OK, I have to chime in here. I'm definitely on the side of "honoring tradition" (within reason), because if we don't, all of traditional music and dance starts to become this homogeneous blob... The tradition is much richer than that! It's not just traditional singing square dance calls, but (maybe even more) applies to traditional songs as well and I'm going to give some license to the term "traditional" here!)..
At Maine Fiddle Camp there is singing going on pretty much ALL the time. Singing around the camp fire at night is a tradition which has been going on for as long as Camp has been in existence. Songs from many traditions, always unaccompanied, and always in multi-part harmony. It's a beautiful thing to be a part of. Last year (or was it the year before) someone started the song "Old Molasses Rum", composed by the late Tom Rowe (a dear departed friend) who was the bass player (and bass voice) in Schooner Fare. The words to the whole song are attached as a PDF file because that's the only way I have them. The "problem" is with third and fourth words believe it or not.. When this song was started at the campfire, a young woman was SO upset at the term "African man" that we had to stop the song and go on to something else. This caused a LOT of stress and I think it colored the campfire sings for the rest of the week at Camp. The young woman's take on this all was that only a person of African descent had the right to sing a song with those words in it.. I personally disagree. Read the lyrics and decide for yourself. We did have a "discussion" about this later but I don't think there was any *clear* outcome. I'll digress here a little into the realm of pop music. There are a million examples here, but just take the Beach Boys "California Girls".. whew.. Nothing blatant there but these days some would be offended JUST by the fact that women were being called "girls", when you actually listen to the lyrics I'm sure many would have lots of issues.. .. BUT the Beach Boys pretty much revolutionized the use of harmony in pop or maybe all music at that time and while you could argue that people had problems with the lyrics at that time and didn't say anything, still the songs hit the top of the charts and the harmonies were chillingly wonderful.. So what do we do here? Abandon singing or even listening to all old music and,, then what? Lately there is an effort on certain fronts to "change history" but I don't want to do it with traditional music and dance. The richness of the tradition is what makes it so powerful. I often call a 300 year old contra dance and tell the dancers we've been doing this continually for OVER 300 years and that they are part of a continuing tradition the likes of which are rarely found on this continent (and I recognize native American traditions as an exception to what I am saying!!) I agree with Tom and some of the others.. "Yes always be respectful, not intentionally disrespectful." nuf said - bill ________________________________ From: Callers <[email protected]> on behalf of Donna Hunt via Callers <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, March 26, 2018 2:06 PM To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Callers] Politically Correct? And here lies the minefield, a caller is never sure who in the audience will object, or what they will object to. And organizers rarely give a clear indication of what their vision is...so the callers take the heat. As callers we're d@mned if we do and d@mned if we don't Call a square (or other dance formation) or don't say gypsy or don't say men, women, he or she... or don't Social media is a very powerful tool and can be used for good and evil depending on which side you are on. It can be used to impact elections of major countries and impact our views of contra dancing terms. When I started dancing in the 80's it was the height of the Nicaraguan war and the Contras were the right wing rebels (supported and funded by the USA) fighting against the left wing socialist government. When I told people I contra danced I often got unusual looks and had to explain what it was. I wonder if there had been FB at the time would there have been a movement to change the name? The pendulum sways... In the 80's when I started dancing, Contra dancers used to Norwegian polka to the sound check, then dance DI contras, squares (2), circle mixers, , hambo/schottische, waltz and occasionally DI proper/triplet/triple minor dances, and a few callers were starting to use "Men and Women" rather than "Gents and Ladies" reflective of the feminist movement. (And yes, I personally enjoyed the DI contras the best) Fast forward to 2018 and most callers are using "Gents and Ladies" again (many dancers cringe at "Men and Women" and some are advocating for gender-free terms), most dance communities stopped doing a circle mixer and many stopped doing squares. AND most dancers can't dance a hambo or schottische and have no idea what a triplet or triple minor dance is unless they go to NEFFA or other large inclusive festival or dance ECD. Singing and patter squares are caught in this as the lyrics/patter are reflective of the words/lyrics used in the 40's, 50's (and sometimes you just use a word that rhymes). As Rich found out the 70-80 year olds love the lyrics (from their youth) and the millennials do not. I find that folks these days are very intolerant if things don't go their way...whichever way that is. And our dance traditions (and callers) are caught in the middle. BTW: I MWS in an LGBTQ group and we use "boys and girls" and no one cares and almost everyone switches...such a delight! Donna Hunt -----Original Message----- From: Rich Sbardella via Callers <[email protected]> To: Bob Hofkin <[email protected]> Cc: Caller's discussion list <[email protected]> Sent: Sun, Mar 25, 2018 11:15 am Subject: Re: [Callers] Politically Correct? Yes Bob, You are correct, but the tag line for each verse remains the same. I would have to find a word to replace -young "thing". I think perhaps it is a generational thing. I have been calling this song to my seniors who are about 75% women in their 70's and 80s and they sing along. No objections. In fact many remember it as a child. There are certainly some contra venues where I would expect a similar response, but others that would cringe. "Such a sweet young thing" used to be a term of endearment for Ladies and Gents, but times change. In MWSD, boys and girls are the default role terms, and I called MWSD for 25 years. However, I remember accidentally using the term girls in a square for a contra community a few years back, and immediately after the square, I had a dancer approach me and voice her concerns. This is one of the reasons I posed the original question. Peace, Rich
Old Molasses Rum.pdf
Description: Old Molasses Rum.pdf
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