Search - Various Artists :: Country Negro Jam Sassion

So real so real so real so real

Tony Thomas | SUNNY ISLES BEACH, FL USA | 03/18/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The prize here are the 12 selections with music by African American fiddlers Butch Cage. Cage's bluesy fiddling is very distinctively African American and African. Despite popular allusions about the celtic origins of fiddling, AFrican Americans were more likely to play the fiddle than any other instrument until rfactory made guitars and rhythm banjos flooded the country at the end of the 19th century. Africans brought to America drew on the rich heritage of African bowed fiddles and other instruments and quickly became known for their fiddling in the US colonies and even in Europe. Not only did Africans arrive in the colonial Americas ready to fiddle but the tradition of building home made fiddles, or even under slavery, Blacks making high quality fidles continued until recently.



Cage plays in a Southern Blues style of fiddling that I like and is a bit different from more Appalachian based and influenced fiddlers like the Great Joe Thompson of North Carolina. he focuses on maintaining the beat and commenting on the melody in obligatos behidn the singers and guitars, and contrary to Appalachian string band traditions, his fiddle is not always the lead instrument in ensembles.



This is a valuable link back to the African American string band tradition that has been long neglected by folklorists and by the recording industry.



Besides Cage, there is a great selection of Blues and traditional Black folk music. Myself, I love to hear the early recordings by Robert Pete Williams who became known at 1960s folk and blues festivals. Perhaps, the most eriee and haunting recording is the recording of "Fox Chase" doing at a music therapy session of the then segregated Lousiana mental hospital.



These records were out of print for a long time. They have been enriched by the addition of material Oster had gathered for another album of this music that was never issued. Almost every cut on this CD is worth the price of the whole thing."