Taking A Look At The Roots
Image by Jeremy Brooks via Flickr
Back in 1963, German film-maker Dietrich Wawzyn toured through the US South in search of what we now call “roots” music, stuff that grows out of the soil of local backyards and community gatherings. It’s spontaneous music, usually improvised, seldom composed and written down in the traditional manner of more formal music. It is the “music of the people.” Wawzyn attracted the attention of Arhoolie Records founder Chris Strachwitz, who became enthusiastic about the project. Together, they produced three films for German TV, covering blues, gospel and hillbilly.
Unfortunately, the negatives of the films have been lost. But remnants remain — and they’ve been collected together in a new DVD. Selections from this video have been uploaded to YouTube by BLUESDVDNL [an incredible resource for blues video !!! ], and we are fortunate to share these excerpts below. The full-length DVD is available from www.blues-dvd.com. For more information, click on the YouTube logo at the bottom of the video to go to the original post about this video.
Thanks for Joric Maglanque, the Philippines’ most knowledgeable resource on blues history, who uncovered this gem.
The full DVD includes rare performances from the following performers:
Jesse Fuller, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Lowell Fulson, Red Sovine, King Louis H. Narcisse, Mance Lipscomb, George Lewis Quartet, Chief White Cloud, Black Ace, Rev. Louis Overstreet, Sweet Emma Barrett, Barbara Dane, Blind James Campbell, Whistlin’ Alex Moore, The Lewis Family, Willie Thomas, Goodtime Washboard 3, Shorty Le Blanc, “Spider” Kilpatrick, Eureka Brass Band, Hop Wilson, Ed Lee Natay, Hodges Brothers, Eddie Schaible, J.E. Mainer, Tohono O’Odham, The Willis Brothers, Brother Davis.
HAVE YOU NOTICED…
YouTube and other online video 143 becoming a major source of video programming. Especially now that new “smart” TV sets can stream online video right onto your 37-inch big-screen TV. I’ve linked below some of the video available, just as a sample.
More important to you as our reader, Blues Asia Network is joining the video revolution. Every Sunday night, 8-10 p.m., Manila, we go on air with our own online streaming radio-TV show: BLUES ASIA NJETWORK. This programming is truly unique: nowhere else in the world will you find the coverage: blues performances from all over Asia and the Pacific.
We’ve been online now for two-and-a-half months aready, but we are still in our “shakedown” cruise, occasionally encountering internet hiccups from our service providers. And we still need to find the proper way to make our shows available for on-demand viewing. Still, join us if you can, Sunday nights, right from within your Facebook account: www.facebook.com/urfaceradio .
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This post was written by
Thomas Colvin – who has written 147 posts on Blues Asia Network.
Thomas "Tomcat" Colvin is an American expat, residing in Manila since 1986. He is best known in the Philippines as the harp player with LAMPANO ALLEY [now in hibernation], with lots of videos on YouTube. Google will also tell you more than you want to know about him.
Currently, he is the administrator of the Blues Asia Network. And he flies around Asia tooting his harp.
November 9, 2011
@ 7:47 am
I watched the video. The band doesn’t ring a bell, I was not yet born in this world when this band shines. Maybe my grandmother does. Anyhow, I listened to their genre and I could not deny that their music is rarely incredible maybe its the reason why their music never fades and live throughout the time.
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