Rich Musical Heritage Research Articles

Fostering inclusivity: Transforming South African school music programmes through the dalcroze approach

This article explores the transformative potential of the Dalcroze Approach in South African school music programs, with a focus on fostering cultural inclusivity. Employing a qualitative research methodology grounded in content analysis, the study systematically examines diverse sources, including archival materials, books, and peer-reviewed journal articles. The triangulation method enhances the robustness of data by cross-referencing information from platforms like Google Scholar, JSTOR, ResearchGate, and university repositories. The Dalcroze Approach, rooted in holistic and embodied learning experiences, emerges as a transformative pedagogy with the capacity to address historical disparities and celebrate South Africa's diverse musical traditions. Findings indicate a compelling alignment between the approach and inclusivity goals, emphasising the adaptability of the Dalcroze principles to the nation's cultural tapestry. The findings of this article reveal that educators, administrators, and students play pivotal roles in shaping the success of implementing the Dalcroze Approach. Educators witness positive impacts on student engagement and creativity, administrators recognise its strategic value, and students experience a transformative shift in their music learning journey. In conclusion, this article advocates for comprehensive professional development programs, collaboration with curriculum developers, and ongoing research initiatives to ensure the sustained integration of the Dalcroze Approach. By embracing this transformative pedagogy, South African music education can evolve into a more inclusive and culturally responsive domain, reflecting the nation's rich musical heritage.

Performance Techniques and Insights of the Guzheng Concerto “Chan Ge”

This paper explores the performance techniques and insights gained from playing Wang Jianmin’s guzheng concerto “Chan Ge.” By examining the concerto’s literary background, overall structure, and musical elements, the study reveals the intricate connections between the modern guzheng composition and classical literature. This approach aids performers and listeners in comprehending the cultural roots and messages behind the guzheng piece. From a performer’s perspective, the study analyzes “Chan Ge” in terms of its compositional background, tuning, structure, and performance techniques, highlighting its artistic features. Furthermore, the study delves into the cultural significance of the piece, examining the interplay between tradition and innovation, as well as individuality and universality. It showcases how the integration of Chinese and Western elements is reflected in the composition. This study helps deepen the understanding of Wang Jianmin’s compositional style and aims to promote China’s rich musical heritage, contributing to the flourishing of guzheng art in China. Moreover, it seeks to enhance the promotion and preservation of traditional guzheng music culture, providing valuable reference materials for guzheng performers.

Cultural Harmony in Education: A Comparative Study of Traditional and Modern Music Teaching Methods in Kazakhstan

This paper presents a comparative study of traditional and modern methods of music teaching in Kazakhstan, exploring how these approaches coexist and complement each other in the current educational landscape. It examines the integration of Kazakhstan's rich musical heritage with contemporary educational techniques, highlighting the balance between preserving cultural identity and embracing global music trends. The study involves a literature review and case studies from various educational institutions across Kazakhstan. It discusses the impact of such integration on students' musical skills, cultural awareness, and creative development. The paper also addresses the challenges and opportunities in harmonizing traditional Kazakh music with modern pedagogical practices. The findings reveal the importance of a diversified approach to music education, which not only fosters a deeper appreciation of Kazakh cultural heritage but also equips students with a broad range of musical competencies.

Enhancing the Interest of Colleges of Education Students in Ghana in Music Theory: Strategies and Recommendation

This article examines strategies to enhance the interest of College of Education students in music theory in Ghana. Music theory education is vital for fostering students' understanding of musical concepts, critical thinking, and creativity. However, factors such as prior musical experiences, teaching methods, curriculum design, and cultural influences can influence students' engagement with music theory. To address this, a qualitative study was conducted to identify effective strategies. The findings underscore the significance of prior musical experiences and the importance of creating a supportive learning environment that embraces students' diverse musical backgrounds and interests. Active learning, technology integration, peer collaboration, and performance-based assessments emerged as effective approaches to motivate students in music theory. The study recommends providing teacher training in active learning and culturally responsive pedagogies, revising curricula to include diverse musical genres and practical applications, fostering collaborations with community organizations to expand students' musical experiences, and launching awareness campaigns to highlight the benefits of music theory education. Implementing these strategies requires collaboration among educational institutions, policymakers, music educators, and the wider community. By nurturing student interest in music theory, Colleges of Education in Ghana can cultivate a generation of music enthusiasts, educators, and advocates, contributing to the preservation and development of Ghana's rich musical heritage.

