneurs who owned eatly
> recording companies, if what you want exists, it would probably be on
> a home made cylinder or field recording. Bethune? Adequate means for
> recording in the field otherwise had to await 1929-1930 for the
> uncoated aluminum disc.
> 
Kodaly and Bartok were making field recordings in Hungary long before
1929. So were collectors in Britain.

Was nobody doing any field recording in the US in the 1900s?

There was certainly an interest in black culture - for instance, Joel
Chandler Harris's records of folk tales and transcriptions of dialects.

Regards
-- 
Don Cox
doncox@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx