Hi Ulrich, Doug may have other ideas than I do, and I'm not a particular expert on American folk music (I work on Hungarian music primarily), but I do try to keep abreast of scholarship about hurdy-gurdies, including semi- regular searches of academic databases. From what I've found, this topic just isn't one that's been covered in English-language scholarship (I don't check German scholarship as regularly). It's also one that isn't likely to be taken up by ethnomusicologists or folklorists (my area of specialty) right now because, unlike in Europe, the idea of looking for "survivals" and origins (in a temporo- spatial sense) is completely out if fashion, having been replaced starting in the 1960s with scholarly methods that look more at current practice and performance techniques. That's not to say that questions of origins aren't interesting, but rather that scholars just don't focus on them in my discipline. You might find more from musical historians (but again, I've not seen anything published in my searches) or from enthusiastic amateurs (who probably don't publish...). So this is a long way of saying that, unless Doug knows differently, I just don't think you'll find what you're looking for.
On a slightly different topic, I doubt that looking at folkloristic music (rather than, say, historical sources) is likely to find much for you in general. It seems that what little scholarship has been done on the hurdy-gurdy girls is pretty ambiguous on whether vielle- type instruments (rather than barrel organs) were even used. Given the general lack of evidence for the vielle in an American context versus the comparatively abundant evidence of barrel organs, my default assumption would be skeptical about the vielle in California gold-rush days, unless I see particular evidence otherwise. I know that Kurt Reichmann has argued in favor of the vielle, but I've not seen his exhibition and so really can't assess his argument. Assuming that he is correct, however, it is likely that the girls were called upon to play popular American tunes of the period, rather than "authentic" German Bauernleier repertoire. So the likelihood of any recognizable trace in American folk music (as distinct from later folklorizing compositions that might decide to evoke the HG girls) is pretty slim. (I'd love to be proven wrong, though.) -Arle > And now to something (not really) completely different: I saw on > your website you are dealing with History through Music. I wonder if > during your studies you ever came along the tracks of the so called > “Hurdy-Gurdy Girls”. It is know by historians that many girls from > the German province Hessen during the 19th century were “hired” by > conscienceless agents to immigrate to USA playing music in the music > halls. It is reported that even in some Gold rush towns hurdy-gurdy > girls were playing their music, but mostly forced to prostitution. > For me it would be exciting to find if there are any tracks in the > American folklore music basing on the traditional dance music that > was brought by the hurdy-gurdy girls to America. I’m not sure if > this is a topic to be discussed here on the list – if you wish you > can send me a PN to discuss – if you are interested on that topic or > if you have any information. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "hurdygurdy" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/hurdygurdy The rules of posting, courtesy, and other list information may be found at http://hurdygurdy.com/mailinglist/index.htm. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