Notes for Notes

Notes for Notes Matthew Testa, James P. Cassaro, David R. Lewis, Samuel Judson Crawford, Rebecca Belford, and Janet McKinney Historic Jean Eichelberger Ivey recordings now online. The Peabody Institute’s Arthur Friedheim Library has digitized 234 rare recordings featuring the music of composer Jean Eichelberger Ivey (1923–2010) and some of her students in the early years of the Peabody Electronic Music Studio, the first such studio in a conservatory, which Ivey founded in 1969. The recordings in the Ivey collection contain important examples of early electronic music from the 1960s and 1970s, such as the experimental short film Pinball and various works by Ivey and her students for tape and live performers. Highlights of the collection include a 1973 television documentary about Ivey filmed at Peabody, a 1984 Ivey retrospective concert at Peabody, and video recordings of anniversary concerts by the Peabody Electronic/Computer Music Studio from the 1980s and 1990s. The Ivey recordings are available through the Friedheim Library’s streaming site at https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1805. For more information on access to the collection, contact peabodyarchives@lists.jhu.edu. This collection was made possible with a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources Recordings at Risk program. Matthew Testa Peabody Institute, Johns Hopkins University The Emerging Masters Collection, 1954–1989 at the Finney Music Library, University of Pittsburgh has been digitized. Funded by a Grammy Foundation grant of $11,461, the entire collection of 420 reel-to-reel tapes has been reformatted. The core of the recordings focuses on contemporary music by composers affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh, as well as major performers of this repertoire. Works and performances by local musicians are also represented, including vocal recitals by Mildred Miller Posvar; jazz saxophonist/composer, Nathan Davis; jazz pianist, Ulf Johansson; jazz pianist/composer, Geri Allen; pianist William Doppmann; and jazz flutist, Yusef Lateef. Most interesting is the inclusion of recordings by the 415 Players, a local early music ensemble which began performing and recording at the cusp of the early music movement during the late 1960s and the 1970s. Many of the contemporary works, some which have never been commercially released, represent early efforts by composers who have gone on to [End Page 206] major careers. These include David Stock, Reza Vali, Morton Subotnick, Thomas Janson, Dennis Kahle, Dorrance Stalvey, Ingvar Lidholm, and Bo Nilsson. The collection not only codifies the performance history of the Music Department, but also provides a snapshot in time of trends in music composition, performance, and reception. As such, it demonstrates the rich musical heritage of the institution and the City of Pittsburgh, as well as furthers the study of American music. The online collection can be found at https://digital.library.pitt.edu/islandora/object/pitt%3Acollection.306. James P. Cassaro University of Pittsburgh Bowling Green State University’s Music Library and Bill Schurk Sound Archives (MLBSSA) has received a Recordings at Risk grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) to fund a digitization and access project for at-risk filk music materials. The grant program is made possible by funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. As a musical genre, filk usually revolves around science fiction or fantasy topics. The term filk is used to describe both the musical genre and the active fan community that creates and sustains the music through conventions and gatherings. The project will digitize materials from three interrelated collections that document the filk community in the 1980s, a formative time for filkers as they began record labels, founded many regional filk conventions, and drew new participants to the community. The collections include commercial master recordings from some of the earliest commercial filk record labels in the Wail Songs Collection and Buck and Juanita Coulson Collection as well as field recordings of informal music-making, interviews, and conventions from the Jennifer Donaldson Milewski Collection. The project will allow MLBSSA staff to provide on-site access to the audio materials, to enhance archival description for the collections, and to pursue permissions for wider access. As a result of the grant project, the collections will be more accessible to the filk community, the BGSU...

