Saturday, March 17, 2012

Music


Except for rap and opera, I can listen to most genres of music for considerable periods of time. I used to listen to a lot of 'talk radio' when driving in my truck to and from work. I find it frustrates me to no end so I hit one of the  presets on my radio and find the music there soothing. It is one thing to be informed about what is going on in the world, but quite another to talk it to death, often with no solution or even a wise perspective. Music, on the other hand, just seems to speak to the soul more often than not. Take what I am listening to this instant. busylizzy hauled out an old CD collection that we salvaged from my father's home before it sold. It is an extensive collection of Negro Spirituals. The music is a bit of an eclectic mix, but mostly quite well done. 
It reminds me of our early years in Saskatchewan. My father sang in a musical production put on by the local United Church. It was a minstrel show! For those of you who do not know what that is, think Mark Twain. It is a bunch of white guys dressed up like black people complete with lampblack on their faces, singing Negro Spirituals. One would never get away with such a production in these days, but back then they were popular. My dad was an exceptional musician and as I recall, he was quite a hit with the audience.
Ah yes. "Swing Low" and "Rock 'a my Soul" will forever be classics.   

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