World Field Recordings, Feb 15, 2024
Alan Lomax in Haiti 1936-1937 Recordings For The Library of
Congress
Label: Harte Recordings
Release Date: 2009
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Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post showcases a YouTube audio (sound) file of thirty brief clips of songs sung by Haitian children and recorded by ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax in 1986-1937 as well as a list of those songs,
This pancocojams post also includes information about and descriptions of this ten CD box set of Alan Lomax In Haiti, including two customer reviews.
This post also includes two customer reviews of the Alan Lomax in Haiti box set.
The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are featured in these audio files and thanks for Alan Lomax for his musical legacy. Thanks also thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
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TRACK (SONG) LIST
5-1 Francilia– Dodo, Dodo, Krab Nans Kalalou (Sleep, Sleep,
Crab In Calalloo [Okra Stew])
5-2 Secondary Students At L'Ecole Daumier– Un P'tit Pied Laurier (A Little Bay Tree)
5-3 Anna (219), Ce'Cile (2)– Un P'tit Pied Laurier (A Little
Bay Tree)
5-4 Secondary Students At L'Ecole Daumier– Ti Zwazo (Little
Bird)
5-5 Louis Florvilus– Delina, Pinga Manyen Moungo (Delina, Do
Not Touch Moungo)
5-6 Students At L'Ecole Daumier– Pinga Manje (Don't Eat)
5-7 Students At L'Ecole Daumier– M Pa Manje Nan Jaden
Manman-w (I Don't Eat In Your Mama's Garden)
5-8 Secondary Students At L'Ecole Daumier– Se Rosann, Yap
Prete m Yon Pélen (Sister Rosanne, They're Lending Me A Mouse Trap)
5-9 Students At L'Ecole Daumier– O'Zanana (To The Pineapple)
5-10 Alan Lomax– Jwe Yoyo (Play Yoyo)
5-11 Boseuit Siniature, Tanis Aristide, Toto Antoine– Adye
Manman Bay Kola-a (Ladies And Gentlemen, Give Us Some Cola)
5-12 Boseuit Siniature, Tanis Aristide, Toto Antoine– Twa
Pa, Toutlanwit (Three Steps, All Night Long)
5-13 Boseuit Siniature, Tanis Aristide, Toto Antoine– De Rad
Broule (Two Dresses Burned)
5-14 Boseuit Siniature, Tanis Aristide, Toto Antoine–
Rozmeli, Ale Pale Manman-m Pou Mwen (Rosemarie, Go Talk To Mama For Me)
5-15 Alan Lomax– Agawou-o, Dyab la Bobo Lode (Agaou-o, The
Devil Hurt/Kissed Lode)
5-16 Jean Blaise– Bonjou, Bonjou Manman Sira (Good Morning,
Mama Sira)
5-17 Plaisance Boy Scout Troupe– Cantique Des Patrouilles
(The Song Of The Patrols)
5-18 Plaisance Boy Scout Troupe– La Crocodile (The
Crocodile)
5-19 Plaisance Boy Scout Troupe– Les Scouts Sont Là (The
Scouts Are There)
5-20 Plaisance Boy Scout Troupe– C'est Le Piston Qui Fait
Marcher Le Machine (lt's The Piston That Makes The Car Run)
5-21 Tazi Aldophe– Madmazel Ki Manje Kalabou (The Lady Who
Eats Calalloo [Okra Stew])
5-22 Anna (219), Ce'Cile (2)– Je Vois la Marguerite (I See
The Daisy)
5-23 Anna (219), Ce'Cile (2)– Hélèn
5-24 Anna (219), Ce'Cile (2)– J'avais Des Belles Fleures (I
Had Some Beautiful Flowers)
5-25 Students Of L'Ecole Normal– Deyè Mòn-la, Ann Prale We
(Behind The Hill, Let's Go See)
5-26 Students Of L'Ecole Normal– Bonjou, Manman Sira (Good
Day Mama Sira)
5-27 Students Of L'Ecole Normal– Drums And Vaksin-s
5-28 Students Of L'Ecole Normal– M-pral Fè Lago Ti Zongle
(Ti Zongle, I'm Going To Play Hide And Seek)
5-29 Students Of L'Ecole Normal– Pinga Way-o (Watch Out!)
5-30 Students Of L'Ecole Normal– La Fig Banann (The Small,
Sweet Banana)
INFORMATION ABOUT AND DESCRIPTION OF THE TEN BOX CD SET "ALAN LOMAX IN HAITI"
from
Product Description:
"Alan Lomax in Haiti" Box Set
Various Artists (Artist), Alan Lomax (Performer) Format: Audio CD
Cost: $259.95
2010 Grammy Finalist - Two Categories:
Best Historical Album and Best Album Notes
Review
In 1936, in the middle of scouring rural America for folk
music that might have vanished forever if not for his efforts,
ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax traipsed off to Haiti for four months with his
19-year-old fiancée and a 55-pound recording unit. The results are only now
available for anyone to hear.