Проблемы вариативности музыкального жанра ренг в мугамном исполнительном искусстве молодежи

Consideration of the variability of the musical genre of rang in mugam performing arts showed that ranks arose and developed in the art of mugam as a form of vocal-instrumental music. Their melodic structure is directly related to the sections of mugam. There are numerous varieties of this relationship. Based on the analysis of the musical notation of the ranks, it was determined that in practice of performing mugam the ranks are directly related to the vocal-instrumental mugam, and this is especially important for their compositional structure. In this regard, in almost every version of mugham destgahs there is a set of different ranks, including tesnifs. The analysis of various musical records of the ranks in the musical performing arts helps to identify the features of the manifestation of this form of folk music in mugam, as well as the further development of this musical genre and musical culture as a whole. We consider it appropriate to study, primarily, the vocal-instrumental interpretation of mugham when studying mugam destgyahs and the melodic interconnections of rangs and tesnifs with sections (shobe) of mugam. After analyzing various musical notations of mugam dastgahs, we were able to trace how rengi relate to mugam shobe. It can be noted that many rengi are used in the recordings of these works associated with various performances in relation to various shobe of mugams. This feature is inherent in various mugham dastgahs – "Shur", "Segah", "Chahargah", "Bayati-Shiraz", "Shushter", "Humayun", etc. All this can be traced in musical notations, as well as in live mugham singing and sound recordings, which helps to determine the numerous variants of rengs related to these mugams. Within the framework of each mugham, dozens of rengs were created and included in musical practice. Part of this rich musical heritage is captured and preserved in sound recordings and sheet music. We believe that it is advisable to study rengi, grouping them into mugham families in order to analyze their musical language and reveal their inherent variability.

To The Question Of Studying The Interpretation Of The Image Of Amir Temur In The Western European Opera

Introduction. The role and significance of our great ancestors in world history is indisputable. Their vital activity, priceless works and deeds require a truthful, adequate assessment and in-depth research in various fields of modern science. The works of the great commander, patron of science, culture and art Amir Temur are at the center of many-sided fundamental research. For centuries, the personality of Amir Temur aroused great interest in the world community, whose image formed the basis of numerous literary, musical and stage works created by leading playwrights and writers, librettists and composers of different centuries. The purpose of the research is to determine the role and significance of musical and stage works by Western European composers dedicated to the image of Amir Temur. Method of research. Due to the fact that the dissertation was performed within the framework of musical-historical research, the author relied on historical-procedural, retrospective, comparative, complex and systematic methods of analysis. The interpretation of the image of Amir Temur is studied on the basis of theoretical-analytical and musical-critical approaches, considered in the context of the relationship between spiritual and axiological values. Conclusions. Studying and promoting the rich musical heritage of the Baroque era in Uzbekistan on the example of musical and stage genres, where the key figure is the image of Amir Temur, gives us the opportunity to fully assess and understand the role and place of our great ancestor in the history of world culture, to help educate the younger generation in the spirit of respect and pride for our rich historical heritage. Inclusion of works by prominent Western European composers about Amir Temur in the courses of historical and theoretical disciplines, in the curricula of special higher and higher educational institutions.

On a Walking Tour to No Man’s Land: Brokering and Shifting Narratives of Violence in Trench Town, Jamaica

Tourists who visit Trench Town are drawn in by the neighborhood’s rich musical heritage. They want to see the birthplace of reggae and witness the circumstances depicted in many famous Jamaican songs. Knowingly venturing into marginalized territory, into the “ghetto,” travelers expect to encounter spectacular forms of violence. Yet what the walking tour of Trench Town reveals is an experience of another kind, an excursion that exposes poverty as structural violence, and that points to the historical and political struggles that are constitutive of the area’s social fabric. In this article, drawing on an ethnographic vignette of a walking tour that starts in Bob Marley’s rehearsal grounds and ends by an empty plot locally known as “No Man’s Land,” I focus on the entanglements of violence and tourism and present the discrepancy that exists between touristic desires and the reality of the tourism commodity. This analysis reveals how residents of Trench Town simultaneously choose to address and disregard different (un)spectacular forms of violence during the tourism encounter and I argue that in so doing, local tour guides productively leverage violence to denounce and grapple with structural and historical brutalities.

