It reminds of me of those old videos of people singing the blues in the south.
On 21 February 2011 01:42, Felicia Dale <[email protected]> wrote: > Great post, Arle. Thank you! > > Felicia. > > On Feb 20, 2011, at 2:38 PM, Arle Lommel wrote: > > I'm not going to argue that we should consider this great art, but a bit of > context may help explain it and show why it's valuable. > > I can pretty much tell you this guy's story in broad strokes just from the > recording, which is very typical of ones in the Soviet era from the > 1960s–mid 1980s. He was a peasant who had played the instrument in the 1920s > or 1930s and then gave up the instrument because nobody wanted that kind of > music any more. (My guess is that this particular player had never been > particularly good, but he had probably been much better at some point in the > past than what you see here.) He didn't touch it for decades until one day > in the late 1960s or 1970s a bearded young researcher knocked on his door > and asked him if he played the hurdy-gurdy (because someone in a neighboring > village thought she remembered that someone had once played it and it might > have been this guy). If he was lucky he had an instrument buried in about an > inch of dust in his attic, but more than likely he didn't have one anymore, > having sold it at some point to buy bread. So he either tried to get his > instrument working or was loaned one and asked to perform. He had to try to > remember how to do everything without any of the tools he once used and was > given little time to prepare. Depending on the circumstances, he may have > played for this researcher for a few weeks or only a few hours, and he > probably never had occasion to play hurdy-gurdy again, disappearing back > into obscurity since nobody but these long-haired researchers wanted this > sort of thing anymore. > > That's why you get an abundance of these terrible recordings of out-of-tune > instruments. You really can't blame the players in most cases. I've listened > to a lot of these kinds of recordings, and, if you can get past the tuning > and the effects of decades of neglect, many show genuine skill that just > needs some cultivation. While it sounds bad to us, these recordings are > often all we have of once-vibrant traditions that have vanished. I'm glad we > have even this, because without this sort of recording we'd have nothing. > > Under the same circumstances, how many of us would have done any better? > > -Arle > > On Feb 20, 2011, at 13:08 , Michael Opp wrote: > > Has anyone seen this yet? > > They mic the instrument, but not his voice. >.> > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNF5Daew1Dk > > > > -- > 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. To reduce spam, posts from > new subscribers are held pending approval by the webmaster. > > > -- > 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. To reduce spam, posts from > new subscribers are held pending approval by the webmaster. > -- 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. To reduce spam, posts from new subscribers are held pending approval by the webmaster.