Mr. Lomax was out to document the music of everyday Haitians, in whatever form, and to hunt for the influence of African music, as he had in the U.S. A 10-CD box set, Alan Lomax in Haiti, traces how Mr. Lomax moved from the most accessible sounds, such as the dance bands of Port-au-Prince, who had incorporated New Orleans jazz from records imported by occupying U.S. Marines. Following leads around the country, he acquired celebratory carnival songs, work songs, and eventually the music of officially forbidden Vodou (what is commonly known as voodoo) ceremonies.
As the musicians played for Mr. Lomax (pictured at right), his recording device cut sound grooves onto aluminum discs. He produced some 50 hours of sound. But the music was never publicly released. Mr. Lomax rushed on to other places and projects, and when he did revisit the Haiti recordings in the 1970s, the sound quality disappointed him.
About 10 years ago, daughter Anna Lomax Wood helped launch an effort to clean up the recordings. New software minimized surface noise and enhanced the sound. A nonprofit founded by Mr. Lomax co-produced the 10-CD set, which is also available for download and was released this week. It includes film footage shot by wife Elizabeth, whom he wed in Haiti, and a transcription of Mr. Lomax's field journal. --Wall Street Journal
The estate of Alan Lomax, Haitan scholar, and the Library of Congress have joined forces to produce a chronicle of Lomax's 1936 Haitan recording expedition in collaboration with The Association for Cultural Equity. Along with 10 CDs of recordings of Haitian musicians, the set also includes two books. One, the field journal of Lomax and a hard-bound set of liner notes and essays detailing and translating all the songs in the set. This scholarly collection of the American folklorist and ethnomusicologist's work in Haiti will be a special gift for hard-core folk music fans. --Pop Matters
Lomax sonically documented much of American culture in the 20th century, and his work is well-known to students of history. But in 1936-37 he took off for Haiti, and more than 70 years later, what he discovered is finally available to us. The recordings have been miraculously cleaned up, and the results featuring Mardi Gras and Carnival music, choruses of singing children and Vodou ceremonies is haunting, celebratory and just plain strange to 21st-century ears.
Ten discs might seem like a lot of sound to take in, and to be sure, you should take your time to absorb it all. What a remarkable documentation of a long-lost journey. It's the ideal gift for the armchair ethnomusicologist who thought he knew it all. --Denver Post
From the Artist
Anna Lomax Wood, Lomax's daughter, explains in the notes:
"...[W]e can now listen in to a pivotal era in Haiti's cultural history,
when the country was throwing off U.S. imperialism and embracing both its
African roots and the coming influence of jazz and
African-American/Afro-Caribbean popular music and dance."
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"Customer review by Christopher D. Pino
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant restoration of Lomax's 30s fieldwork in Haiti
Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2009
This set, particularly in the boxed set beign released today with Alan's trip diary and a musicological tour of Haiti was recorded by Alan Lomax with his wife on their honeymoon to Haiti in the Mid-30s. Like most honeymooners of their time (note dry humor), they carried an aluminum disk recording machine and many blank aluminum disks. Brilliantly restored by Magic Studio in NYC, produced by Anna Lomax, fruit of the honeymoon, and Don Fleming these disks can take you into a sound and time that is both eternal and out of both 17th Century Africa and France, little changed by the intervening centuries. The intense polyrhythm drum/song bands are particularly briliant as is the profound ability of song and dance to sustain the morale of peoples subjected to the worst imaginable hardships. I am not affiliated with the estate but did work for Alan for a decade. I believe these will win Grammies as did the Jelly Roll Morton box>"
"Customer review by DJ Joe Sixpack:
This 10-CD box set is a stunning historical resource, drawing on extensive recording sessions conducted in the 1930s by fabled ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax on behalf of the United States Library of Congress. Lomax recorded hundreds of hours of music, ranging from antique European ballads and dance music to early meringue recordings, Afro-Haitian percussion and extended recordings of authentic voodoo ceremonies. Some of the styles represented here have disappeared entirely -- not just from the popular Haitian repertoire, but from the island itself; many recordings feature artists who were well known regionally but may come as revelations to many listeners. It is a a remarkable cultural resource, documenting a richly cross-pollinated New World island culture, a snapshot of a time and society that were almost entirely lost, and would have been had it not been for Lomax's tenacious urge to document and present the folklore he found across the globe. Recommended! (DJ Joe Sixpack, Slipcue Guide To World Music)"
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