Inside Metal: Pioneers of L.A. Hard Rock and Metal (review)

Reviewed by: Inside Metal: Pioneers of L.A. Hard Rock and Metal Alexander Carpenter Inside Metal: Pioneers of L.A. Hard Rock and Metal. DVD. [United States]: Metalrock Films, 2015. MRF 001. $14.95. This documentary film on the genesis of the L.A. heavy metal/hard rock music scene focuses on the years 1975–81, prior to the advent of MTV and the evolution of L.A. hard rock into what would become more mainstream, commercially successful hard rock and glam/hair metal. Exemplified by bands like Van Halen, Guns ‘n Roses, Poison, Mötley Crüe and Bon Jovi, all staples of the early music video era, there was a lively, burgeoning scene in the clubs in L.A. and Hollywood: a veritable Mecca for countless young male rock musicians in the latter part of the 1970s. The bands that made up this scene—groups such as Dokken, Ratt, Stryper and Angel—were drawing freely from a rich musical heritage, including British glam rock (David Bowie, The Sweet), early 70s psychedelia (the Doors, Spirit, Jimi Hendrix), and British heavy blues bands (Led Zeppelin, Free, Traffic). The result was a heady mixture of aggressive, often frenzied-sounding rock music, garish costuming, extravagant stage shows, and a prevailing decadence—courtesy of an overabundance of drugs, money, and girls—that one of the film’s primary interviewees, glam rock icon Michael Des Barres, pithily describes as “f***ing disgusting.” As the film argues, however, it was out of this milieu that a number of important metal, glam metal and thrash metal bands emerged, bands that would gain international fame through the 80s and beyond: the early hard rock scene in L.A., as documented in Inside Metal, provided “the blueprint” for the generations of international metal and hard rock superstars. Inside Metal is comprised almost entirely of talking head interviews with musicians, managers, booking agents and related figures. These interviews provide compelling first-hand accounts of a musical monoculture: a live music scene almost entirely dominated by hard rock (and by men, it should be said; the film provides a mere two minutes of coverage of women in the L.A. hard rock scene, focusing on Joan Jett and The Runaways), at least until the gradual encroachment of punk and new wave towards the end of the 70s. The viewer gets a good sense of the visual aesthetic of the time, largely through still images that reveal the debt owed to both British glam and the L.A. fashion scene. In the absence of concert footage—there is very little, and most of it is grainy—or even much in the [End Page 604] way of contemporaneous music on the soundtrack, it is difficult to get a good sense of what the music under discussion really sounds like. In fact, so much time is devoted to the excesses and indulgences of the period—not just the drug use, or the wanton sex, but the turn towards tacky costumes and gimmicky pyrotechnics and light shows, all of which helped bands to differentiate themselves in a highly competitive market—that one gets the impression of a genre in which the music itself is something of an afterthought. There is something rather sad about Inside Metal. While the musicians who are interviewed offer sentimental reflections upon a “magical” time, a short-lived “glory days” period that served as a potent mixing pot giving rise to a new generation of metal and rock superstars, it is also clear that this period was undermined by its own excesses and inattention to music. These early metal-rock bands were not “serious,” at least not in the way that emerging new wave bands were; they also weren’t angry, like punk or thrash bands. These pioneers of metal lacked intellectual and emotional gravitas; largely ignored by major record labels, the one-time “kings of the Strip” eventually faded into obscurity. Inside Metal documents an interesting period, but what it mainly lacks is a sense of how the music itself served as a “blueprint” for the metal and hard rock of the later 1980s. What we get instead is a litany of often salacious anecdotes from the leftovers of...

Saving All the Freaks on the Life Raft: Blending Documentation Strategy with Community Engagement to Build a Local Music Archives

Abstract Louisville, Kentucky, has a rich musical heritage, including an underground scene that influenced the sound of not only punk, indie, and hardcore, but also of popular music regionally, nationally, and internationally. In 2013, faced with the loss of several members of this scene over the course of twelve months, archivists in the University of Louisville Archives and Special Collections launched a project to document this important slice of Louisville's musical culture. The Louisville Underground Music Archive (LUMA) project successfully applies documentation strategy, paired with a strong community engagement component, to address the gap in the historical record related to this culture.

