aural/oral history

George Brock

Are there any musicologists who have tried to search out Django's roots and document his musical heritage?

Ando

Dregni does a nice job in prose. There aren't any notated musical examples.

Has there been a serious musicological study of musette?

George Brock

thanks,

one of the reasons I asked was that people with first hand evidence of Django and other seminal players are beginning to pass and when they are gone that's it. and then you will only have vague notion of much of what happened. we have an abundance of legend but that serves little purpose for understanding where we started.

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George

George Brock

Inasmuch as there is a group of djangophyles who frequent these digs, perhaps there might indeed be a way of facilitating the documentation of this vital history.

Indeed there may not be the likelihood that someone will have the resources on his own to do it on his own; but with a modest stipend accumulated by a group of loyal supporters this might work. Grad students are constantly searching for a valid quest and this might make the difference.

I for one have funded such projects from time to time. If there was a common pool to accumulate these funds with the hope of finding new information, a valuable resource could be created for posterity.

If Michael would hold the funds, I would certainly contribute.
anybody else?

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George

nwilkins

As a grad student in history I will volunteer to write it, depending of course on the size of the stipend

Jack

TedGottsegen wrote:

I believe that before his death, Didier Roussin was the most knowledgable person on the subject - he was the one who coaxed Didi Duprat out of semi-retirement and was the one interviewing Privat on the documentary "Musette Bleues".

Ted,

Can you tell us more about the documentary (and if I can find it somewhere)?

TedGottsegen wrote:

You're right, though. We lost our chance with players like Bousquet and Tchan-Tchou, who as far as I know were never really interviewed indepth, with probing questions about their backgrounds, etc. I think in Germany and Holland we're pretty well covered, though. There are some still come obscure French players (like Angelo, Chela Weiss and others). Still, what is out there should be put into a book. I know of an American who was going to undertake the chore, but there are only so many hours in the day for him, so I suspect it's won't be written for some time.

Actually, this was half my impetus for suggesting you write a regular bio of some of the lesser known players; it'd make for a hell of a jumping off point, but I'm counting on your sense of thoroughness to compel you to write the book! Ted, you know you want to.

Best,
Jack.

MichaelHorowitz

George Brock wrote:

.

If Michael would hold the funds, I would certainly contribute.
anybody else?

Sure...give me the dough! ha ha

Honestly, I think a history of Gypsy jazz is only possible if it's done by an independently wealthy person or by a Grad student with excellent funding. Being in the Gypsy jazz publishing biz myself, I can tell you that there are really only 500-800 people world wide intrested in buying books about this genre. A book about Django, like Dregni's has much more potential. But a general history is most definitly a looser $ wise. But I'd like to see it happen...know anyone who has the cash to fund it???

'm

Jack

Michael Horowitz wrote:

Honestly, I think a history of Gypsy jazz is only possible if it's done by an independently wealthy person or by a Grad student with excellent funding. Being in the Gypsy jazz publishing biz myself, I can tell you that there are really only 500-800 people world wide intrested in buying books about this genre. A book about Django, like Dregni's has much more potential. But a general history is most definitly a looser $ wise. But I'd like to see it happen...know anyone who has the cash to fund it???

'm

Michael,

I'm guessing you looked into grant proposals when you set sail on all your publishing, so maybe you'll have some insight here: aren't there several societies dedicated to Romani culture? And would something like this interest them? I doubt they'd be willing to underwrite the whole thing, but wouldn't it be possible, perhaps, to cobble funding together from a variety of sources? A bandmate here recently got a $5000 grant to write poetry; there must be more out there. I wonder what all the research time/travel/living expenses would run to produce a book like this.

Another, more watered-down, idea would be to tie in the history of the players to the greater history of their era. I'm thinking here of Harlem in Montmartre: A Paris Jazz Story Between the Great Wars. You're right, though; any way you shape it, it'll be a tough sell to the world at large. Love to see it happen, though.

Best,
Jack.

MichaelHorowitz

Hi Jack,

Organizations dedicated to Romani culture are unlikely to be of much help since they themselves are funded by small fleeting grants. I tried to get funding for my dissertation from all the major sources, but no one was interested in funding something about Gypsy jazz. That's why I started DjangoBooks....to try and fund it myself. Unfortunately book sales aren't at the point where I could just take a year off an write. Maybe someday, but for now we're struggling to keep above the poverty line.

Also, most funding sources are only going to give you 5-10K. The two people I know most qualified to write a history in English couldn't live on that for a year. That's why a grad student with a monastic work ethic needs to do this!

'm

Barengero

Jack wrote:

aren't there several societies dedicated to Romani culture? And would something like this interest them?

The german cultural society of gypsys published two books about the music of the gypsys ( in german language).

Volume one is concerning the hungarian gypsy music. (I don´t owe this one), 1996. Volume two is about the "Sinti-Jazz" (= Gypsy Jazz=Swing Manouche = Jazz Tzigane ad. inf.) 200 pages, 1997.

Both volumes are edited by Anita Awosusi.

In Volume Two (Sinti Jazz) there is a chapter about the traditions of the french Gitans and Manouches (Jazz, Musette and Cante flamenco).

Both Volumes are available by:

Dokumentations- und Kulturzentrum Deutscher Sinti und Roma, Bremeneckgasse 2, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.

CalebFSU

Considering I am planning on doing something with Ethnomusicology for graduate school. I'll volunteer. I just have to finnish My B.A. . Seems like a perfect mix of school and pleasure. Now only got to get that Pesky funding.I understand what your saying about interest though Michael. I am pretty friendly with one of the Ethnomusicologists here at FSU so I'll ask him about sources for funding see what he has to say about it. From what I understand the topics most Ethnomusicologists study don't have much widespread appeal. Except maybe Gamelan (Cats here at FSU Love Gamelan)