|
"This fills in a big chunk of the top half of the middle section of the country," says Laurie Sommers, an ethnomusicologist who serves as Michigan's program coordinator for the Lomax project. "Now you have the stories and the sounds of sailors, miners and lumberjacks, ethnic communities who came to work ... and brought their traditions with them." One example is Exilia Bellaire, a woman from the Upper Peninsula community of Baraga who recorded "I Went to Marquette." It's sung in a mixture of French and English, and Harvey said the song is one of many that "captures (what) occurs when cultures interact with one another." Lomax's Michigan research proved to be challenging. Thieves twice broke into his car and stole equipment and films, and performers would hound him for money or liquor in exchange for recording them. He frequently requested more money from headquarters, in part, he wrote, because "songs in (Michigan) absolutely require beer." The recordings weren't released at the time, in part because the late 1930s were a time of growing suspicion of non-English speaking immigrants in the United States, said Sommers. Now, the library is releasing a podcast and an e-book, and the University of Wisconsin is releasing a multi-CD set. A traveling exhibit with live concerts will begin Sept. 30 in Mount Pleasant, about 120 miles northwest of Detroit. Sampson Pittman Jr., 77, son of the blues artist Lomax recorded during his final Michigan session, said it's fascinating for him to hear the collaborations between Frazier, whom he called "Uncle Calvin," and the father he lost at 8 years old. "I started out playing the kind of music I heard him playing," said Pittman, who has carried the torch as a longtime blues guitarist. "They would tell these stories through the music." ___ Online:
[Associated
Press;
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.