India's rich musical heritage has a lot to offer to modern psychiatry.

Music with its instantaneous pleasing effect can be an answer to misery. It is a form of art that is easily accessible anytime and anywhere. This article gives an overview of music therapy practiced in ancient India, its influence on emotion and mind, and speculates its possible clinical applications in the modern era based on the available scientific literature.

Song Texts, Theme and Roles of Vocal Music in Egungun Traditional Festival in Akesan, Awori land of Lagos State

Music plays vital roles in various aspects of celebrations among societies in Nigeria. In traditional festivals for example, music is an expression of the culture of the people. Akesan which is a town in Alimosho local Government Area of Lagos State is blessed with rich musical heritage. This paper examined the theme and content of music used in traditional festivals in Akesan, and the roles of song texts in the festival. The study relies on primary data collected through oral interviews conducted with indigenes, Egungun devotees, singers and drummers from Akesan in Lagos, south west Nigeria as well as music recordings and their transcriptions collected through participant observation method. While, we found that traditional festivals in this community has been buffeted by modernity through acculturation, the role and contextual performance of various song texts and their themes in this community provides some evidence that traditional festivals are still religiously observed and they are an integral part of the Awori community in Akeasn land. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n7p615

Kromeriz explored

The past few decades have seen a dramatic rise in interest in 17th- and 18th-century music of the former Habsburg Empire with recordings, scholarly publications and conferences all growing in number and visibility. Within this broader category, however, only a small handful of 18th-century composers from the Czech lands have had monographs written about them in English (Zelenka and Gluck spring immediately to mind). At least part of the reason for this apparent lacuna in scholarly treatment can be attributed to access to source materials. For most of the 20th century the Czech lands have either been engulfed in war or behind the Iron Curtain, which made conducting research there extremely difficult for most Westerners (and indeed many Czechs). Nevertheless, throughout this period a formidable body of Czech scholarly literature has emerged around the rich musical heritage of the region in the 17th and 18th centuries and no post-war Czech scholar has made a larger contribution to this area than Professor Jiří Sehnal. The vast majority of his publications have been in Czech and therefore generally only accessible to a minority of non-Czech scholars. Now, after many decades of research and writing about a topic that has maintained his interest throughout his long and productive career, Sehnal has produced an impressive monograph on one of the greatest trumpeters of the Baroque era and the caretaker of one of the most important surviving collections of 17th-century music in the world.

African-American Voices of Traditional Sacred Music in Twentieth-Century and Twenty-first Century Los Angeles

��� Over a span of some 390 years, the African diaspora has developed a rich musical heritage within the United States, generating several important genres that have been nurtured throughout the country by numerous musicians who were introduced to the foundations of the music in the church and through school experiences of their childhood. This heritage, rooted originally in the southern United States, has been transported to California. A number of blacks who became the musicians (performers, teachers, composers, and scholars) of Los Angeles arrived in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries from states (e.g., Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Illinois, Michigan, Mississippi, and Maryland) that had strong African-American communities suffused with the musical culture of the African diaspora. Their migration transformed the spiritual, gospel music, blues, and jazz in California (see DjeDje and Meadows 1998) while concurrently cultivating an appreciation for and an expertise in the performance of traditional European classical music. A s new musicians visited and/or permanently settled, they began to nurture the talent of those who were native to the state. John A. Gray came from Norfolk, Virginia, and opened the Gray Conservatory of Music. William T. Wilkins came from Little Rock, Arkansas, and started the Wilkins Piano Academy (opened in 1912 as the first Interracial School of Music in the City of Los Angeles). As explained by Irma Jean Juniel Prescott, a Zion Hill Baptist Church musician from Shreveport, Louisiana, who became a Los Angeles–community piano teacher, “Those individuals who are quali

