Re: Fwd: A new klezmermusical in Berlin

[Paul M. Gifford <PGIFFORD...>]

"Kame'a Media" <media (at) kamea(dot)com> wrote:
> >
> > Sorry if this is off-topic, but I had to respond. On the contrary---
> > in the U.S. prior to 1820 or 1830, fiddlers for dances were usually
> > black.  And in later years, musicians at dances and parties held in
> > urban white homes were often black.
> 
> I assume you have the references and stats to back this up ,
> "Usually" and "often" can be very vague.

You're right---those are vague terms. I don't have any statistics,
which would be impossible to get, but have looked at a lot of 
contemporary literature and in particular a lot of local history 
concerning Michigan and Detroit. Certainly in the late 18th and
early 19th century, dance fiddlers and professional fiddlers (who
played in touring circuses, etc., like Solomon Northrup, a Northern
black who was kidnapped in the 1830s and sold into slavery). Obadiah 
Wood and J. C. Gilliam organized the first quadrille band in Detroit 
in 1843. But the state of such research, as far as books go, is pretty
weak. In this period, a lot of immigrant German musicians seem to
have arrived, and blacks began to lose their hold on the niche 
(a similar thing happened to their hold on barbering, as Italians
immigrated).

> You will see that my comments stressed "performance venues",
> (as in, stages with paid admission) not "parties".
> 
> My comments were directed towards the phenomenon of blackface
> minstrelry.You have chosen to take what appears to be an apologist
> position for a racist era, arguing that some blacks did indeed  perform
> in white settings.  =a glik hot zey getrofn=.  Of course SOME did.
> How many do you think never got the gig because of racism?

I agree with you about blackface minstrelsy. But what I saying is
that because of racial stereotypes and racism, because of the notion
of "natural rhythm" or whatever, whites probably preferred to hire
black musicians for dances and private parties. I could document this,
at least as it concerns Detroit, with a letter from 1845 and a 
newspaper article from 1867. Of course this doesn't mean that the
musicians were treated as equals, but more or less as servants.
> 
> To equate the racist "natural rhythm" stereotype
> with "authenticity" as you have, is facile and jejune.
> I admit I am rather taken aback by such a statement
> coming from you.
> 
It's just an observation. I don't think the "natural rhythm" 
stereotype is much alive today (I remember my grandmother, born
in 1891, saying such a thing, but she was a product of the Jim Crow 
era), but there still are stereotypes about black musicians today. 
Not only do some black musicians feel that they have to meet certain 
expectations about what types or styles of music to play, but many 
whites seem to have similar expectations about rap, blues, jazz---
thus "authenticity." It's similar to the idea that Hungarians and
Romanians have about Gypsies----that they play "with their heart" or 
are "natural musicians." This isn't to say that there isn't a genuine
like or respect for the music; only that there is a cultural 
stereotype also at work.

Paul Gifford

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