• Facebook
  • Youtube
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Mail
Contributor Login
  • 0Shopping Cart
FolkWorks
  • Home
  • Events
  • Features
  • Resources
  • About Us
  • Archives
  • Contact
  • DONATE
  • Search
  • Menu Menu

BLACK MUSIC MATTERS

HOW CAN I KEEP from TALKING / Ross Altman

BLACK MUSIC MATTERS

By Ross Altman, PhD

BLMMy father came from Duluth, Minnesota; Bob Dylan did too, before he was raised in Hibbing, Minnesota. So it’s a state I have a lot of good feelings for—at least I did, before this latest terrorist incident. Northern trees bear a “Strange Fruit” too.

Bystanders tried to save George Floyd’s life—begging and pleading with the four officers—including the one whose knee was crushing Mr. Floyd’s neck—all to no avail. So Phil Ochs’ stark cautionary tale “And I’m sure it wouldn’t interest anybody outside of a small circle of friends,” may no longer apply.

But another Phil Ochs song still rings true today: Cops of the World. It happened on Memorial Day—the lynching of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. His last words were “I can’t breathe–” before he cried out for his mother, who had been dead for two years.

Black Music Matters is therefore the theme of this column—to go along with Black Lives Matter, and all the protest marches that have taken place from sea to shining sea, and from the redwood forests to the gulfstream waters since Memorial Day. The range of this column includes concert, theatre, film, museum and CD reviews, feature articles, previous columns and obituaries —all of black musicians I have covered for FolkWorks, most recently this March, just before the lockdown.

Let me conclude by noting four of the iconic artists celebrated: Marian Anderson, Billie Holiday, Paul Robeson, and Lead Belly—the Mt. Rushmore of Folk Music.

–>CLICK ON THE PICTURES BELOW TO READ THE HISTORICAL WRITINGS<-
 Buddy Guy at the Saban

Buddy Guy at the Saban Theatre.

 black like me

Ballad of Black-Like Me.

LADY DAY AT EMERSON’S BAR AND GRILL

Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill by Lanie Robertson.

 the-b-side-negro-folklore-from-texas-state-prisons

The B Side Negro Folklore from Texas State Prisons.

 hope-and-history

Hope and-History.

 cotten-picking-good

Cotten Picking Good.

 lead-belly-dylan-and-marley-scandalizing-their-names

Lead Belly Dylan and Marley Scandalizing Their Names.

 scandalizing-paul-robeson

Scandalizing Paul Robeson.

 billie holiday

Polly Stewart – Lynching in Maryland.

 odetta

Odetta and Obama.

 shining-in-selma-odetta-dylan-and-len-chandler

Shining in Selma –Odetta, Dylan and Len Chandler.

 the-resurrection-of-paul-robeson

The Resurrection of Paul Robeson.

 all-alone-with-paul-robeson

All Alone with Paul Robeson.

 the-blind-boys-of-alabama

The Blind Boys of Alabama.

 SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK AT CAP—UCLA

Sweet Honey in the Rock at CAP-UCLA.

 rhiannon-giddens

Rhiannon Giddens.

 in-search-of-the-first-blues-song

In Search of the First Blues Song.

 jerron-blind-boy-paxton-in-concert

Jerron Blind Boy Paxton in Concert.

 the-jones-family-singers

The Jones Family Singers.

 keb-mo-at-grammy-museum

Keb Mo at the Grammy Museum.

 how-did-you-celebrate-martin-luther-king-s-birthday

How Did You Celebrate Martin Luther King’s Birthday.

 woody-guthries-home-town-lynching

Woody Guthrie’s Home Town Lynching.

 rip-julius-lester

RIP Julius Lester.

 remembering-bruce-langhorne

Remembering Bruce Langhorne.

remembering-leslie-perry

Remembering Leslie Perry.

 richie-havens-obit

Remembering Richie Havens.

 lead-belly-king-of-the-12-string-guitar

Lead Belly King of the 12 String Guitar.

 

Ross Altman has a PhD in Modern Literature from SUNY-Binghamton (1973); belongs to Local 47 (AFM); writes for FolkWorks; email: greygoosemusic@aol.com

Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share by Mail
https://folkworks.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/BLM.jpg 265 400 Ross Altman https://folkworks.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/FolkWorks-logo-large.png Ross Altman2020-07-01 05:05:012021-04-13 14:40:41

BLACK MUSIC MATTERS

All Columns

Featured Columnists

  • Art Podell
  • Chris Wilson
  • David Bragger
  • Lindsey Terrell
  • Roland Sturm
  • Ross Altman

FolkWorks Partners

Join our E-mail Community

As a valued member of our e-mail community, you will receive updates on events, stories, performances and more in our monthly newsletter, along with the occasional special announcement to give you the latest news in folk/roots. We promise your e-mail is safe with us.  We don’t sell or share our database with any third-party vendors.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
  • LIKE US ON FACEBOOK
  • JOIN THE FOLKWORKS FACEBOOK GROUP
  • BECOME A FOLKWORKS DONOR
  • ADVERTISE WITH US
YOU TUBE INSTAGRAM TWITTER EMAIL PRIVACY POLICY

All Material Copyright © 2001- 2021 FolkWorks. All rights reserved. Website by: Integritive

Scroll to top

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website, analyze site traffic, and show event times in your timezone. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

Accept

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Privacy Policy

You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.

Privacy Policy