Music Translation: Giving Back to the People their Rich Musical Heritage

Music Translation: Giving Back to the People their Rich Musical Heritage

Charles Burney e l’archeologia musicale dell’antica area vesuviana

During his journey through Europe (which had the aim of obtaining primary sources to be at the basis of his innovative history of music), Charles Burney went to Naples to get in contact with the culture of the city, which was very important at that time. It was 1770, and the musicologist took the opportunity – as many other distinguished travellers before him, among which we should mention Mozart – of visiting the archaeological excavations of the sites buried by the famous Vesuvius eruption of 79 AD. Of those intensive three weeks (during which he was very busy in significant meetings, excursions and reconnaisances on the enormously rich musical heritage of antiquity which had been only recently found at that time), Burney left a detailed report which became then part of the book The present state of the music in France and Italy . Many of the archaeological finds there described (basically artefacts and iconographies, in addiction to the famous Ercolano’s papyri) are nowadays still preserved, together with analogous subsequent findings, in Campanean museums and have become fundamental pieces of evidence for the knowledge of the ancient Roman music culture. In the light of modern perspectives, the rereading of Burney’s material may even today offer very interesting new ideas both to musicologists and archaeologists. Burney’s evidence on what he saw and what he had experience of results to be precious, while his method of analyses may be interpreted as the first authoritative example of modern music archaeology.

A Visit to Pianopolis: Brazilian Music for Piano at the Biblioteca Alberto Nepomuceno

The rich musical heritage and vital musical traditions of Brazil are the subject of increasing interest throughout the world. Contemporary popular musicians draw large and enthusiastic audiences in the United States, where knowledge of Brazilian music was long limited to the bossa nova of the early 1960s, heard in jazz interpretations by American musicians. The vitality of contemporary Brazilian music in the classical tradition is increasingly acknowledged as well, but a longer overview of music history in Brazil is more difficult to gain for musicians outside (or even inside) the country. A number of signficant stumbling blocks confront the researcher in Brazilian music. Only a tiny fraction of the musical production of Brazil in the almost two centuries since it achieved independence from Portugal in 1822 is available to scholars in American libraries. Of the vast number of musical scores printed in Brazil during this period, very few have been reprinted since their first publication. Bibliographical access to these scores is difficult, as they are not indexed in published catalogs of the holdings of the major collections. Library catalogs in Brazil will eventually be available as OPACs searchable over the Web, but most catalog information is accessible only as local card files. Bibliographies of scholarly work on music by Brazilians are few. Monographs on music published in Brazil commonly lack indexes, making their consultation difficult. A second edition of the most important reference work on Brazilian music, the Enciclopedia da musica brasileira, [1] has just been published, but from an extra-Brazilian point of view, the work has some liabilities, chief among them being the adoption of a single, integrated bibliography at the back of the volume rather than the provision of bibliography for each entry. Scholarship in Brazilian music by researchers from outside the country has not been extensive, which is perhaps not surprising given the low priority of lusophone language and culture in the United States, and even the most fundamental works in Portuguese are unavailable in English translation (for example, the writings of the modernist and nationalist Mario de Andrade). Three of the major music libraries in Rio de Janeiro are the Music Section of the National Library; the collection of the late scholar Mozart de Araujo, now housed at the library of the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil; and the Biblioteca Alberto Nepomuceno, the library of the Escola de Musica of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). The Escola de Musica is one of the oldest continuously operating musical institutions in Brazil, having been founded as the Conservatorio de Musica in 1841. It was incorporated into the Academia de Belas Artes in 1855. The Conservatorio de Musica moved into its first purpose-built quarters in 1872. The change from imperial government to a republic in 1889 affected many of the cultural institutions of the empire, including the Conservatorio, which was replaced by the Instituto Nacional de Musica (INM) in 1890, with composer Leopold Miguez as director. The INM moved to the present location of the Escola de Musica in 1910, occupying what had formerly been the edifice of t he National Library. New construction, including a concert hall, was necessary, and the physical plant arrived at its present configuration in 1922. The institution has gone through various administrative changes over the years, becoming a part of the Universidade do Rio de Janeiro after the revolution of 1930. The university was renamed the Universidade do Brasil in 1937, and received its present appellation, the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, in 1965. The library, named for the second director of the INM, composer Alberto Nepomuceno, holds significant special collections in addition to the resources used to support the teaching mission of the school, including numerous manuscripts of the important composer Jose Mauricio Nunes Garcia. …

California Soul: Music of African Americans in the West.

This new series, co-sponsored with The Center for Black Music Research of Columbia College, seeks to increase our understanding of black music genres and their importance to the cultures of the Atlantic world, including their influence on African musical styles. Books in the series will examine the wide-ranging music of the African diaspora--including the folk-derived musical styles of the Americas as well as European-influenced concert hall music of the entire black Atlantic world--by analyzing issues critical to our interpretation of the music itself and exploring the relationships between music and the other black expressive arts. Focusing on blues, jazz, gospel, rhythm and blues, and soul music, California Soul is one of the first books to explore the rich musical heritage of African Americans in California. The contributors describe in detail the individual artists, locales, groups, musical styles, and regional qualities, and the result is an important book that lays the groundwork for a whole new field of study. The essays draw from oral histories, music recordings, newspaper articles and advertisements, as well as population statistics to provide insightful discussions of topics like the California urban milieu's influence on gospel music, the development of the West Coast blues style, and the significance of Los Angeles's Central Avenue in the early days of jazz. Other essays offer perspectives on how individual musicians have been shaped by their African American heritage, and on the role of the record industry and radio in the making of music. In addition to the diverse range of essays, the book includes the most comprehensive bibliography now available on African American music and culture in California.

An Afternoon with Dick Griffey: His Philosophy and Thoughts on Business, with Reflections

On July 19, 1994, was privileged to spend several hours with Dick Griffey in his office, interviewing him, being interviewed by him, sitting in on a presentation with a high-profile client. From the moment Griffey welcomed me into his office, knew something special had happened. There was no pretension: This very busy, very successful man had made time for me. My pre-interview research had supplied the basic information: knew that, for over two decades, Dick Griffey, Chairman of the Board of Sound Of Los Angeles Records (SOLAR), had accomplished great things in the entertainment world and returned profits from his business ventures to the community. His business dreams began to develop when he was a young, promising drummer and student at Tennessee State University. Armed with a rich musical heritage developed and encouraged by his mother, Dick Griffey progressed from an ambitious young man to the owner of the second largest African American-owned record company in the United States. Griffey entered the entertainment business in the mid-sixties when he discovered the key to business operation: I started thinking how entertainers come and go, but business people are always here. He used his talents first as the booking agent for a highly successful nightclub, which he co-owned with former schoolmate and ex-New York Knicks player/coach Dick Barnett, but he quickly branched out into concert promotions under the company name Dick Griffey Productions and earned the distinction as the most prominent African American promoter in town. At that time, he was promoting domestic and international tours for some of the nation's biggest acts, such as Stevie Wonder and The Jacksons. Not content with these achievements, Griffey became talent coordinator for the nationally syndicated television dance program Soul Train. Concerts were becoming routine to me, he explains. When you promote a concert you basically do the same thing every time. was looking for new challenges. The Soul Train venture was so successful that in 1975 Griffey and the show's producer, Don Cornelius, went on to form Soul Train Records. Starting with one small act, Griffey carefully nurtured the label and, after an amicable separation from Cornelius, reorganized the company and founded the SOLAR label in 1977. Since that time, Griffey has directed SOLAR Records to both national and international prominence. Recording under the SOLAR and CONSTELLATION labels are numerous RB Spectrum VII Music and Hip Trip Music, publishing companies that administer publishing catalogs, including copyrighting, television licensing, royalty, and printed music services; Galaxy Studio, a state-of-the-art recording facility which includes a sound studio, rehearsal room, and writers' room; and the J. Hines Company, a distribution firm which serves as Griffey's memorial to his mother and mentor, Mrs. Juanita Hines. All of these businesses are housed in the multi-million-dollar, multi-story, Griffey-owned and operated Solar Towers located in Hollywood. …

Music in Slovenia. In the First of Two Articles, Niall O'Loughlin Introduces the Rich Musical Heritage of One of Europe's Most Newly Independent Countries

Music in Slovenia. In the First of Two Articles, Niall O'Loughlin Introduces the Rich Musical Heritage of One of Europe's Most Newly Independent Countries